Baseball Schedule 2002

These are some good questions. Let's take them in order.

- When do schedules come out?

They have already been released as I saw them in the newspaper about a month ago. I haven't seen a version on the Net, yet, but haven't looked too much.

- And is there an official site of Japanese professional baseball where I might check (even if it is in Japanese)?

The official site for Japanese Professional Baseball is http://www.npb.or.jp/. Official statistics are handed by IBM BIS (Baseball Information Server). The NPB site is in Japanese, IBM BIS is in English.

- And one last thing, is there a way to purchase tickets ahead of time from the States?

This topic can be found here (results of a search for "purchase tickets").

Hope this helps you get your trip plans started.

Yes, the regular season schedules (in Japanese) are posted at:

http://www.sponichi.com/base/base_cl_sc.html
http://www.sponichi.com/base/base_pl_sc.html

However... does anyone know when the pre season "open sen" schedules come out? I've been searching, but no luck so far.

Thanks for the links to the Central and Pacific league schedules.

- However... does anyone know when the pre season "open sen" schedules come out?

They were just released yesterday and are in today's newspaper. I'll see if I can't get something up during my lunch break.

Sorry for the long wait for the reply. I couldn't get it done during lunch. But it's now all entered and formatted. So, without any further ado, here's the 2002 Open-sen (pre-season) schedule:

Date	Home	Visitor	Stadium
2/23 (Sat)	Hanshin	Seibu	Aki
	Chunichi	Nippon Ham	Kitatani
	Yokohama	Yakult	Kinowan
2/24 (Sun)	Seibu	Hanshin	Haruno
	Giants	Kintetsu	Miyazaki
	Hiroshima	Lotte	Miyakonojyo
	Nippon Ham	Yokohama	Nago
	Yakult	Chunichi	Urasoe
2/26 (Tues)	Orix	Yokohama	Miyako
3/1 (Fri)	Giants	Chunichi	Kumamoto
3/2 (Sat)	Orix	Hanshin	Kobe
	Hiroshima	Seibu	Fukuyama
	Nippon Ham	Yakult	Torimon(?)
	Daiei	Giants	Fukuoka Dome
	Lotte	Chunichi	Kagoshima
3/3 (Sun)	Hanshin	Orix	Kurashiki
	Hiroshima	Seibu	Hiroshima
	Nippon Ham	Yakult	Takamatsu
	Giants	Daiei	Fukuoka Dome
	Lotte	Chunichi	Kagoshima
3/4 (Mon)	Giants	Nippon Ham	Ube
	Daiei	Yakult	Fukuoka Dome
3/5 (Tues)	Chunichi	Nippon Ham	Nagoya Dome
	Kintetsu	Hanshin	Osaka Dome
	Orix	Hiroshima	Kobe
	Daiei	Yakult	Fukuoka Dome
3/6 (Wed)	Chunichi	Hiroshima	Nagoya Dome
	Kintetsu	Orix	Osaka Dome
	Yokohama	Seibu	Shimonoseki
3/7 (Thur)	Giants	Hanshin	Sapporo Dome
	Lotte	Nippon Ham	Chiba Marine
	Kintetsu	Hiroshima	Osaka Dome
	Daiei	Seibu	Fukuoka Dome
3/8 (Fri)	Chunichi	Yakult	Komaki
	Daiei	Yokohama	Fukuoka Dome
3/9 (Sat)	Giants	Seibu	Sapporo Dome
	Yakult	Nippon Ham	Jingu
	Chunichi	Lotte	Fukuoka Dome
	Hiroshima	Yokohama	Yamaguchi
	Hanshin	Kintetsu	Matsuyama
	Daiei	Orix	Fukuoka Dome
3/10 (Sun)	Seibu	Giants	Sapporo Dome
	Yakult	Nippon Ham	Jingu
	Chunichi	Lotte	Gifu
	Yokohama	Orix	Tokuyama
	Hanshin	Kintetsu	Takamatsu
	Daiei	Hiroshima	Fukuoka Dome
3/11 (Mon)	Chunichi	Yokohama	Toyota
	Orix	Lotte	Kobe
	Daiei	Hiroshima	Kita-Kyushu
3/12 (Tues)	Chunichi	Seibu	Nagoya Dome
	Kintetsu	Nippon Ham	Osaka Dome
	Hanshin	Lotte	Koshien
3/13 (Wed)	Yokohama	Giants	Shizuka
	Kintetsu	Daiei	Osaka Dome
	Hanshin	Nippon Ham	Koshien
	Orix	Seibu	Kobe
3/14 (Thur)	Chunichi	Giants	Hamamatsu
	Kintetsu	Seibu	Osaka Dome
	Hanshin	Daiei	Koshien
	Orix	Nippon Ham	Kobe
3/15 (Fri)	Giants	Hiroshima	Gifu
	Kintetsu	Yakult	Osaka Dome
	Hanshin	Yokohama	Koshien
	Orix	Daiei	Kobe
3/16 (Sat)	Lotte	Seibu	Chiba Marine
	Nippon Ham	Chunichi	Tokyo Dome
	Kintetsu	Giants	Osaka Dome
	Hanshin	Yakult	Koshien
	Orix	Yokohama	Kobe
	Hiroshima	Daiei	Hiroshima
3/17 (Sun)	Seibu	Lotte	Seibu Dome
	Nippon Ham	Chunichi	Tokyo Dome
	Kintetsu	Yokohama	Osaka Dome
	Hanshin	Giants	Koshien
	Orix	Yakult	Kobe
	Hiroshima	Daiei	Kure
3/19 (Tues)	Seibu	Kintetsu	Seibu Dome
	Yokohama	Nippon Ham	Yokohama
	Yakult	Chunichi	Jingu
	Lotte	Daiei	Chiba Marine
	Orix	Hanshin	Kobe
	Hiroshima	Giants	Matsuyama
3/20 (Wed)	Nippon Ham	Daiei	Tokyo Dome
	Yakult	Kintetsu	Jingu
	Lotte	Yokohama	Chiba Marine
	Orix	Hanshin	Himeji
3/21 (Thur)	Seibu	Daiei	Seibu Dome
	Nippon Ham	Kintetsu	Tokyo Dome
	Yakult	Giants	Jingu
	Yokohama	Lotte	Yokohama
	Orix	Chunichi	Kobe
	Hiroshima	Hanshin	Kurashiki
3/22 (Fri)	Seibu	Yakult	Seibu Dome
	Hanshin	Chunichi	Nishi-Kyogoku
3/23 (Sat)	Yokohama	Seibu	Yokohama
	Giants	Daiei	Tokyo Dome
	Yakult	Hiroshima	Jingu
	Lotte	Nippon Ham	Chiba Marine
	Chunichi	Orix	Nagoya Dome
	Kintetsu	Hanshin	Osaka Dome
3/24 (Sun)	Seibu	Yokohama	Seibu Dome
	Giants	Daiei	Tokyo Dome
	Yakult	Nippon Ham	Jingu
	Lotte	Hiroshima	Chiba Marine
	Chunichi	Orix	Nagoya Dome
	Kintetsu	Hanshin	Osaka Dome
3/25 (Mon)	Seibu	Hiroshima	Seibu Dome
	Lotte	Giants	Chiba Marine

