"World Cup" of Baseball set up for 2006
 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2057633

Holy shit, this is the best news I've heard in quite some time. Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Puerto Rico, Panama, US, Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the Netherlands, and Australia are apparently confirmed. South Africa, Cuba, and Italy are, according to the article, "likely". None of these countries are a surprise to me, although there are a couple more I would have expected (Columbia, perhaps?).

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page...oenfield/050511

Here's another article, but this one is more about speculation on what the lineups of the more well-represented countries will look like and how they will fare in the tournament. The US and Dominican look absolutely stacked. Venezuela looks amazing as well. Puerto Rico has an awesome offense, but weak pitching. And Canada... well, I can laugh about that later.

If I were Canada, I'd kidnap players from the Blue Jays and force them to play, citing the fact that they already play for a team in Canada and are therefore Canadian in spirit.

Damn..I like more players on the Dominican Republic team than on the U.S. team.Sammy Sosa(my favorite player),David Ortiz,Soriano,Tejada...This is fantastic news.I thought Manny Ramirez was a different nationality,shocked to see him on the U.S. team.

In Germany we know what "Baseball" is, but that's all. This sport isn't popular here. So it's no wonder that I don't know much about the rules.
But in America it seems to be a very popular sport, isn't it ?

I suppose it was orgnised by the US. Which is why Cuba isn't there, depsite being one of the best countries for baseball.

Manny is from the Dominican Republic, but he's a US citizen. I'd be pissed if he played for the Dominican, he's my favorite hitter and he plays for my favorite team- now he should play for my country, which he is now a citizen of.



My understanding (and I could be wrong) is that it was organized by MLB. I've been hearing rumors about something like this for years, I can't believe it's actually going to happen. Cuba will almost certainly be there, they just aren't official yet because their invitation must be "cleared by the U.S. State Department and then subject to approval by Fidel Castro", according to the article. Makes sense to me. Some of the players in the MLB have actually defected from Cuba seeking asylum here. I wonder who they would play for, if anybody?

someone told me japan has the best league, and that they could destroy any american team, so i'd be curious to see a US-japan showdown. i dont follow baseball, but that would be something i'd watch. or even a US-Cuba game

Hahahahaha what the fuck is Australia doing in with that lot? We even PLAY baseball? That's fucking news.

No. Japan is a great baseball country, but their major leagues are quite inferior to ours. Guys that are mediocre in the MLB that go to Japan end up looking good. Guys that are good in the MLB that go to Japan look great in thier league. The Japanese league teams are roughly the equivalent as AAA teams. AAA is the highest level in minor league baseball (the others being rookie league, single A, and double A).

The only thing going for Japan is that they have somewhere around 10-15 guys that are good enough to play MLB in the US, so those guys would (or could, anyway) go play for Japan.

That was EXACTLY my thought!!!

cool competition. I've visited the major tournaments in holland often, with the netherlands, japan, cuba and canada. Now let's see if we are any good international (besides winning the european cup)

btw, why is this the fucking "world cup". The American cup should be called American Cup, not world cup. Silly y'all

Ja, was spielst du im Deutschland?

That's awesome. I think it's great that Cuba and the US will have a chance to compete together outside the Olympics.