Teams for Two: Japanese Baseball League to Reduce from Twelve Teams to Two

The Japan Baseball Federation has announced that from 2014, the number of professional baseball teams will be reduced from twelve to two. This will be achieved by mergers of the six teams making up each of the Central and Pacific Leagues, to leave two teams who will play each other 140 times a year to determine the championship.

At a press conference yesterday, Oyaji Nobaka of the JBF explained the reasoning behind the move. "Projections show that by 2050, the population of Japan will decline to 80 million," he said. "This is obviously far too small to support such a huge number of teams, so we`ve had to make this decision to secure the future of the sport."

However, fans across Japan are unhappy with the proposal. "It`s not going to be the same," complained Yakyu Otaku, a fan in Tokyo. "I`m going to miss the variety of all the many different team uniforms and players. I always change allegiance every year and become a fan of the champions, but now I might have to support the same team for more than one year."

Despite this reception from fans such as Otaku, Nobaka is confident that fans will come to accept the new format. "It may be difficult at first," he said, "but to provide some continuity for fans, we will be retaining the teams` names. I`m sure they`ll be there in their thousands to cheer on the Pacific GoldenHawkLionMarineBuffaloFighters and the Central GianStarTigerDragonSwallowCarps."