Japanese Leagues & MLB

We had this discussion before here, but it is a topic near and dear to my heart.

My proposal is actually to expand into an Asia League consisting of Japan (Pacific League - the Central League will never agree), Korea, and Taiwan for starters. A bulk of games will be within ones own league, but each team will travel to the other countries to play each team there for at least one three game series per team. Like the play-offs in the Majors, a wildcard team will participate in the Asian playoff series, then go on to the World Series in North America. I'm not exactly sure how the format will be with three teams. Each team plays each other three times, the best being the Champion? Tripple elimination tournament? Have another wildcard from the championship series? I'm sure someone can come up with a good plan.

There are many problems that need to be overcome. Pollitically, Japan and Korea seem to have warmed a great deal to each other after the recent soccar World Cup being jointly hosted by the two countries. But I fear that patriotism may rear its ugly head and reignight old flames. I had seen some rioting at baseball games in Korea on TV, and would be concerned about players' safety. (Of course, I've also seen Hanshin fans throwing a boom box onto the field at Tokyo Dome, so I can't say that Japan will be any less dangerous.)

The biggest problem with playing against MLB teams is the distance. Current transportation technologies make it very tiring on the travelling team. Then there's jet-lag which will require a day or two to pass before a team can be resonably asked to play in a game that counts. Japan, Korea, and Taiwan are all very close together (Korea is the same timezone as Japan, I believe, and Taiwan is an hour ahead). Flights between the three countries don't take as much time as some Shinkansen rides.

Then there is the gap between levels of the various leagues and teams. There are great players in each of the leagues, but there will be some blowouts. (Of course, there are within the leagues, anyway.) Hey, this could bring up a resurgence of dominating and dominated teams. In all, though, I think that the level of play will rise all around. While the Japanese teams would be considered favorites, they'll have to adjust their game to compete against pitchers they don't see over and over again. The added variety will be great for fans and players alike.

Also brought up the previous time was the "gaijin quota." Each league has their own rules for the number of mercinaries they're allowed to have on a team. Some sort of agreement will have to be reached (ideally doing away with the quota all together, although I'm sure that most teams will still have a majority of domestic tallent). Then there's the DH (they use it in the Pacific League, I'm not sure about in Korea and Taiwan). Profit sharing, licensed goods, tax laws against profit made in different countries, and a slew of other administrative problems will also need to be addressed.

I want to see international baseball. I want to see a greater variety of opponents and how the strategy of teams change. And I want to see the champions go up against the best team that the MLB produces for a given year (not an all-star team). If anyone can come up with a plan to make it work, I'm sure one of the "powers that be" who's in fear of becoming nothing more than a source of players for the Majors will listen.