The Cuban Baseball Team

From Reuters: US vetoes Cuba for world baseball event

MIAMI (Reuters) - The United States has denied Major League Baseball a license that would allow Cuba to play in the inaugural World Baseball Classic next March, The Miami Herald reported on Wednesday.

The decision came after Cuban-American members of Congress urged the U.S. Treasury Department to veto the license application and asked Major League baseball to drop the Cuban team, the Herald said in a story posted on its Web site.

"There's always the option of an appeal. Major League Baseball's official position is: we want Cuba to play," Ronaldo Peralta of the MLB office in the Dominican Republic told the newspaper.

The World Baseball Classic is an 18-day, 16-team World Cup-style tournament scheduled to begin on March 3 that will bring together some of the world's best baseball players on teams representing their home countries.

It is probably better for the Cuban baseball team if they do not come to the United States. They might get arrested and sent to Guantanamo unless the promise to play for the New York Yankees.

Strike three. You can grab some bench, Treasury Department.