Professional baseball will begin simultaneously for both the Central and Pacific Leagues on the 27th. The Chiba Lotte Marines, who finished last in the league last season, will be making their debut as new manager Saburo. Despite having injured players, Seibu Lions are likely to field two free agent players, Kuwahara and Ishii, in starting line-up.

Lotte's second-round draft pick, Mori, will be their opening pitcher. They want to establish a pattern where Takabe and Fujiwara, batting first, use their speed to disrupt the opposition, and then bring in rookie of the year Nishikawa from the third spot onwards.

Seibu Lions will be without Nevin due to injury, but the addition of Kuwahara and Ishii will reduce the gaps in their batting lineup. Expectations are high for the adaptability of new imports Canario and An-Ko Lin.

The expected starting line-up for both teams are as follows:

◆ Seibu Lions

1 (center) Nishikawa

2 (Left) Kuwahara

3 (1B) Tonosaki

4 (Right) Canario

5 (3) Watanabe

6 (Finger) An-Ko Lin

7 (Shortstop) Genda

8 (catcher) Yu Koga

9 (2) Ishii

Pitcher Watanabe

◆Lotte

1 (Junior High) High School

2 (Right) Fujiwara

3 (Left) Nishikawa

4. (1) Outside

5 (Finger) Polanco

6 (3) Terachi

7 (catcher) Sato

8 (2) Ryu Miyazaki

9 (shortstop) Ogawa

Tomouri