MLB won't play ball

What a surprise. Who would have thought that Major League Baseball would refuse to join the international baseball fold and decide, instead, to run its own international tournament?

The MLB.com web site reports that MLB commissioner Bud Selig has "declared dead any movement that would allow Major League Baseball players to take part in the Summer Olympics." Instead, the world's dominant baseball league will be pushing for its own version of a World Cup, despite the fact that it doesn't have some of the key nations on board:

"We've talked a lot about it," said Selig, visiting Jacobs Field on Monday as part of his summerlong tour of baseball cities. "I don't really see it, because you can't stop a pennant race. Imagine now if I said, 'We're not gonna play today for 10 days.' It's not pragmatic."

He said he understood the interest in raising baseball's profile on a more global front, but Selig thought the concept of a soccer-like World Cup or some other international-like tourney might serve the interest of baseball and its fans best.

"I think a World Cup would be spectacular," Selig said. But anything that cut into the heart of the baseball's schedule would do baseball no real good, he said.

"We've spent endless hours talking about it, but I just do see where it's possible," Selig said. "One thing about the race -- I don't have to tell all of you -- it's the build-up. Now, here we are. We have great Wild Card races and some other good races going on.

"To take a week or 10 days off and to send some players and not other players and break the momentum, I don't like it at all."

Selig said his roots as a baseball traditionalist makes supporting participation in the Summer Olympics an idea whose time has not come, and he made clear that it wouldn't come on his watch as commissioner.

This is about MLB wanting to have its cake and eat it too. They want to raise their global profile of the sport for marketing purposes, but also want to maintain control over whatever form professional international competition takes. The idea of cooperating with the established structures of international baseball is just not on their agenda. In the process, MLB has sealed the fate of Olympic baseball, which is difficult to justify if the best teams in the world are not participating.

If basbeall wants to be as global as basketball or ice hockey, they need to follow the NBA and NHL into the mainstream international fold. The sooner Bud Selig realises this, the better for the sport.