November 14, 2007
Oakland in Japan
The Boston Red Sox open the season on the road against the Oakland Athletics. The first two games, however, take place in Tokyo.
Boston and Oakland will be the third set of teams to open the regular season at the Tokyo Dome, following the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs (2000), and the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2004). A scheduled 2003 series between Oakland and Seattle at the Tokyo Dome was canceled because of the threat of war in Iraq.
"Opening our regular season in Japan for the third time is another example of Major League Baseball's commitment to continue the global growth of the game," commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement.
I still wish MLB would do more to make the Japanese leagues more competitive with the North American leagues. Free trading between the teams, and free agents going both ways, as well as eliminating the draft to allow players to sign anywhere in the world.
The Japanese leagues will never agree to that, and MLB has no power to make it happen (nor should they have that power).