Baseball commissioner Katsuhiko Kumazaki indicated Monday he is considering a plan to punish teams that fail to play games faster.

In the annual battle to reduce the time of games, the commissioner, who visited the 12 teams, said punishments were discussed. The results of a survey that was conducted will be debated when an exploratory committee convenes on Thursday.

Among the ideas brought up by the managers were shortening the length of music accompanying the entrance of players, making between-inning events more compact, shortening the amount of time it takes to get the ball back to a pitcher after a pitch and curtailing the number of pitches needed for an intentional walk.

In 2014, an average Central League game required three hours, 21 minutes to play, a minute longer than the year before. The Pacific League held steady from 2013 at three hours, 23 minutes.

Major League Baseball this year announced that batters will be required to keep one foot in the batter’s box at all times except in specific cases, such as timeouts, wild pitches and passed balls.

Fighters sell out opener

Sapporo KYODO

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters fans have flocked to buy tickets to the club’s season opener following the announcement that hard-throwing right-hander Shohei Otani will pitch on Opening Day.

The Pacific League club announced Monday that tickets for the March 27 game against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles have sold out. According to a team official, it was the franchise’s fastest sellout since it moved from Tokyo to Sapporo in 2004.

Seats that are usually not put up for sale, such as those from where parts of the field cannot be seen, will go on sale on March 12.