Spring training for Major League Baseball starts in fourteen days and that makes it only two short weeks before before pitchers and catchers reports to various spring training sites in Arizona and Florida in the United States.   Position players follow somewhere from ten days to two weeks later. 

But, in Japan the teams assemble in two short days to begin their spring training workouts.  That’s right February 1st is the first day of spring training in Japan!

Like their counterparts in the United States, Japanese baseball teams play a number of Spring Training Games to prepare for the upcoming season and assess their talent for final roster moves. The Japan Baseball Spring Training 2009 Game Schedule  starts on February 28th and runs through to March 29th.

In the midst of spring training Japan will field an all-star team to participate in the 2009 World Baseball Classic that starts for Japan March 5th at Tokyo Dome vs. China.  In all, six official World Baseball Classic games will be played in Tokyo but there will also be five World Baseball Classic Exhibition games where China, Korea & Chinese Tapei will compete against either the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants or Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball. 

The regular season Japanese Baseball Schedule starts on April 3rd and play continues until October 5th before playoffs start and the season culminates with the Japan Series in early November.

Visit JapanBall.com for complete schedules and ticketing information.

Can you name the foreign born player in the image above?

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