MLB hopes the sport will become as popular there as it is in other Asian nations, but a suitable ballpark must be constructed. MLB recently announced plans to open an office in China within the next month.
MLB has already played regular-season games in Japan twice. The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays opened the 2004 season there, and the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs played in Tokyo Dome in 2000.
“We’ve talked about that,” Selig said about holding the 2008 opener in China. “I certainly want to open in as many countries as possible. ... China is the next great horizon. The greatest potential in this sport is international.”
If baseball opens the 2008 season in China, it would come three months before the Beijing Games — the last Olympics at which baseball will be played. The International Olympic Committee took both sports off the program for the 2012 Games in London.
