In May we commented on the American habit of crowning world champions from among U.S. (and a few Canadian) teams playing U.S.-league sports. Major League Baseball was apparently listening. In March 2006 the MLB will host 16 countries at what amounts to the World Cup of Baseball. In a nod to this year’s furor over alleged widespread steroid use among American players, the MLB negotiated international-style drug-testing rules with the players’ union. Organizing the World Baseball Classic also required getting agreement from the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), representing 113 baseball federations worldwide.

IBAF agreement notwithstanding, inter-governmental politics could get in the way of this first World Baseball Classic. Soccer, which has been completely separated from politics, should be the model for this championship, but that pesky U.S. embargo against Cuba could cause problems. The MLB might find that Cuba chooses not to participate or the U.S. government refuses to give visas to Cuban players.

However, we don’t think that Fidel Castro — once a 21-year-old pitching prospect for the Pittsburgh Pirates — would miss the opportunity to go mano a mano against the United States on a level playing field. Would the U.S. run the risk of losing the world baseball championship to Communist Cuba in the same way that the British lost their status in cricket? But would losing to Cuba be any worse than, say, losing to the Netherlands? We look forward to some great international match-ups next March, assuming that politics stays away. But nationalism will still play a big part. You can expect national rivalries to be as intense as they are for the World Cup.