Far East fighting sleep deprivation

A thought on the second round and finals of the World Baseball Classic, which I'm sure has come up with the tournament's planners: Japan and South Korea must be at a distinct disadvantage due to playing their first round games in Tokyo.

Opening their pool on March 5th, the Asian teams got a head start in the tournament. They played three games a couple of days before the rest of the tournament field got to playing games. That allowed the Asian teams a chance to finish Pool A on March 9, a full six days before they're due to play in round two.

No, I don't believe the Japanese and South Korean teams that advanced from the pool will be rusty due to a perceived layoff (they played games against the Cubs and Dodgers respectively on Wednesday). The problem is the time change they experience in coming to play second round games in San Diego. Pacific Standard Time is 16 hours behind Japan, which means the Japanese and Korean players experience an 8-hour jet lag in flying to the west coast. Pilots say for each hour lost/gained of jet lag it takes one day to recover. That means the Japanese and South Koreans would still be feeling strong effects of sleep patter adjustment when they start playing again this weekend. The Japanese opener against Cuba on Sunday is at 1 pm in San Diego, when it's 5 am back home.

The one thing in the Far Easterners' favor? They started the 2006 tournament in Tokyo as well, and with seven days to recover, the Japanese came to the U.S. and won the whole thing.