World Baseball Classic in San Juan
As you probably now, there's going to be a tournament of 16 countries next spring to determine a true World Champion in baseball.
Well, it would be a true World Championship if MLB Commissioner Bud Selig would lay out rules for eligibility. So far he hasn't - only to decree that some players (i.e. Alex Rodriguez) will be placed on rosters regardless of their personal preference. If Olympic rules were used, Rodriguez would be allowed to play for the Dominican Republic. That lineup already includes the likes of Vladimir Guerrero, Manny Ramirez, and David Ortiz. Adding ARod to that mix would almost make them the prohibitive favorite. It seems that Selig is going to intervene and ask ARod to play for the USA - although it's against ARod's wishes.
In more recent news, it was announced that games for rounds 1 and 2 will be played in San Juan. This is an interesting development as we learned during the Expos visits to Hiram Bithorn Stadium that the park is a bit of a band box. Expect high powered offenses to prevail and for pitching to play a large role. This announcement makes for an interesting development. For rounds one and two, teams that are sent to Puerto Rico will likely want to focus on power. However, should they make it to the finals, which will be held at San Diego's Petco Park, they'll need to switch gears to focus on pitching - as Petco is not very power friendly. I wonder if the drastic differences between the two parks was an accident or if it was done intentionally to make things more difficult for certain countries.
Well, it would be a true World Championship if MLB Commissioner Bud Selig would lay out rules for eligibility. So far he hasn't - only to decree that some players (i.e. Alex Rodriguez) will be placed on rosters regardless of their personal preference. If Olympic rules were used, Rodriguez would be allowed to play for the Dominican Republic. That lineup already includes the likes of Vladimir Guerrero, Manny Ramirez, and David Ortiz. Adding ARod to that mix would almost make them the prohibitive favorite. It seems that Selig is going to intervene and ask ARod to play for the USA - although it's against ARod's wishes.
In more recent news, it was announced that games for rounds 1 and 2 will be played in San Juan. This is an interesting development as we learned during the Expos visits to Hiram Bithorn Stadium that the park is a bit of a band box. Expect high powered offenses to prevail and for pitching to play a large role. This announcement makes for an interesting development. For rounds one and two, teams that are sent to Puerto Rico will likely want to focus on power. However, should they make it to the finals, which will be held at San Diego's Petco Park, they'll need to switch gears to focus on pitching - as Petco is not very power friendly. I wonder if the drastic differences between the two parks was an accident or if it was done intentionally to make things more difficult for certain countries.
posted by Mike @ Tuesday, October 11, 2005
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