According to an AP story, Selig and his Japanese counterpart Ryozo Kato are discussing the idea of a World Series champs vs. Japan Series champs series to determine who wins it all. From the article:

MLB commissioner Bud Selig proposed that the Japanese and U.S. champions play each other, the Nikkansports newspaper reported Thursday.

"I was surprised, Mr. Selig said he wants to realize the plan before his tenure ends," Kato told the Nikkansports.

I figured it'd be fun to share my initial thoughts here for community dissection. Given that most of my "advanced" knowledge of baseball (pale though it still does and likely always will in comparison to many of you) was gleaned in large part from this site, I'm curious to see whether or not I was able to accurately regurgitate the wisdom of the masses.

In any event, after the jump is the email I sent to a friend who asked for my reaction. I think it captures most of what I expect to be the most common themes of discussion, should this become reality (and even if it's not going to, I still find it an interesting discussion in hypotheticals).

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Rankings 073009

Found this nifty little report on the interwebs, and thought I'd share it. It's by Eddie Bajek of Detroit Tigers Thoughts.

Assuming his math is right - always the caveat...

• Felix and Aardsma are Type As
• Beltre, Bedard, Washburn, Ichiro(??), and RRS (as a RP) are Type Bs
  
• Wilson, Johjima are close to the Type B cusp
• Griffey is ranked higher than Gutierrez and Branyan, though a ways down from Type B status

This one came via email... The sweet deals keep rolling in!

Terrace Club Outfield (Regularly $47 each)

View Reserved (Regularly $20 each)

[T] Friday, June 5 - 7:10 p.m.
COLLECTIBLE TRAIN NIGHT

[T] Saturday, June 6 - 1:10 p.m.
SALUTE TO LATIN AMERICAN BÉISBOL DAY

[T]] Sunday, June 7 - 1:10 p.m.
KIDS WATER BOTTLE DAY

HOW TO PURCHASE

1.) Click [T] next to the game you want to purchase.
2.) Select the quantity of tickets next to MVP Program
3.) Type in the password: DOUBLE
4.) Select seating to activate this offer

Guess it pays to be a Mariners fan on Facebook...

For those of you thinking about going to tonight's game, here's a little added incentive. Discounted tickets to the game, just click on the link and get the promo code. You'll have to pay the Ticketbastard service fee, but you'd probably end up doing that anyway.

Pricing:
• $16 View Reserved (normally $25)
• $24 View Box Seats for (regularly $32)

Not too shabby. Glad to see the Mariners doing something like this, especially given that it's a Red Sox game. Hopefully it draws some extra fans out and we hear more than "LET'S GO RED SOX" this weekend.

This is EXTREMELY preliminary because I haven't seen anything substantial to back it up, but Yahoo Fantasy Baseball has Johjima marked as on the DL. No idea if this is just an error in their system, an itchy trigger finger, or an early leak of something I haven't heard announced yet... Anyone else heard anything about the follow up to his bum leg? I know they were going to take a look at it today... Hadn't seen any updates.

On the home page of their MLB page today:

Buster Olney: Is Stephen Strasburg the Best Prospect Ever?

So just how good is Stephen Strasburg, the San Diego State right-hander who is regarded as the No. 1 talent in this year's draft?

"The best I've ever seen," says a longtime scout. "And it's not even close."

The article then goes on to link to these:

Jason Churchill: Mariners' strong '08 finish may have ruined shot at top pitcher in draft (from the P-I)

The best college pitcher ever? (Keith Law piece, Insiders only)

A friend has some extra tickets to Saturday's game against Oklahoma State and we'd like to find them a good home. They're in Section 336 Rows H and I, face value $29... He's just looking to recoup his losses, not make a profit. He's got at least 4, possibly up to 8 available. If you need or want to get into the game, post here and I'll get the two of you in touch.

Go Cougs!