While I double checked all of the entries, there may still be some typos and/or other misses. Also, the schedule itself may be modified before February.

Enjoy!

This is great.

Any way you could do the same thing for the regular season schedule, i.e. translate it from Japanese to English? I'm especially interested in the schedule for September 2002.

- Any way you could do the same thing for the regular season schedule, i.e. translate it from Japanese to English?

Well, I doubt if I can do it over lunch my lunch break, so I'll give it a try after dinner.

All these suggestions have been very helpful, but I am still having a difficult time finding information in English. Can anyone help me with the schedule between the Swallows and the Tigers in July and August, where and when? Thanks.

I've got them in the News section. Here are the Central League and Pacific League schedules in English. I'm working on placing them in an easier to find location.

Thanks. That was very helpful. If your had one opportunity to go to a game, which one would you go to? I had heard the Tigers/Swallows was good, or any game with the Tigers (whose fans are more like Boston fans). Would you want to go to the Tokyo Dome? And one last question, where is Jingu and Koshien stadiums. Thanks.

- If your had one opportunity to go to a game, which one would you go to?

Well, I'd choose a Yokohama BayStars game, as I'm a fan.

- I had heard the Tigers/Swallows was good, or any game with the Tigers (whose fans are more like Boston fans).

I don't know about Boston fans, but Hanshin fans do have a passion for their team. Even though they've finished dead last four years in a row now.

However, they've now got Hoshino as their new manager, and this should really liven the team up. I certainly expect a great deal more out of the Tigers next season.

The Yakult Swallows appear to be the favorite team amongst foreigners living in the Tokyo area. Jingu Stadium presents a very nice atmosphere in and around the stadium. Just walking toward Jingu for a game is like going through a festival, whereas going to Tokyo Dome is like going through a crowded museum (for Giants' games, anyway).

Oh, and coincidentally, the Japanese Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame are located below Tokyo Dome.

- Would you want to go to the Tokyo Dome?

The Tokyo Ondo (a song sung after the Swallows score and during the 7th inning streach) at Jingu is something I would recommend over a game at Tokyo Dome.

Of course, if you're weathy and can afford dafuya (scalpers) prices, you might want to take in a Giants vs Tigers' game. These two teams are arch rivals, and I think that the Tigers will turn around their fortunes this year.

- And one last question, where is Jingu and Koshien stadiums.

Latham-san has some great information on ball parks on his site. Basically, Jingu is in the center of Tokyo, not too far away from Tokyo Dome. Koshien, a historic landmark and institution of its own, is located just outside of Osaka.

Well, hope this helps your travel plans.