MLB World Cup on tight schedule

Major League Baseball's plans for a Baseball World Cup, scheduled to be held during Spring Training next March, could be delayed until 2006 unless a number of "logistical considerations" are overcome quickly, reports Sports Business News:

"The next three weeks are critical," said Paul Archey, MLB's senior vice president of international business operations. "There are so many things to be done, you come to a point where you just run out of time."

Sixteen countries "are being considered" for the competition. There will be no formal qualification procedure based on preliminary tournaments, like every other global competition in the world -- MLB will just choose the countries it thinks will be most successful. While there is little doubt which 16 countries are the most likely to be competitive, MLB's Baseball World Cup will have limited legitimacy in international baseball circles if the places for the marginal countries, at least, are not open to competion. This is particularly important for Europe, because Italy and the Netherlands fit into that category.

The countries in the last "regular" IBAF Baseball World Cup, held last year in Cuba, were: Cuba, Nicaragua, Chinese Taipei, Korea, Canada, Italy, Russia, Japan, USA, Panama, Brazil, the Netherlands, Mexico, China, and France. Yes, that's right: no Dominican Republic and no Puerto Rico. But on what basis will MLB add those countries (presumably at the expense of France, Russia, Brazil, or China)?