Boston Red Sox vs Oakland A’s in Japan for 2008 Opener

The Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics will likely open their MLB season in Japan next year.

Japanese stars Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima will be able to play before their home country fans before heading back to the States to carry on the season.

A's owner, Lew Wolff, likes the idea.

A's player rep, Huston Street, says the club likes the idea.

Previously, "the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs opened the 2000 season with a two-game series in Tokyo, and the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays started the 2004 season with two games in Japan."

A 2003 series opener between Oakland and Seattle didn't pan out because of the war in Iraq.

Baseball officials are also hoping to play exhibition games in Beijing at the complex constructed for the 2008 Olympics.

Yup…Japanese can play baseball, too. And you can watch the games on television until the broadcast time runs out…"kore de jikan desu." 

When I first went to Japan 20+ years ago, I tried to learn to like Japanese baseball, but the games kept getting off in the ninth inning and the only games that were televised were the Yomiuri Giants. I gave up and became a sumo fan…until I learned the matches were rigged.

Still….it's fun to watch Ichiro, Dice-K, Matsui and others show their American counterparts how to play the came.

It's kind of like Toyota, Honda and Nissan showing America's big three how to build cars.

What do you think?