Today as I was checking up on my favorite baseball team, I found a link to The World Baseball Classic.

The Classic is an international, sixteen-team baseball tournament beginning in Japan on March 3rd, and ending in San Diego on March 20.  This baseball tournament is scheduled to include the world's top professional players representing their home countries.

Looking at the teams, it seems that the favorites from their respective pools will be: Japan, the USA, Venezuela, and The Dominican Republic.  (Canada, Australia, Korea, and Taiwan figure to be stong.)

There will be an interesting matchup in Group A, which will pit the Taiwanese team against the Chinese.  I wonder how common it is for these two countries to square off in international competition.

I am really looking forward to watching this next spring.  I hope that it will be on regular TV. (not PPV!)