Western League (Japanese baseball) League contains the minor league affiliates of five Japanese professional teams (minor league homefield shown in parentheses): Western League (Japanese baseball) The is one of the two minor leagues ("ni-gun") of Japanese professional baseball. The league is owned and managed by the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Teams in the Western League generally play an 80-game schedule every year. The league was created in 1952 as the Kansai Farm League, and was initially completely separate from the workings of the Nippon Professional Baseball. It featured the minor league teams of the six professional teams that had their homefields
Arizona Winter League spring training section of the league the first week. On December 15 it was announced that Japanese female pitching sensation Eri Yoshida, who became the first female professional pitcher in her home country last summer, will bring her sidearm knuckleball and participate in the 2010 AWL in hopes of attracting the attention of U.S. teams. This should be a tremendous benefit for all the players as the media attention and scout attendance should increase greatly. On February 10, 2010 the New York Mets signed San Luis Atleticos shortstop Rylan Sandoval at the Arizona Winter League and the following week, the