JAPANESE INDEPENDENT LEAGUE IN TROUBLE

After getting a considerable amount of attention when one of their teams signed and pitched a 17-year-old female knuckleballer, Japan’s Kansai Independent Baseball League is struggling to survive.


Eri Yoshida made her debut for the Kobe 9 Cruise on March 27, becoming the first woman to play in a Japanese men’s pro game. Since then, the Kansai League has struggled mightily to make ends meet financially. The four teams are forming a company and taking over the league from Stella, Incorporated, who formed the league but has defaulted on distributing revenues. The matter will end up in court. Supposedly, the Kansai League will expand to five teams next year. We’ll see.

And Yoshida? She’s been shelved by a sore shoulder and hasn’t pitched since her debut.