I have said it before, and I will say it again: Japanese baseball needs to fix its season-ending schedule and follow the major league policy of having every team finish the regular year at the same time.

The staggered winding-down of the Central and Pacific League play where teams have varying numbers of remaining games takes away so much potential excitement as the pennant races and Climax Series seeds are decided.

The final day of the American and National League schedules on Sept. 28 will go down as one of the most climactic in baseball history as the Tampa Bay Rays and St. Louis Cardinals completed spectacular come-from-behind performances to eliminate the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves and claim wild-card playoff slots.

Meanwhile, here in Japan, the final days of the campaign limp and linger. As of Oct. 7, the Hanshin Tigers, for example, still had 17 games remaining, while the Yomiuri Giants had but 10.

Sure, this year is unusual with several games having been moved from March and April to October because of the events of March 11 and following days. However, the way the Japanese season is concluded has been the same every autumn for as long as I can remember — and my memory here goes back 42 years.

In March of last year at a meeting of our Foreign Sportswriters Association of Japan, I asked NPB commissioner Ryozo Kato if he cannot do something to make the final days of the season more interesting and attractive for the fans, and he promised to look into it. So far, though, it does not appear anything meaningful has been done to rectify the situation.

They still won't make up all the rainouts as the season moves along, and the players association does not want to play doubleheaders, although the Tigers may have no choice but to play a twin bill or two this month in order to get in all the games prior to the opening of the Climax Series on Oct. 29.

Another flaw in the late-season Japanese system is the way the teams make certain moves with regard to changing managers and allowing foreign players to leave while there are still so many games on the docket.

Why did the Chunichi Dragons have to announce so soon that Hiromitsu Ochiai would not be coming back and appoint Morimichi Takagi as the team's skipper for 2012? The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, too, seem to have acted prematurely in making it public the club would be parting with manager Masataka Nashida. Both have a chance to end their tenures with the respective teams by winning the Japan Series championship.

In the case of the Dragons, word is Ochiai is being let go because a new image is needed in Nagoya. At a recent series between Chunichi and the Yomiuri Giants, normally a huge fan draw at Nagoya Dome, there were a lot of empty seats. Ochiai is known for not speaking to the media and is not a fan-friendly manager.

Takagi will be on his second tour as the Dragons field boss, having managed the club from 1992-95. There had been a rumor, by the way, Chunichi might consider asking former Oakland Athletics and Milwaukee Brewers manager Ken Macha to become the Dragons skipper. Macha played third base in Nagoya from 1982-85 and was a key member of the team's 1982 Central League pennant winner. At 70, Takagi may not be expected to be at the helm over the long term.

As for the Fighters, the team went on a losing tear after the announcement about Nashida and gave up any chance Nippon Ham may have had to catch the now-Pacific League champion Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, and you wonder if there is a connection. The F's next manager is expected to be named later this month.

Certain factors dictate Japanese teams should have their following year's manager in place as soon as possible as the current season is ending. One is fall camp; another is the preparation and printing of next year's team calendar which goes in sale in December, in time for Christmas and New Year's gift-giving.

Managers are not the only ones leaving early. The CL's last-place Yokohama BayStars allowed the team's two foreign position players, outfielder Terrmel Sledge and infielder Brett Harper, to shut it down for the year and return home to the U.S. while there were still more than 20 games remaining on the schedule. The club is going with younger players.

As early as Aug. 30, Sledge was already gone, and Harper said prior to the 'Stars game that night against the Giants at Fukui, "I won't be playing anymore." Yokohama had just brought up 19-year-old star-of-the-future Yoshitomo Tsutsugo to take Harper's spot at first base.

The result is CL pennant contenders are playing against a watered-down BayStars club which arguably does not have the best possible players in its starting lineup. The message to NPB and its teams is this: Let's finish this season — together — before we move onto the next.

Diamond Dust: Do you know Seibu Lions slugging infielder Takeya Nakamura has hit more home runs this season than the entire Chiba Lotte Marines team? It's true. Through games of Oct. 5, the Saitama slugger had belted 44 homers, while the Chiba club had accounted for a team total of just 43. Where have all the powers gone?

Too bad about Hiroshima Carp closer Dennis Sarfate. Our column of Sept. 18 listed the four save records he was aiming to break, but a hernia cut short his season. He's in the U.S. to have the injury repaired.

The scheduled Sept. 21 Yomiuri Giants-Yokohama BayStars game at Tokyo Dome, postponed due to the arrival in the Kanto area of Typhoon Roke, has been re-scheduled to be played on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 6 p.m.

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Contact Wayne Graczyk at [email protected]