The Japanese baseball commissioner's office on Monday postponed a vote on a hotly contested merger between the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes and Orix BlueWave, after a court appealed for time to consider a request from the players' association to block the tie-up.
The delay was the latest hitch in the two teams' merger plans -- a realignment that has been at the center of a debate over the fate of Japanese baseball's two-league system.
Players and fans have strongly opposed the merger, fearing it would lead to fewer teams and a single league for the first time since 1955. Last Friday, the Japan Professional Baseball Players Association sought an injunction from the court against the merger.