it is funny that you think baseball is a game of skill and not luck. Being from michigan, i remember watching the mud hens destroying the tigers year after year. Just because the MLB players use steroids doesn't mean they can win. 1 bad pitch can be enough to lose a game. I bet the cubans beat the americans, if not win the whole deal. even in a game that takes skill and athletic ability, like basketball, the american all-star team lost in the olympics to a bunch of euro-trash. in baseball, all that it means if you are an all-star is that you drive a better car.

Even if there are Cuban spies, what are they going to find in Puerto Rico?

Thousands of American soldiers, for one. Army base Fort Buchanan is in San Juan.

When I was overseas in the Marines, we were always warned that foreign spies might befriend us at bars to gather information. The average grunt doesn't know much more "intel" than how to get to the chow hall, but there are officers, I suppose, who might know something valuable.

Don't they play zone D in the Olympics, whereas the NBA is man-on-man because it's better for the cameras? If you don't play zone defense you'll be destroyed by a team that does. Luck certainly plays a larger role in lower-scoring sports like soccer and baseball than basketball, but a larger role than skill?

Was the Great One just lucky over his whole career?
please.

John,

Over hundreds of games, skill does win out. But when dealing with a small sample size, random variation has a HUGE role in success.

In the book Moneyball, this is dealt with at length. It shows that statistically, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays will win a 7 game series to the New York Yankees 30% of the time (2002 data).

Now in the World Baseball Classic, when there will be significantly fewer games, the role for random variation will loom even larger.

Good luck Cuba!

Whew! For a moment I thought he might make the case that free and open trade might promote democracy in Cuba. Glad to see there is none of that nonsense here ;-).

I'm surprised the Cuban team got held up at all -- the Bush administration should be happy to showcase Cuba's whuppin'. Silly rhetoric and anecdotes aside, MLB is a higher playing field, and the Cubans who get there don't look back. With the wacky rules determining national eligibility for the tournament, I'd be shocked if they manage to beat the Netherlands.

Well, yeah, it's worked *so well* in China...

Anyway, I'm surprised the Cuban team got held up at all -- the Bush administration should be happy to showcase Cuba's whuppin'. Silly rhetoric and anecdotes aside, MLB is a higher playing field, and the Cubans who get there don't look back. With the wacky rules determining national eligibility for the tournament, I'd be shocked if they manage to beat the Netherlands.

Cuba would need a baseball event to get spies into Puerto Rico? Riiiiiggghhhht.

The NBA legalised the zone defence a few years ago.

Cuba sends spies into Puerto Rico. They find sensitive information and then...? Invade? Sell in to religious luantics who hate communism? Sit around with Chavez and Morales and throw spitballs at the American flag?

- Josh