It's the WORLD series.

[lollardfish]

There is a certain snarky line of reasoning that sneers at the phrase, "World Series," saying that it is just another typical example of American over-reaching. How could it be the "world" series when only American teams play?

When confronted with this snark, some point out that it was named after the New York World newspaper, but this is a myth.



But the American major leagues do have the best players in the world, and they are increasingly drawn from all over the globe. A Taiwanese pitcher should be in the top-5 for the Cy Young and his struggles in the post-season doomed the Yankees (hooray!). Many major league clubs have recently formed player-development deals in China. There's a fair chance that a Japanese pitcher will be in the top 10 in baseball next year, if he develops over the off-season as I hope he will. Latinos are dominant in all aspects of the game, even as fewer and fewer African-American young athletic stars choose to play baseball (which some people fret about, or say is racism, but I don't see it - I see basketball hoops in African-American parts of town taking the place of baseball fields, and I see young god-like athletes choosing football or basketball. So what?).

Anyway, the Red Sox starting lineup features: 4 white Americans (one of whom is Jewish), 1 half-navajo American, 3 Dominicans (2 of whom are among the best hitters in the game), and one half-puertorican. They have two Japanese pitchers, one of whom was so successful in the last game that he has become (we think) an instant hero in his country, and the other of whom starts tomorrows game as the most popular athlete in Japan (and it's something of a national disgrace that he's only been average this year).

The Rockies have the usual complement of Latinos and Gringos, but one of the latter is the first Canadian pitcher to start a world-series game.

So yeah, it's not a world championship in the way the World Cup in soccer is. But it's certainly an international game.



All of which is to say, go Red Sox!

Comments

[erik]

Hmmm. I think I agree and also disagree.
Certainly there are players from all corners of the globe playing Major League ball in the USA (And Toronto). But they're all playing in the USA (and Toronto). As far as the average fan is concerned, the New York Yankees are all New York, regardless of the birthplace of the players. For the fan, it's about civic pride. And in that respect, Osaka and Nanjing are totally left out.

"But it's certainly an international game." I'd say it's an American game played by an international cast of players.

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

Right, but the fans in the Dominican and the fans in Japan care an awful lot about what happens in Denver tonight.

[thickie.livejournal.com]

don't forget about kaz matsui (japanese) with the rockies. i can't think of too many other players from the rockies though.

i don't agree with starting ortiz at first. sure, he'll probably get a hit or two, but i think that youkilis gives WAY better defense and still has some good at-bats in him, with pop to boot!

who knows though? only time will tell.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Their devotion is nearly all to their countrymen, though, with only a bit of collateral love for the team that employs them.

K.

[erik]

Yes. But not the same way Osakans do when the Buffalo beat the Carp. They get the whole "Local boy makes good" thing, but they miss out on the larger civic aspects of having your team in the World Series. What should happen is that after the (hopefully renamed) World Series determines the North American Championship, and the Nippon Series determines the Japanese championship, those winners should play each other in a real World Series (Along with the winning teams of any other baseball leagues about which I know not but am sure exist). Then we'd know if the Carp really are better than the Red Sox.

[mizzlaurajean.livejournal.com]

Go team!

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

Well, that would be fine I guess, but the destruction wreaked every year by American winner against, really anyone, would be pretty unfair. And don't "soccer" me. If Real Madrid played the best team in Mexico, it would be a slaughter 19 times out of 20.

[90-percent-sure.livejournal.com]

They better aim for wyoming, because trying to run bases in the thin air is going to be mighty funny to watch, in a painful "I think that man is dying?" way.

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

I'd sit Ortiz this game with the 2-0 lead. but Tito's been right about everything, more or less, this post-season. So ...

[erik]

You don't think that with true international competition, the international leagues would start recruiting the great players that are now drawn to the US? And the ones that are US-raised? Sure it would take quite a while, but I think eventually the bench strength would even out.

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

I'm not convinced because it hasn't happened in soccer. The best players go to Europe. It's different because there are a ton of leagues (England, Italy, France, Spain, Holland, Germany - I think these are the principles) with their own seasons and then champions leagues and the FA cup and such, not to mention the equally great players in the connecting leagues (Scotland, Serbia, Greece, Turkey) that are not quite as good, but are nearly as good (and better than anything in the US), and still play the teams from the top leagues.

Soccer has more true international layers of competition than any other sport. Brazilian soccer, despite all the talent, pretty much stinks. US soccer, despite all the money, pretty much stinks. And so forth. Everywhere else is a training ground for "The Show" - Europe.

True international competition would be fun. I'd love to see the Red Sox play the winners of the Mexican league and the Japanese league. I enjoyed the World Baseball Championship (or whatever it was called), even though most of the best players from the Major Leagues either didn't play or weren't in game shape, but I suspect they can work that out. It probably won't change the fact that the best players in the world come to "the show" - (North) American Major League Baseball - if they can.

A Japanese reporter just said, via translator, that seeing Dice-K face Kaz Matsui today is a bigger story than their own national championship game.