Owner of NPB champion challenges Red Sox to world championship

[Hoplite]

 
 
Hiroshi Mikitani, the owner of the Rakuten Golden Eagles, is apparently a little taken aback by the claim from the Red Sox that they are world champions. Given that Major League Baseball teams are based in only two countries, it is admittedly difficult to claim such an international prize as the title "world champions" implies. And since Mikitani's Golden Eages won the Japan Series earlier this year, he feels that the two champions should meet to decide the rightful world champion.

 

 
 
That said, there is precedent. In early 2006, the then-World Series champion Chicago White Sox took on the Japan Series champion Chiba Lotte Marines (managed by a man infamously familiar to Red Sox fans). The White Sox swept aside the Marines, despite some pre-series boasting from Bobby V.

 
http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2013/12/10/owner-of-japanese-champions-wants-to-challenge-red-sox/
 
Let's be honest, this would be a lot more exciting than the World Baseball Classic. It's probably not possible now that members of the Red Sox have signed elsewhere. But how great would this be for baseball and the two cities?

 

[Rasputin]

 
 
http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2013/12/10/owner-of-japanese-champions-wants-to-challenge-red-sox/
 
Let's be honest, this would be a lot more exciting than the World Baseball Classic. It's probably not possible now that members of the Red Sox have signed elsewhere. But how great would this be for baseball and the two cities?

 
Don't you be dissing the WBC, it is some high caliber fun.
 
But this would be awesome, too.

 

[Rough Carrigan]

This is a bit like the top team in the Pacific Coast League taking umbrage at the Red Sox calling themselves world champions.  As soon as there's an MLB player who's the recognized best pitcher or position player who leaves and goes to play in NPB for a greater challenge, then we'll take this seriously.

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

This would be f'ing awesome.  I mean, how much fun would it be to see our heroes mow down a bunch of fools in a post-WS victory lap?  This isn't football where every game could be a life-altering injury for players.
 
And forget B-P's fake precedent with Bobby V... Babe f'ing Ruth used to go barnstorming in the Pacific in the offseason.
 
We could plug JBJ in at CF and send over the team we've got.  You know who would enjoy clowning Rakuten's lineup the most?  Koji.
 
Get it done, Theo Ben JWH Bud.
 
edit: this should be on the main board.  It's Red Sox-related.

 

[WayBackVazquez]

That said, there is precedent. In early 2006, the then-World Series champion Chicago White Sox took on the Japan Series champion Chiba Lotte Marines (managed by a man infamously familiar to Red Sox fans). The White Sox swept aside the Marines, despite some pre-series boasting from Bobby V.
 

 
Can't tell if OP or writer of this "article" thinks this actually happened.

 

[sabrhagen99]

Curiously, our newly-signed Shunsuke Watanabe was the losing pitcher in the final game of that theoretical series.

 

[ForceAtHome]

 
Can't tell if OP or writer of this "article" thinks this actually happened.

 
It's not like the "article" has this disclaimer at the top right under the byline...
 

 
Note: The Battle of Champions is a theoretical series between the 2005 World Series Champion Chicago White Sox and the 2005 Nippon Series Champion Chiba Lotte Marines. We are using Diamond Mind Baseball to simulate the best-of-seven series.
 

 

[rembrat]

I thought guys barnstormed because they were fucking broke.

 

[Frank Fenway]

I thought guys barnstormed because they were fucking broke.

 
Solution: Send the Paw Sox. Some of those guys make 25k/year. 

 

[bankshot1]

Take the offer, with a side bet. If Rakuten win they get Dempster, if the sox win they get Tanaka. 

 

[Frank Fenway]

Take the offer, with a side bet. If Rakuten win they get Dempster, if the sox win they get Tanaka. 

 
Oh fuck yeah.

 

[AbbyNoho]

I'm sure the Yankees will be fine with Ellsbury playing. 

 

[terrisus]

Take the offer, with a side bet. If Rakuten win they get Dempster, if the sox win they get Tanaka. 

 
 

I'm sure the Yankees will be fine with Ellsbury playing. 

 
These are both very good suggestions/ideas.

 

[Cumberland Blues]

I thought guys barnstormed because they were fucking broke.

 
So we give Schilling a start?

 

[TheYaz67]

I hear Mark Mulder is available for duty, so that Clay doesn't accidentally pull a back muscle sleeping awkwardly during the 12 hour flight and miss 2 months.

 

[Hoplite]

There never was an actual series, I just found that entertaining. And there was a bit of truth to it, Valentine did in fact challenge the White Sox to play for a championship. There would be a host of issues that would prevent this from happening, including free agents, players not being in game shape, the difference in the size of the baseball between leagues, etc. But there is a bit of a precedent, we did play those exhibition games against Japanese teams in 2008. There were multiple "barnstorming" trips made by groups of MLB players in Japan. One trip in 1934 was so successful that it lead to the creation of professional baseball in Japan. To this day, there's a Babe Ruth statue in Sendai where the Rakuten Golden Eagles play.
 

 

[terrisus]

Baseball World Tours would be a fun idea. It's been done before too.
 

 

[Hoplite]

Baseball World Tours would be a fun idea. It's been done before too.
 

 
More recently, there used to be exhibition games played between MLB players and NPB players every two years before the creation of the WBC. They played each other 10 times between 1986 and 2006.

