Tonight history will be made when Cuba and Japan square off in the first ever World Baseball Classic Final.

Let’s absorb that for a second… Cuba and Japan. A sum total of two MLB players (Ichiro from the Mariners and pitcher Akinori Otsuka of the Rangers, both on the Japan roster. Cuba, due to international politics, has no MLB players). In international competition, Cuba and Japan have met 37 times. Cuba has pasted Japan in this department winning 33 of the 37 games.

Is this what MLB wanted?

On one hand, the game will show its international flavor. If that was the plan, then they’re getting what they wanted.

Let reality take over. If that were the case, would Mike Piazza have been playing for Italy? Clearly, MLB was stacking the “international deck” to spread MLB talent around–a showcase for Major League Baseball before the Championship Season starts.

Here’s the thing… The game is, most likely, going to be great. Will it be embarassing from a political perspective if Cuba wins on US soil? Maybe, but then the question is, “Who cares?”

If quality baseball were the requisite, then quality games have been played. Yes, the pitch counts have caused many to say that it’s no more than exhibition styled baseball. Yes, the tie breaker rules would make Einstein’s head spin. Overall, however, the WBC has been better than expected.

What is certain? MLB would have much rather have had the US in the finals. The ratings for tonight’s game will bear that out.

Padres wind up paying $125,000 to host games at Petco

With security and added police patrols added to the WBC games at Petco Park, the Padres will wind up paying $125,000 in added costs. The Padres tried to pass this off on the City of San Diego through ballpark operating agreement that requires the city to pay for security outside Petco Park. But as Mayor Sanders said, the “regular operating agreement didn’t apply.” As Sanders further said, “In our estimation, this is not a Padres game. This is a special event.”

Who’s watching?

As of March 17th…

• ESPN averaged an 0.8/ (730,000) cable rating.
• Through 19 games on ESPN2 the average was 0.6/ (522,000).
• ESPN’s four live games garnered an average of a 1.0/ (930,000).
• ESPN2’s coverage of the 10 live games averaged an 0.8/ (762,000).

This entry was posted on Monday, March 20th, 2006 at 12:59 pm and is filed under Baseball Insight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.