This is the real World Series

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BEIJING -- Major League Baseball and the International Olympic Committee continue to be at odds over the use of big league players in the Summer Games, with the IOC insisting baseball won’t be reinstated without them and MLB insisting it won’t suspend its regular season to make them available.

The World Baseball Classic, which will be back for its second run this spring, is baseball’s idea of an alternative, matching the best professional players from around the world in a tournament that doesn’t interfere with the regular season. But Davey Johnson, who has coached in the last two Games, once for the Netherlands and in Beijing for Team USA, says there’s no such thing as an alternative to the Olympics.

‘It’s just not the Olympics,’ Johnson said of the WBC. ‘There’s nothing like coming to where the best athletes in the world compete and representing your country at the Olympic site. You’re looking at Olympians here.’

-- Kevin Baxter