I would like to thank Major League Baseball for ruining my life for at least the next two weeks—maybe more.
Thanks to the "bright idea" to bring the league onto a world stage, I missed Opening Day, or as the league is calling it the Opening Series.
And thanks to this "innovation," the opening day for the rest of the league will be downplayed—not because it is not important, but because opening day technically happened a week earlier.
At 6:00 AM Eastern Standard time.
Was it nice ditching class halfway through Wednesday morning to check the box score of the game? Sure it was, despite the fact that I did not start Rich Harden on my fantasy team and he dominated for six innings.
But it's not something I'd make a point of doing on a regular basis.
What's the point of going to Japan anyway? Yes, it is nice to get the worldwide exposure, but Japan already has baseball—ask Ichiro or Hideo Nomo. I'm pretty sure they would know.
Going to China was fine for two reasons.
For one, China has a large amount of untapped talent, and China has the potential to become an influential market, whether it begins with Major League Baseball or not.
It was also an exhibition game.
There were no dramatic 10-inning heroic endings to be missed, no sparkling pitching performances, and the fantasy leagues were not thrown out of whack at all.
Most importantly, the fans didn't miss out.
And isn't that what matters most?
I know tons of diehard baseball fans who would sit down and watch any two teams in the league play each other.
But getting up at 6:00 AM to watch a game, without Dice-K no less? (That was terrible. They should start posting disclaimers.)
And what about Red Sox Nation?
How many Sox fans (who are employed) were willing to get up at that hour to watch the game? And if they did, did they even have the chance to see the entirety of the game?
Unless you get MLB TV and watch it at work or school instead of doing your job, I highly doubt you got to see the game. (Although that's what the Woz does.)
By trying to capitalize on its popularity on other continents, Major League Baseball ignored the one that care the most about.
In Japan, this was just another game showcasing the stars they loved—like the series they play against the MLB each year.
But for us here in North America, this is a special event that happens only once a year.
It's really too bad we missed it.
4 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Derek Harmsworth about 1 year ago
Yeah, I don't really like it either.
I can see why it is in Japan I guess, I mean they do like their baseball. However, just like the NHL has done this past year, and will the season upcoming, opening the regular season while the pre season is still running is stupid I think.
I mean it doesn't hurt anyone, except maybe confuse the casual fans, but still, it doesn't seem right to me. The season should start when everyone starts it (although I know it would be impossible because of the travel the Sox and the A's have to do.)
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Nino Colla about 1 year ago
It's funny because there is about four freaking events that have OPENING splashed across it.
The Opening Series that this was. Opening Night this coming Sunday... Opening Day will be Monday and you can bet your last penny they call the entire week, "Opening Week".
It's really takes the magic out of opening day. I'm even against opening night. I mean I'm not a traditionalist but that kinda stuff ticks me off. It's not opening day unless it's the first day for real baseball.
I agree with you though, the games in China were cool cause it was exhibition games. They can do that every year for all I care, but don't make them count in the standings.
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Bob Hussey about 1 year ago
Opening in Japan didn't bother me. To me, Opening Day is about watching my team play it's first game of the year, whether live or on the tele. If the Red Sox or A's were my favorite teams, I would probably have a different view. As it is, I'm looking forward to playing hooky on Monday and watching games until my eyes bleed!
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KP Wee about 1 year ago
The way I see it, opening day should be held in one of the teams' own stadium. If Oakland was the designated home team, then the team and its fans were robbed of an extra couple of games.
And worse, if say, the A's miss the post-season by one game or something ridiculous, then it's like they had home-field disadvantage for losing that first one.
The idea of playing real games elsewhere is just silly.
Leave the "out-of-North-America" nonsense for exhibitions/spring training games only.
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