Shiba Taguchi, Ryukyu Sports News

Naha, Okinawa – December 26, 2022: Last season, rain fell on fifty-six of the eighty-one Shisa home games played (or sixty-three of the eighty-eight home games that would eventually be scheduled). Not all of this precipitation resulted in rain-outs (there were seven), delays (there were thirty-three), or games being called early (there were four), but the team’s front office believes that adverse weather depressed both attendance and television ratings, hurting the team’s bottom line.

“Obviously, it’s bad for the fans attending the game, first of all,” said GM Morris Ragland at today’s press conference, fresh from his trip to the league’s Winter Meetings. “The game day experience in Okinawa last season was poor, let’s be honest. Our primary responsibility as a baseball club is to the fans, to provide an experience that is entertaining and enjoyable, and this past year we simply failed to do that.”

“Second of all,” Ragland continued, “there is the issue of the integrity of the game itself to be considered. Any time that a team is not given its allotted twenty-seven outs, as happened four times last year, the result of the contest is brought into question. Moreover, in all candor we must admit that in many games our often saturated grass playing surface was not of the world class caliber that visiting teams expect to find when they play games here in Naha.”

Even before the season ended, as the Shisa played their final series on the road at Crystal Lake, construction crews descended on Shisa Stadium, erecting twenty-foot high fences around the facility that blocked any view of the work being done within. Rumors abounded and many fans went online and asked what sort of work was going on behind that fence, and whether Shisa stadium was being renovated or torn down. The Shisa front office, however, was silent on their plans, issuing a brief press release saying only that the “nature and scope of the project will be revealed following the Winter Meetings.”

“We have concluded that playing in an open air stadium in Okinawa is simply not feasible. It is self-defeating from an economic standpoint and harming this team’s ability to compete,” said Ragland. “Therefore, we are announcing that the club will be relocating to Sydney, Australia for the 2024 season.” After a few moments of stunned silence, Ragland added, “just kidding.”

“Today the club announces that we will be constructing a temporary dome over Shisa Stadium,” said the GM. “The foundation for this structure is laid, and once the concrete is cured, you will see the steel ribs of this construction go up. The facility will be ready by April, when we plan to host a regional high school baseball tournament. Let no one doubt this team’s commitment to professional baseball in Okinawa, both now and in the future.”

Ragland noted that for baseball purists, particularly in North America, the word ‘dome’ has some generally negative connotations, conjuring images of dark and dreary structures of the former MLB. “For those concerned about changes that might be coming,” he said, “we ask you to trust us. Much careful planning has gone into the design of the grounds, and I believe that the baseball community as a whole will be pleased with these changes. Moreover, I believe that our fans will be delighted.”

In 2022 the Shisa recorded only one home sellout. This was the August 23^rd 4-2 win over the Ghosts. The weather that day? Clear and seventy-eight degrees.