The concept of the koryu-sen (interleague play) in Japanese baseball is getting great reviews so far from players, fans and media members. Typical comments from participants are, "We should have been doing this 10 years ago" and "It's great to see some different ballparks and towns for a change."
Some exciting games have been played, with more to come.
Ironically, the Yomiuri Giants whose erstwhile chairman Tsuneo Watanabe was the one most vehemently against the interleague format for so long, benefited the most from the first two interleague series. The Giants were 4-1-1 in games against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and Orix Buffaloes and made up 3 1/2 games of a 10-game deficit behind the Central League-leading Chunichi Dragons, who went 1-5 against Orix and the Seibu Lions.