Welcome to the new sponsored "Baseball Bullet-In," and thanks to Jeff Libengood and the staff of the just-opened East West Fitness workout place in Tokyo for the support. If you would like to sponsor a column in an upcoming edition of The Japan Times, please contact me at the e-mail address below.

The hot hibachi league, Japan's version of the hot stove league, is loaded with kerosene and all fired up for 12 weeks of hot-and-heavy off-field baseball action involving the hiring of new foreign players by the Japanese teams, some trades, free agent movement and other news through the opening of spring training on Feb. 1.

Officially, the 2005 championship season comes to an end with the conclusion of the seven-game Konami Cup Asian Series tournament at Tokyo Dome on Nov. 13.