Striking Out

In the 70-year history of Japanese professional baseball, the word "strike" has meant only one thingand it wasn't a labor walkout. Japanese players are loyal company men first, superstars second, and even in a reform-minded era, baseball is a time capsule of old-fashioned hierarchy. So when players threatened a strike (albeit only on weekend games) last week to protest a plan to combine the two professional leagues and merge the debt-strapped Kintetsu Buffaloes into the Orix BlueWave, it was clear that something was very wrong.

A stopgap deal agreed to by owners last Friday aims to keep...