You went so far…
As to create the World Baseball Classic, in an effort to bring a global feel to the game when the Olympics dumped baseball, yet you still have yet to create International Major League Baseball teams other than Toronto. America’s Pastime has become a global game, yet the League has not. Start small; maybe absorb the Japanese League and its players. I understand that the league is really watered down, pitching is a concern for most teams, and the talent pool for good, young arms has nearly dried up. Much of this can be attributed to kids injuring their elbows by throwing curveballs in Little Leagues (for all my readers who have young children, especially boys, don’t let them throw a curve before they can shave), along with the whole ESPN “Chicks Dig The Longball” campaign. No one wants to pitch anymore. In Japan, they play the game with such passion and reverence for the way the game should be played. It could very well infuse a crop of players that could reinvigorate the game. MLB has stressed that they want to get away from the whole steroid issue, the best way to do that is to have new stars come in and change the way Americans think about the game. Think about it, how can you have a World Series between teams based in Boston, Mass and Denver, Colorado, when teams in Tokyo, Mexico City, London, Berlin and the like didn’t even have representation? Skeptics will say that realigning the league would be torturous, travel arrangements a pain, etc, etc. As I write this blog, the Boston Red Sox are playing against the Oakland A’s in the Tokyo Dome, Japan, and most of the NPB teams are in Tokyo or the relative vicinity; this blows the travel issues. As for realigning the league; you keep the Divisional format, since NPB has divisions as well. You simply add one of the NPB divisions to the American League, and one to the National League. If they truly wanted to make it a global game, they would easily find a way to get it done.
Making 8:10am count,
J
