The voice of reason
Jayson Stark says that the Yankees / Devil Rays series in Japan is not a good idea, since it puts these teams at a disadvantage with regard to the other 28 Major League clubs.
I don't fully agree with him, because if you're going to make a concerted effort to increase baseball's international appeal, you are, at some point, going to have to take it into some new and not necessarily user-friendly time-zones (e.g. Japan). Not only that, but you're going to have to serve up something appetizing for the fans there - exhibition games are fine, but they're like the McDonald's of the baseball world - they taste great and fill you up for a little while, but at the end of the day, it's still fast-food and not very satisfying.
Having MLB players go out to Japan (or elsewhere) to play games which actually mean something is good for the game, because it shows international fans what 'real' games are like (because let's face it, exhibition games are seldom managed or played in the same way as regular season games). Major League Baseball is also showing an inherent sense of respect towards those same international fans by giving them 'the real deal', and not some sort of glorified fantasy baseball game.
Oh yeah, and there's one more reason why it's a good thing: it's a good thing because it means that I can actually sit in my office and follow Opening Day on my PC whilst 'working', rather than having to stay up until some ungodly hour of the morning. I'd quite like to keep the job I have, so I won't be listening or watching the game - I'll just have the Gameday log open on MLB.com, but who cares? Baseball is back!
So, without further ado, please allow me to say those two magic words we've been waiting for since October:
"Play ball!" :-)
I don't fully agree with him, because if you're going to make a concerted effort to increase baseball's international appeal, you are, at some point, going to have to take it into some new and not necessarily user-friendly time-zones (e.g. Japan). Not only that, but you're going to have to serve up something appetizing for the fans there - exhibition games are fine, but they're like the McDonald's of the baseball world - they taste great and fill you up for a little while, but at the end of the day, it's still fast-food and not very satisfying.
Having MLB players go out to Japan (or elsewhere) to play games which actually mean something is good for the game, because it shows international fans what 'real' games are like (because let's face it, exhibition games are seldom managed or played in the same way as regular season games). Major League Baseball is also showing an inherent sense of respect towards those same international fans by giving them 'the real deal', and not some sort of glorified fantasy baseball game.
Oh yeah, and there's one more reason why it's a good thing: it's a good thing because it means that I can actually sit in my office and follow Opening Day on my PC whilst 'working', rather than having to stay up until some ungodly hour of the morning. I'd quite like to keep the job I have, so I won't be listening or watching the game - I'll just have the Gameday log open on MLB.com, but who cares? Baseball is back!
So, without further ado, please allow me to say those two magic words we've been waiting for since October:
"Play ball!" :-)
posted by Iain at
09:59
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