Yankees-Sox Coming to Asia in 2008?
Major League Baseball reported on its website Saturday that it is in the final stages of planning to send two teams to Asia to kick off the 2008 season. The frontrunners to represent America’s pastime in Asia are the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. According to the current plan, the teams would travel to China in March to play exhibition games there (please say it’s Shanghai) and then open the regular season with one or two games in Japan. The Yankees have two Japanese players on their roster, Hideki Matsui (pictured) and Kei Igawa, while the Sox have Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima. The Yankees also have baseball’s only Chinese player, albeit Taiwanese, in Chien-Ming Wang. Representatives from the Yankees traveled to China in January in order to establish a relationship with the Chinese Baseball Association and explore new ways to market the Yankees brand in the mainland. Howard Rubinstein, spokesman for Yankees owner George Steinbrenner told MLB.com, “There’s a tremendous audience out there.” Not in China there isn’t. Rubinstein went on to say, “With all of the players coming out of Asia, and the Yankees brand is the best in the world, the organization does have interest.” As well as the Yankees and Red Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres are also candidates to make the trip.
•MLB.com: Yanks, Red Sox May Open ‘08 in Asia