 

[cannonball 1729]

You don't even have to go back that far.  The Sox played the Yomiuri Giants during spring training in 2008.  The Sox won, 9-2.

 

[Hoplite]

You don't even have to go back that far.  The Sox played the Yomiuri Giants during spring training in 2008.  The Sox won, 9-2.

 
I remember them playing a team in 2008, but I couldn't remember who it was. What a nightmare that Opening Series was. Nothing dampers Opening Day more than 5 am start times.

 

[Fred not Lynn]

Of course Mikitani should recognize the logistical challenge of a series, and propose a one-game winner take all Championship.

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

I say hold a 7-game exhibition series, all the games of which would be in the home country of the team that previously won the series (so the visitors have to fly over and take the trophy from the league that was the reigning champ).  You could fly around and hold the games at different cities in either Japan or the US.  
 
Of course, it'll never happen, but it would help promote the sport, and it would be a lot of fun.  What other US professional sport plays other countries' winning teams, the way the UEFA Champions League works or something?  NBA players sometimes play FIBA championships, but that's more analogous to the Olympics than to a club-team meta-championship.

 

[TomRicardo]

It is a lot of fun until one of your pitchers tears a muscle in a meaningless game and needs Tommy John surgery

 

[Conigliaro's Potential]

It is a lot of fun until one of your pitchers tears a muscle in a meaningless game and needs Tommy John surgery

 
"Meaninglessness" is clearly in the eye of the beholder. Why shouldn't there be more trophies to play for? The WBC already has meaning to the players (if not some team-oriented fans), and this sort of series could also have extra meaning over time - sort of like baseball's version of the Ryder Cup, in which the US used to routinely beat the snot out of GB&I but then they added the rest of Europe and eventually it became one of the most compelling sporting events in the world. (A better precedent is the World Club Championship in soccer, which usually features the European and South American champions in the final; it's not the most important trophy, but it's one that the players really want to win.)
 
Heck, I'd love to see the regular season cut to 154 games so that a separate knockout "cup" competition could be implemented - five rounds, single-elimination, all 30 teams take part, last year's league champions get first-round byes, statistics count toward regular season totals. Play one round each month starting in April, and crown the winner in August, just before football season starts. Every team in the league would have a shot at winning. What's not to like?

 

[Wake's knuckle]

Design it as part of Spring Training -- the injuries that might theoretically occur would have theoretically occurred anyway, and the players will be in game shape. Oh, and invite them come over here to play us. We get a few extra home games (and thereby extra cash) out of it, so it's worth the trouble for our ownership and our players don't have to risk that damned jetlag crap screwing up the start of the season.

 

[mt8thsw9th]

It is a lot of fun until one of your pitchers tears a muscle in a meaningless game and needs Tommy John surgery

I'd be more concerned if they started replacing muscles with ligaments.

 

[WayBackVazquez]

It's not like the "article" has this disclaimer at the top right under the byline...

Yes, that simulation discussion has a disclaimer, but the article cited in the OP does not. Most hyperlinks in articles don't get clicked on.

 

[Fred not Lynn]

For what it's worth, Rakuten has a starting pitcher that some Major League teams might have been willing to pay upwards of $50 Million just to negotiate with. In a one game deal, with Tanaka starting, I wouldn't say that a Red Sox win is a foregone conclusion at all.
 
Which is exactly why baseball shouldn't do one-game elimination events. Yeah, I'm talking to you, Mr. Wildcard play-in game...

 

[Hoplite]

As far as the series being meaningless, every meaningful sporting event has to start somewhere. To the largest baseball market in the world (the good ol' US of A), this series would probably have more meaning than the WBC. I love the idea of the WBC, but from the American perspective it's been a major flop. Teams with hundreds of millions of dollars invested in their players simply don't want them risking injury. And having it during Spring Training when players aren't quite yet in game shape seems to add to the injury concern.
 
In 1887, when the phrase "World Championship" was coined, it made sense. We were the only country in the world that cared about baseball. And in 1903 when the owner of the Pirates proposed a "World Series" against the Boston Americans, it was to sell tickets. They made it a best of nine series to maximize revenue. Owners don't have the revenue incentive to play the games under the system of the World Baseball Classic.

 

[rembrat]

For what it's worth, Rakuten has a starting pitcher that some Major League teams might have been willing to pay upwards of $50 Million just to negotiate with. In a one game deal, with Tanaka starting, I wouldn't say that a Red Sox win is a foregone conclusion at all.
 
Which is exactly why baseball shouldn't do one-game elimination events. Yeah, I'm talking to you, Mr. Wildcard play-in game...

 
Still doubting the 2013 Boston Red Sox even after a World Series win. You can go jump in a lake, sir.

 

[Awesome Fossum]

"Meaninglessness" is clearly in the eye of the beholder. Why shouldn't there be more trophies to play for?

 
Hear, hear. I'm completely on board with this pipe dream, even if it means we bring the PawSox pitching staff. The series ought to be played in Hawaii to make travel reasonable for all parties.
 
Another spectacle I'd watch: Red Sox and Yankees old-timers playing a best seven in Fort Myers and Tampa in February. Think Senior Professional Baseball Association.

 

[snowmanny]

It's amazing that one of the games in that simulation was won by the White Sox 5-4 on a Tadahito Iguchi walk-off grand slam.