Turning Japanese, Baseball Style

2008 メジャーリーグの季節の開始へのこんにちはそして歓迎。(For those of you who don't know Japanese, myself included, it translates "Hello and welcome to the start of the 2008 Major League Baseball season). The season begun officially early this morning here and in the evening in Japan. The two game series (with games on Monday and Tuesday) pit the defending World Series Champion Boston Red Sox against the Oakland A's. The Red Sox won the first game 6-5 in 10 innings.

This is the third time the MLB season has started in Japan. In 2000, the Chicago Cubs played the New York Mets and in 2004, the New York Yankees played the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Much has been made about these type of trips overseas. The underlying factor seems to be money as the main factor for these series.

My personal view is that I love the trips...in an exhibition sense. It's cool to see the culture and tradition of the Japanese in display in such a manner. And it's cool to see players get to play in stadiums that they wouldn't normally play. However, I don't think it's fair for either team if it's considered a regular season game because 1) the "away" team has to deal with the grueling travel. For the Red Sox, they will be essentially 19 days away from home before they have a home game. 2) the "home" team loses two games that would have been played in their home stadium. The A's essentially lose home field advantage and if the race for the division comes down to a game or two, those games not played on their home field could make a difference.

I know for most people, they don't consider the start of the regular season to begin until Sunday and I would tend to agree. But for the pagentry, this is a cool way to kick off the baseball season. Hopefully come June, this two game series in Japan won't be a detriment to them.