Structure of Japanese baseball is like American one.
NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) also consists of two leagues (the Pacific
League and the Central League). In the Pacific League, there is a rule of the
designated hitter while the Central League hasn’t such rule. Also, there are
two Minor Leagues where affiliate teams play.
Winners of Leagues play between each other until the
seventh victory in the World Japan Series. The main difference between NPB and
MLB is that in MLB matches it cannot be a draw because the game lasts until the
victory of one team. In the matches of NPB there is no draw as well because the
game is played maximum to 12 innings (while in Japan Series it lasts to 15
innings) and if there is no winner after 12 innings the game is considered to end
with draw.
Japanese baseball players often play in MLB but per
the agreement between MLB and NPB it is necessary to pay a monetary
compensation for the player. Sometimes it reaches a huge amount of money, as
Japanese Clubs are rather rich. Nevertheless, not every MLB club is ready to
pay such money. For example, the pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, two years ago,
moved to the Boston Red Sox for 50 million dollars. Clubs more often prefer to
wait for the moment when player`s contract runs out with one of clubs and then it
will be possible to invite him.
Also, Japan has three independent leagues, these are:
the Shikoku and Kyushu Island League, the Baseball Challenge League and the
Kansai Independent Baseball League.
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