an mlb team plays six games every year.
how many games does an mlb team play?
six games every year
due to an agreement between japanese baseball and the mlb, ichiro was not allowed to play in the united states before 2001. his move to the united states was viewed with some interest because he was among the first japanese position players to play for an mlb team. in the same way that many japanese teams had considered the 18-year-old ichiro too small to draft in 1992, many americans believed he would prove too frail to succeed against major league pitching or endure the longer 162-game season. ichiro made an auspicious debut with seattle, and in the mariners' eighth game revealed his tremendous throwing arm by gunning down oakland's terrence long, who had tried to advance from first to third on a teammate's single to right field. that play would be dubbed "the throw" by japanese media covering ichiro's progress.
ichiro suzuki
under this system, when an npb player is "posted", his npb team notifies the mlb commissioner, with the posting fee based on the type of contract a player signs and its value. the fee is a flat 25% of the value of a minor-league contract; for mlb contracts, the fee is based on the value of the contract that the posted player eventually signs. the player is then given 30 days to negotiate with any mlb team willing to pay the npb team's posting fee. if the player agrees on contract terms with a team before the 30-day period has expired, the npb team receives the posting fee from the signing mlb team as a transfer fee, and the player is free to play in mlb. if no mlb team comes to a contract agreement with the posted player, then no fee is paid, and the player's rights revert to his npb team. the current process replaced one in which mlb held a silent auction during which mlb teams submitted sealed, uncapped bids in an attempt to win the exclusive negotiating rights with the posted player for a period of 30 days. once the highest bidding mlb team was determined, the player could then only negotiate with that team.
posting system