The least successful ball club in Central League history, the Yokohama BayStars appear poised on the verge of respectability.

Coming out of nowhere, the young and cocky team nearly grabbed the 1997 pennant from front-runner Yakult in August. But stumbling on their own naive enthusiasm, the BayStars found themselves on the losing end of a no-hitter then dropped like a falling star out of the pennant race, finishing a distant second.

Often compared to the Chicago Cubs, the BayStars haven't won a pennant or a Japan Series championship since 1960. Founded in 1950 by the Taiyo fishing company and known as the Whales until 1993, the ball club has only managed ten winning seasons despite having great players like 193 game winner Noboru Akiyama and slugger Makoto Matsubara, who hit 301 home runs in the 1960s and '70s.

Their pessimism well-founded, Yokohama fans are now wondering if 1997 was a fluke or he start of a new trend.

In 1998, look for the fluke theory to prevail. Successful manager Akihiko Oya was surprisingly fired after leading the BayStars to their best finish in over 30 years. Star outfielder Toshio Haru, indicted for participating in a tax evasion conspiracy, will be suspended for almost two months at the beginning of the season.

Batting champion Takanori Suzuki and several other Yokohama players compiled career highs in 1997 and they'll have a tough time repeating. Even if new manager Hiroshi Gondo succeeds in keeping the BayStars on a winning path, second baseman Bobby Rose and all-star fireman Kazuhiro Sasaki both appear willing to bolt the team at first chance.

Playing in Yokohama Stadium since 1978, the BayStars home ballpark lies in one of the best locations in Japan, a few blocks from Chinatown and the waterfront. The high outfield walls may cut down on the number of home runs, but the steep seating puts fans right on top of the action.

While Yokohama is the only Central League team in the Tokyo metropolitan area that schedules afternoon games on weekends, the dull multipurpose ballpark with hidden bullpens features perhaps the most obnoxious mascots in Japan, a family of Carl's Jr. clones.