Red Sox To Open '08 In Tokyo?

The Boston Red Sox may soon be preparing to open the 2008 season in Tokyo likely against an American League West opponent.

According to the report the Sox and whom ever they play in Japan will face each other in a second series on the west coast upon arriving back.

"It's going to be exciting," Boston third baseman Mike Lowell said. "We've got some marquee names that are going to bring a lot of attention over there. So in that sense it's great, but I don't think guys are too happy to go 22 hours on a plane to play games that count. It's not the game itself. It's the aftereffects."

According to the story from Boston.com the likely opponent would be either the Oakland Athletics or Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Seattle Mariners are also a likely opponent.

Should this match up occur I think the best plans for the game would be for Boston and the opponent to break camp and have a series at the west coast teams stadium to wrap up the preseason, this gives the Red Sox a break from travel after flying west from Florida to California or Seattle. Following the couple days there they can then fly to Japan on March 29th or 30th and open the season on March 31st or April 1st.

After the series they would then fly back to the west coast taking a day off after arriving before beggining a series at the west coast teams stadium.

This would be the best way for the whole week or so to occur to cut down on the large amount of travel the Red Sox would endure. Following the return series Boston should play a series in the midwest such as Kansas City or Minnesota before heading home for a long homestand, or atleast several games in the northeast corridor.

The games in Tokyo would likely sell out in a matter of hours with it being a homecoming for Sox heroes Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima. Should Seattle be the opponent, the games could sell out in less then an hour with the added names of Ichiro Suzuki and Kenji Johjima as everyday players for them.