MLB has not been seen on the open airwaves of Cuban television since 1961. But that all changed on Sunday, when Baseball International showed a Nationals and Braves game.
There were a few problems, though. Firstly, the game was from May 2nd, nearly two months before the broadcast on Cuban television. Secondly, there were no commercials, chopping the telecast down to just 90 minutes. Thirdly, there was commentary from Cuban broadcasters poorly dubbed over the original broadcast.
Lastly, and most importantly for the Cuban population: there were no Cuban players involved in the game. There was no Aroldis Chapman, there was no Yoenis Cespedes, there was no Yasiel Puig. So while a hurdle was cleared for Cuba, it wasn't a huge deal because there wasn't widespread appeal for the game.
So while it's nice to see that this hurdle has been cleared in Cuba, the Communist country still has a long way to go before the baseball fever of its citizens is quenched. All they want is to see how their countrymen are performing on the grandest stage in the world for baseball, and a two month old game involving none of them isn't going to satisfy anyone.
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