I admit, I was very skeptical when the organizing bodies who arranged the World Baseball Classic decided to throw a tournament together on such short notice. I thought they would need years of planning, but instead, it seems this tournament is just coming together nicely, with the biggest bonus of all being the number of Major League players committing to play in the event.

With as many Major Leaguers already committed as there are, it will be near impossible to avoid this tournament as it will likely dominate the media, especially since this is the first one. But baseball as a sport needs this event, and it needs this event to go well. After the IOC elected to eliminate baseball as a sport from the Olympics beyond the next summer olympic competition, baseball needed to find an identity to prove it was a world's sport, and not just the American Pasttime.

The Major League players who have committed to the event include Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Eric Gagne, Vlad Guerrero, both of the Carlos' from the Mets, and practically every other big name Major Leaguer. This event, which will even take place in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, with the Asian countries hosting their own pool, and the Western countries plus Australia playing in either the U.S. or Puerto Rico.

With the potential for success  based simply on the fact that an uncountable number of Major League players have submitted themselves to their countries for the tournament, this event could help to land baseball on a larger world map, and maybe back into the Olympics. Maybe even one day, we'll see a Major Leaguer bring a medal home to his country from the Olympics.