5 things you need to know about the Japan All-Star Series

For the first time since 2006, Major League Baseball is sending some of its top players across the Pacific for a five-game All-Star series against Samurai Japan.

Here are five things you need to know about the competition:

What is it?

A five-game series between MLB All-Stars and Samurai Japan, the country's national team. The tour includes a pair of exhibition games that will bookend the 10-day run, with games played in Osaka, Tokyo, Sapporo and Okinawa.

Who's playing?

Superstars Robinson Cano, Yasiel Puig and Evan Longoria highlight the MLB squad, which also features 2014 batting champs Jose Altuve and Justin Morneau, as well as Japanese pitchers Hisashi Iwakuma and Tsuyoshi Wada.

The AL champion Kansas City Royals are well-represented, with World Series contributors Alcides Escobar, Salvador Perez and Jeremy Guthrie among the players included on the 29-man roster. 

(Courtesy: MLB.com)

Manager John Farrell's group will battle a Samurai Japan team loaded with young talent and potential major leaguers.

Headlining the Japanese roster is 20-year-old phenom Shohei Otani, who's been linked to MLB since he was a teenager. The lanky right-hander possesses record-breaking triple-digit speed, and crafted a 2.61 ERA with 179 strikeouts in 155 1/3 innings this year. Otani also swings a hot stick, as evidenced by his 10 homers and .842 OPS in 212 at-bats.

Another player to watch is right-hander Kenta Maeda (pictured above at the 2013 World Baseball Classic), who's expected to be posted this winter and join the crop of MLB free-agent pitchers. Maeda struck out a team-leading 161 batters in 187 innings for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp this season, pitching to a 2.60 ERA and 1.10 WHIP across 28 starts.

Full rosters: MLB | Samurai Japan

When and how to watch it

The event kicks off Tuesday at 4 a.m. ET (6 p.m. local time) with the MLB squad taking on a combination of two of the country's top domestic teams in exhibition play. Game 1 of the Japan All-Star Series begins Wednesday, with all seven games airing live on MLB Network. 

Each game will be re-broadcast that same night at 9 p.m. ET on MLB Network, while MLB.TV subscribers can follow the action online.

Travel days: Nov. 13, 17, 19.

Rules

Most of the rules in place are designed to protect players, with pitch counts and limits on extra-inning games in effect. If there's a tie after the 10th inning, both teams will begin each of their next two at-bats with their last two outs of the previous inning on first and second base. Games tied after 12 innings will end in a draw (ties in exhibition play will end after nine innings).

Courtesy of MLB.com, here are the rules pertaining to pitch counts:

Pitchers may not throw more than 80 pitches in a game. If a pitcher exceeds that limit while facing a batter, he is allowed to finish the plate appearance, but he must leave the game immediately upon its conclusion.

If a pitcher throws more than 30 pitches in any one outing or appears in two consecutive games, he must have a day of rest before pitching again. This rule does not apply for either of the exhibition games (Nov. 11 and 20).

History

This year's event marks the 11th time MLB is sending players to compete against Japan's top talent, but the first instance in eight years because of the World Baseball Classic.

In previous iterations, all-stars from Nippon Professional Baseball represented the host nation, but Japan elected to send its national team this time around in an effort to engage in high-level competition ahead of the 2017 WBC.

Japan has only won one series in the event's history, in 1990.

- With h/t to MLB.com