Oakland Park Baseball

This isn't MLB, but did anyone watch the WBC Championship? It was AWESOME. I was rooting for Korea but knew we were screwed when they brought out Darvish...what a badass. His slider would scare the crap out of me.

The WBC has been a bad rap in the media but I enjoyed all the games I watched. It was good to see a team like the Netherlands play good ball and I also thought it was something to see competitive games between the Asian teams and Latin American teams. I don't pretend to know the logistics of this but what of a REAL World Series with our "World Series" champion vs. an Asian league (Korea/Japan) champion. That would make for a great series. Again I know there are some logistical hindrances but something to dream about.

With the time differences, this might be difficult to orchestrate, but I think that a Japanese team should be entered into the MLB mix. They have some outstanding talent over there and we already have longstanding baseball agreements with them. I bet that if they fielded the best of the best over there in Japan we would be in for a real challenge.

I'm sure there are other things that are making this integration impossible right now, but I'm not well-versed in the dealings between MLB and NPB. We can clearly see, however, from the WBC interest that there would be considerable monetary gain to be had by this sort of integration, so the financial incentive is definitely there.

I didn't have TV, but following it online was great! It's just going to grow from here. I mean, who gave a fuck about the winter Olympics in the 20s or 30s?

Actually, who cares about that now... but you get the point.

Victor,

I've thought the same thing, but incorporating a Japanese team into MLB would be a logistical nightmare. You'd have to devote a getaway day AND a jetlag day. Not only for the 18-hour flight, but the 6-hour time difference.

Selig flirted with the idea last year, starting the season off with a Red Sox / A's series in Japan, with mild interest by the players themselves. Not only do the two leagues need to agree on which teams to include, but the MLBPA also has to approve of the deal or we'll see another players' strike right when baseball has regained the popularity it needs to compete with other major US sports.

Also, consider the shame that patriots everywhere would feel if our best team lost to the "other guys." The percentage of Americans who feel this way is rather unsettling, even today.

I attended the finals... I was rooting for Korea. I can't believe they didn't intentionally walk Ichiro with 1st base open at the end of the game. How the fuck do you let Ichiro bat in that scenario?!?

Hah! Hah! All these Korea fans. I was there too, among about fifty or so Japan fans in the whole damn stadium. The problem is that Koreans keep immigrating and Japanese people have become so white... like me. Up with Japan!

Rock.

That was a great final to attend, no doubt. Unfortunately, for me, if I had been rooting for Japan (eventual winner) it wouldn't have felt right for me. Check it out: Rockies in 07, Rays in 08... if I'm there, my team has to choke it turns out. We'll see at the end of the month whether the trend continues. It will come down to whether anyone can beat ANA or NYY, since I'm rooting NL for sure.

I ended up identifying more with the Korean team since I'm an A's, not a Red Sox, fan.