Japanese Pro Baseball Game Bizarrely Called Due to Darkness
By Sean Facey
You'd figure in the modern era of baseball, calling games due to darkness at the professional level would be a thing of the past. Lights are common place in ballparks all around the world.
But lighting didn't stop this game from being cut short. A Monday matchup between the Nippon-Ham Fighters and Seibu Lions of Japan's NPB was called in the eighth inning due to darkness.
The Lions-Fighters game in Kushiro Citizens Stadium was called in the 8th inning due to darkness, which hasn't happened in 20 years, causing it to be an instant topic on twitter, becoming the 3rd most talked about hashtag in the world at that time https://t.co/okJ3Ngufbq #npb
— NPB on reddit (@NPB_Reddit) August 28, 2019
It's the first time that it's happened in over 20 years, and it ended up giving the Lions a 10-8 win.
You'd be hard-pressed to find something as crazy as this in any baseball league, especially considering where the Lions rank in the standings. The win put them just two and a half games behind Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, who lead the Pacific League.
It no doubt must have been a tough call for the umpires to make, especially with the game still so close. It had been a back and forth affair up to that point between the two teams, and with two innings to play and 18 combined runs already on the board, a two-run lead wasn't all that much.
The Seibu Lions and Nippon Ham Fighters played at a stadium in rural Hokkaido without lighting. The game was called in the middle of the top of the 8th due to darkness. It was the first sunset-shortened game in 20 years. https://t.co/9JtfnjTnXJ
— Kazuto Yamazaki (@Kazuto_Yamazaki) August 28, 2019
The stadium the two teams were playing in was in rural Hokkaido and had no lighting. The offensive outburst simply prolonged the game to the point where they wouldn't be able to play the full nine innings with enough natural light.