MORE than a century after it took up baseball, Japan is combining the sport with another American import—efficiency-driven mergers. On September 8th, the owners of Japan's 12 professional baseball teams agreed to approve a merger between two of their members: the Kintetsu Buffaloes, which are owned by a struggling Osaka-based railway operator, and the Orix BlueWave. Two days earlier, anticipating the owners' approval of the deal, Japan's professional baseball players' union announced a limited strike in protest: they will boycott weekend games for the rest of the season.

The merger was necessary, but baseball in Japan is still in trouble. Japanese teams have similar problems to many of the country's non-manufacturing firms: they face increasing competition from overseas, but have been slow to adjust and are saddled with business ties to poor performers in other sectors, such as Daiei, a debt-laden department store.

Globalisation, for one, is taking its toll on the league. But instead of facing foreign companies on Japanese soil, like their counterparts in many other sectors, baseball teams face an overseas exodus of both skilled labour and high-income customers. Three years ago, Ichiro Suzuki turned Japanese heads by going to America's Seattle Mariners and becoming an instant star. Last year, Hideki Matsui, nicknamed Godzilla, left Japan's premier team, the Yomiuri Giants, to join the New York Yankees. This year's big move involved another Matsui, Kazuo, who left for New York's other baseball team, the Mets. One reason American teams can afford to pay these players so much more is because they are able to generate higher profits with such assets than their Japanese counterparts—a phenomenon that is hardly unique to baseball.

Even worse for Japan's baseball owners, however, has been the reaction of supporters. Thrilled by the overseas success of their stars, they are now tuning in to watch American games via satellite. Japanese sports pages and news broadcasts feature statistics and highlights from Japanese players in America, and web sites have sprung up to help supporters follow their heroes. Some fans even spend their holidays flying to the United States on packaged tours to see their favourites play. A weekend series in New York between the two Matsuis beats anything that the Kintetsu Buffaloes can dream up.

Unfortunately, it is even harder to raise productivity in baseball than in many other industries. You cannot put 18 players on the field instead of nine, or have pitchers throw two balls at the same time. So Japanese teams must find some way to boost revenues, by rearranging the two Japanese leagues to make the games more interesting and selling more things to supporters. Further mergers may be part of the solution.