On the 26th, Rakuten Eagles held their first practice since spring training at Rakuten Eagles Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi.

The distance between home plate and left-center field, which was previously 116 meters, has now been reduced to a maximum of 110 meters, and the distance between home plate and right-center field, which was also 116 meters, has now been reduced to a maximum of 112 meters. Construction on the large screen will continue in preparation for the home opener on March 31st.

When the players appeared on ground a little after 1 p.m., with the temperature at 6 degrees Celsius, some commented that "at first glance, it doesn't look any different (from in front of the dugout)." However, as they approached the left-center wall, which had been reduced by about 6 meters, pitcher began to exclaim, "This is bad!"

Manager Hajime Miki (48) personally touched wall to check its condition, and frankly stated, "You won't know until you actually play the game, but from outfield it felt close. I think we need to keep this size in mind when we play."

When asked about the smaller stadium, he said, "I don't think it's a good idea to swing the bat wildly. The most important thing for both pitcher and fielder is to continue working on what we've been doing since training camp and to do the best we can now. We should just focus on putting in our best performance." He explained how he will deal with the smaller home stadium.