Talk:Major League Baseball

Aren't there two Canadian baseball teams?

The opening paragraph of this article refers to there being 30 MLB teams, 29 in US and 1 in Canada. But there's the Montreal Expos and the Toronto Blue Jays.

What kind of entity is MLB?

The article defines MLB as "the organization that operates the National League and the American League" but it doesn't anywhere tell what MLB is. There are many kinds of organizations. Is it a corporation? If so, who owns it? For profit or non-profit? Or is it a partnership of the teams or the leagues? What does it own? Is it governed by a corporate board of directors? (I couldn't find the answers to these at mlb.com either.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.186.165.165 (talk) 12:38, 8 March 2011 (UTC)

Is The World Baseball Classic considered a "World Championship"

An editor has in good faith been attempting to add the following text to the last sentence of the opening paragraph of this page:

"...(MLB also manages the World Baseball Classic), a major world championship for baseball."

Although it isn't by any stretch of the imagination something awful, both I and another editor have reverted this entry because we (separately) do not consider the WBC to be a "World Championship" for baseball. My opinion is that it is treated as akin to the Olympics - ok if we win, but since we rarely send our best players, it doesn't matter if we win or not. Although MLB has moved the WBC to March, none of the participants get ALL of their best players and since it is played in the spring, none of the MLB players are at the top of their game anyway. It appeared to me that Bud Selig and MLB were trying to make what was basically a "good will" tournament into something bigger, but it still isn't a true "WORLD" series. What do you all think? Ckruschke (talk) 02:39, 26 March 2011 (UTC)Ckruschke

I'd say it definitely is not a "major world championship". Spanneraol (talk) 03:14, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

I have no strong opinion on it. However, World Baseball Classic defines it that way, citing the [[IBAF] (http://ibaf.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Files_-_world_rankings/4221-IBAF_World_Rankings_Notes.pdf); it also appears in List of world championships.

To clarify Spanneraol, the line says it is a "major world championship for baseball," not a "major world championship." It ain't the FIFA World Cup, no.

Regardless, I think we ought to at least cursorily explain what the WBC is, as it's mentioned nowhere else in the article. Perhaps it should be moved from the lede and expanded in another section. Woodshed (talk) 06:41, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Technically it is the official world championship according to the IBF. Do people look at it that way yet, no probably not. But officially it is a world championship. I would also note a number of various world championships in other sports don't always send their best players either. Hockey is a very good example because the world championship occurs during the NHL playoffs so only players on teams that have been knocked out of the playoffs already tend to go. That doesn't mean its not the official world championship of the international federation of the sport. -DJSasso (talk) 13:44, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

It's the word "major" i have a problem with I guess... a world championship.. yea... major... i dont think so.Spanneraol (talk) 14:54, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

• Comment - I have two questions.

1. What do the sources say? As who cares what we think, only what the sources can confirm.

2. Shouldn't this be discussed at World Baseball Classic? Not sure that this is the right place for this discussion.--Jojhutton (talk) 15:04, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

• Comment: Having read over the Baseball World Cup and associated articles, there is an interesting (and completely believable) comment that noted that many in the media mistakenly referred to the WBC as a "Baseball World Cup", with many probably not realizing that one already existed. I agree with Jojhutton in that sources should act as a guide, but it seems to me that a great deal of care has to be taken when looking at sources, as many of them may be mistaken in their assertions when they called the WBC a "World Cup" level tournament. For what it is worth, I don't think that the WBC is a world championship. It is not claimed by the IABF as such. It appears to be an international exhibition that was started by MLB to allow some of the better players to play. MLB looks like it has consistently denied its players an opportunity to play in the actual World Cup because of its timing. LonelyBeacon (talk) 19:00, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

You mean there is a World Cup of baseball?--JOJ ^Hutton 23:29, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

See Baseball World Cup; its a biennial tournament held in odd-numbered years. This year's is in Panama. oknazevad (talk) 21:22, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

Actually, from the above cited source (which is from the IBAF), it appears they do consider it a world championship. oknazevad (talk) 23:23, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

So if the IBAF calls it a World Championship, then there should be no reason to not be referring to it as such in this article.--JOJ ^Hutton 21:04, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

The IBAF web page on the World Baseball Classic does not call it the world championship, which would be odd if IBAF did indeed consider it as such. The PDF link lists three "Major World Championships", indicating that the IBAF does not consider the World Baseball Classic to be "the" world championship, but just one major tournament that is contested by global participants. Unfortunately, without context, using this phrasing alone is ambiguous in this article, as it seems that the WBC is being compared to world championships of other major sports. If it were to be worded as one of a number of major baseball world championships, or some thing similar, this would clarify the statement. isaacl (talk) 01:55, 28 March 2011 (UTC)

Removal of digression

This edit seems to be a reasonable one; it removed an off-topic digression that is not very significant for the subject of this article, Major League Baseball. Thus I propose that the edit be reinstated. isaacl (talk) 23:45, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

I completely agree. I was about to delete this entire "bunny trail" myself but I got busy and blew it off. I don't understand either the point of the section or why it is even here as it appears it is making some backhanded comment about Bush and has zip to do about Montreal losing it's team. Ckruschke (talk) 02:48, 30 March 2011 (UTC)Ckruschke

I think I reverted reflexively on that one (an IP edit tagged "references removed" does set my vandal-sense tingling). I removed the digression, but didn't restore the rest of the edit, as mentioning the markets that haven't had teams since the 19th century is not a digression there. oknazevad (talk) 04:45, 30 March 2011 (UTC)