With just two weeks to go until spring training camps open for the 12 Japanese pro baseball teams, here are five things to look for during the 2015 season:

1. How will Japanese players seemingly on the verge of going to the major leagues perform during the coming pivotal season?

Curiously, no high-profile Japanese players are going to the majors this year. Last season, MLB team scouts followed most closely pitchers Chihiro Kaneko of the Orix Buffaloes and Kenta Maeda of the Hiroshima Carp. They also had interest in position players Yoshio Itoi of Orix and Takashi Toritani of the Hanshin Tigers.

None of them wound up going, though, either by posting or free agency, and the radar guns and stop watches will be turned up a notch on these guys — and others — in 2015.

Kaneko needs to post similar numbers as in 2014 when he led the Pacific League with 16 victories and a 1.98 ERA, while Maeda has to improve significantly on his 11-9 record and, of course, both must avoid injuries and especially arm trouble.

If Itoi can repeat and win another batting title, he could be the No. 1 player of interest to MLB personnel next winter. Toritani has apparently given up his aspirations of playing in the majors and will most likely end his career with another three-to-five years as the Hanshin shortstop, and it is just as well.

2. How will foreign players remaining in Japan but changing teams and leagues cope with the adjustment of a new situation?

So far, four foreigners are switching teams, and it will be interesting to see if they can make a smooth transition to a new environment. Tony Blanco, Bryan Bullington and Kam Mickolio are moving from the Central League to the Pacific, while Jose Lopez will stay in the CL but with a different club.

Normally, there should be no problem, but sometimes there is a lack of chemistry with the change of scenery and life in a new uniform in a new city with a new manager and teammates.

First baseman Blanco will be playing for his third team in Japan, having previously made a move from the Chunichi Dragons to the Yokohama BayStars in 2013 when he won the Central League batting and RBI titles. He’s now with the Buffaloes along with starting pitcher Bullington, who makes the cross-league jump after three seasons with the Hiroshima Carp.

Hurler Mickolio also leaves Hiroshima after two years and will probably be the closer for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and fiery first-year skipper Hiromoto “Big Dave” Okubo.

Lopez led the Yomiuri Giants with 22 home runs in 2014, but it appeared his confidence was dealt a blow during the second half of the season when his playing time was reduced, and his batting average slipped to .243. He will presumably be taking over for Blanco as the Yokohama first sacker and should get the chance to play every day for the BayStars.

There were also rumors circulating about Wily Mo Pena possibly signing with Rakuten after having been let go by the Buffaloes.

3. What effect will the new interleague schedule and format have on the pennant races?

The number of interleague games for each NPB team will be reduced this year from 24 to 18, and the total number of games each team will play will be 143, one fewer than in 2014. That means more games between teams in their own leagues and it should lessen the chance of a sub-.500 team making the post-season.

It should also be an easier time for team travel and the schedule makers, not having to deal with those annoying two-game series any more.

4. How will this year’s baseball fly?

No one in Japanese baseball hit 40 home runs last season; Hiroshima Carp slugger Brad Eldred led both leagues with 37, and the most hit in the Pacific League by anyone was 34, compiled by two Seibu Lions players, Ernesto Mejia and Takeya Nakamura.

That followed the 60-homer performance of Tokyo Yakult Swallows fence-buster Wladimir Balentien the year before.

We went through those two dead ball years in 2011-12, then saw that huge controversy in 2013 when the ball was made livelier than ever without notice. What will it be this coming season — boom or bust?

5. Will there be an announcement of a 2016 MLB-opening series in Japan?

If the chronological sequence holds, a couple of major league teams would open the 2016 season in Japan. MLB official openers were staged at Tokyo Dome in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012.

The New York Mets under manager Bobby Valentine, the New York Yankees with Hideki Matsui, the Boston Red Sox with Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Seattle Mariners with Ichiro Suzuki are among the American and National League teams to have participated in Japan openers.

If a 2016 MLB opening series is to take place, an announcement should be made later this year, and it would be most welcome after the successful return last autumn of nichibei yakyu (Japanese-American baseball) when a visiting team of major league all-stars played in Japan for the first time since 2006.

*** Contact Wayne Graczyk at: Wayne@JapanBall.com