Season Opener in Tokyo

Well the series has been split but what is more interesting to me is that the season has started.... in Japan, and has now been suspended until next week. hmmmm.

As to the game, well Ichiro went 4-5 to tie Griffey's 4 hits on an opening day record and Ackerly hit a solo homer. Felix Hernandez pitched brilliantly and everyone else.... well kinda watched. Though to be fair Chone Figgins managed a hit and got on base twice so that was good to see. I love the Mariners but I'm more than a little worried for the season. The best guy on their team, by a fair margin, is 38 years old. Felix pitched what you'd expect but at the end of the day these young guys that are being toted as the future are really not producing. I know it's only two games but still.

I'm also not sure how I feel about two MLB games being played in Japan. For Oakland this is two home games lost (though they got 44,000 plus in attendance both nights, I'd love to see them get those numbers back to back in Oakland ever so maybe the fans need to take some responsibility for losing those games). While I love the idea of touring I'm not sure why they can't wait until the off season like they do with soccer in Europe. I mean, 22 of 3 teams will be done by the second week of October, why not tour then? Send two teams to Japan, two to Korea, two to Venezuela, heck make the Jays play a few games against Baltimore in Montreal, Calgary or Vancouver. It would generate extra revenue for the teams while not costing home fans regular season games. If you want to make the games more competitive, how about the team that wins their overseas series hosts the team that loses on Opening Day the next year (no having a home opener a week later for the winning team)? That being said the Japanese fans were amazing, and it was great to see that level on enthusiasm.