What's the future of baseball in Japan as the best players leave for MLB?

TOKYO — Shohei Ohtani is widely regarded as the best player in Major League Baseball. He's among many Japanese stars who have left to play in North America. It's a source of national pride, as is Ichiro Suzuki who enters the the Baseball Hall of Fame later this year, the first Japanese so honored. But what happens to baseball in Japan if all the top players leave for the United States? There are reasons to worry back home. About a dozen Japanese played last season in MLB and the number seems sure to increase.

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