The lockout has officially started to cut into spring training, as pitchers and catchers for all 30 teams were supposed to have reported by this point. The players and owners are set to meet for more negotiations on Thursday, but from the outside it doesn’t appear the two sides are all that close as of yet. Over in Japan and Korea, major leagues with high-quality baseball will get underway. The only issue there for us is that the time difference does not exactly make for an ideal viewing experience.
And so without major-league action, and with the difficulty that comes with watching the various professional leagues in Asia on a regular basis, the best place to turn for competitive baseball for most of us will be at the college level.