Castro's Team

I love sports, baseball especially, but sports are generally considered off-topic here. But sometimes baseball and totalitarianism merge. This is the case in Cuba, the only team in the WBC tournament that is heavily guarded for fear that the Cuban players will defect to greener ballparks. The World Baseball Classic features the best professional Baseball players in the world. Twenty five percent of the Major League players are foreign born. Big league stars like Ivan Rodriguez and Icharo Suzuki are playing for their respective homelands, trying to bring home the championship.

A championship for Cuba would be a huge propaganda tool for Castro. The cigar smoking dictator is always at odds with the US and baseball is our game. But I can't help but feel sorry for the Cuban players, never able to achieve their full potential by competing in the world's premiere baseball league, the MLB. They will never be considered for the The Baseball Hall of Fame, but most importantly, they will never truly be free.

Cuba is a very talented team and has dominated amateur tournaments consistently.
I wish no ill towards the Cuban players, in fact if all of them defected I would be thrilled, but to have to choose between excellence and your family must be heart wrenching for some of the players. Conversely, Castro must be nervous about losing a player or two.