On March 25 and 26, the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics played 2 regular season Major League Baseball games at Tokyo Dome.
The Seibu Lions added the prefecture name "Saitama" in front of the team name starting with this season.
In late June, the Free Agency regulation was amended after negotiation between the players committee and owners.
Alex Ramírez, who served 8 playing years in Japan, became a "local player" after the season.
Note: All of the games that are played in the first two rounds of the Climax Series are held at the higher seed's home stadium.