MLB might play in Asia or Australia next year

Major League Baseball may play regular-season games in Australia, South Korea or Taiwan next year or in 2009, the sport's top international official said.

Baseball received a proposal to play in Australia and would like to play regular-season or exhibition games in countries that haven't hosted them, said Paul Archey, MLB's senior vice president of international business.

The New York Yankees have asked to play the first major-league game in China, which is building a baseball stadium for next year's Summer Olympics.

"We want to be more aggressive about playing internationally," Archey said. "That's a big part of our strategy."

Baseball expanding its international presence as more players born outside the US have joined big-league clubs. The sport staged the inaugural World Baseball Classic last year with major leaguers playing for teams from 16 countries. Baseball last played regular-season games away from North America in 2004 when the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays opened the season in Japan.

About percent of players on opening-day rosters last year were born outside the US, up from 17 percent in 1996. US clubs tap the Dominican Republic and Latin America for talent and have committed more resources to Asia. Japan had nine players on rosters last year, Korea had five, Taiwan three and Australia two.

Japan's Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners was the American League Most Valuable Player when he joined the major leagues in 2001 and has been an All-Star every year since. Hideki Matsui, also of Japan, is a two-time All-Star with the Yankees, and teammate Wang Chien-Ming (王建民) of Taiwan emerged as an All-Star pitcher last year.

The Red Sox paid US$103 million to bring Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka to Boston for six years, and it cost the Yankees US$50 million to get pitcher Kei Igawa, also of Japan.

New York and Boston officials have expressed interest in playing in China, Archey said.