Tiebreaker introduced in Japanese high school baseball

It is generally known that high school pitchers in Japan are abused at times. Back-to-back-to-back 100+ pitch games are no exception. To prevent this from happening the Japanese High School Baseball Federation has decided to introduce a tiebreak system.

According to Japan’s biggest newspaper, the Yomiuri Shimbun, the federation, known as Nihon Koyaren, underlines the need to “protect the physical condition of high school students, who are still growing,” as the primary reason for the introduction of the system.

In an invitational tournament which was played this spring, six games went into extra innings, and two ended in the 15th inning with the score still tied, followed by rematches. One pitcher made more than 300 throws in two games, including the rematch.

The tiebreaker system is already used in Japan. The Intercity Baseball Tournament, a championship for company-sponsored nonprofessional teams of working adults, is using it. Also, the Japan National Collegiate Baseball Championship is using the tiebreaker rule and of course it is used in the World Baseball Classic and the several youth world championships and the Premier 12, both organized by the WBSC.

In the case of the Nihon Koyaren, they will not start with the tiebreaker rule before the thirteenth inning.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, the extra-inning games in high school baseball aren’t necessarily the reason for the excessive burden of high school players. A different kind of scheduling the games may also help pitchers from pitching without any rest. A schedule with teams playing with one or two days rest between the games should prevent pitchers from being (ab)used in the way they were before. But one has to realize that Japanese kids rather pitch until their arm falls off for a heroic role in the Koshien tournament than chasing a professional career.

Even though it wasn’t confirmed, it is likely the tiebreaker rule will also be used during the Koshien Tournament. One may think it is only a change of rules but to introduce a rule like this in a 102-year old tournament in a traditional country like Japan is something big. It is a breach in a tradition. Not everyone will be happy with it.

Japanese kids rather blow their arm out for a heroic role in the Koshien tournament than chasing a professional career.