If tonight’s game was any sign of what Vladimir Putin has in store for America’s pastime, it is in serious trouble. Employing underhanded tactics like having a reliever start a game, the St. Petersburg Devil Rays thwarted the Kansas City Royals with relative ease. The Royals’ tactic of playing such terrible baseball as to render any victory over them meaningless seemed like it might just be crazy enough to work, but as the Royals walked off the field losers once again, it didn’t feel like this maneuvering was besting the Russian club.
With the Royals’ first trip behind the Iron Curtain since the departure of so many of their former stars, the question as to whether or not these players lacking the battle-testing that squads of a more hallowed yesteryear possessed could cope with the serious business of facing down Putin’s well-trained army.