Robinson Cano Leaves Japan Series Game With Broken Toe

Chalk up another reason not to participate in International exhibition games. Robinson Cano, Seattle’s $240 million man, was hit in the foot by a pitch in the 7th inning of Saturday’s Japan Series game. X-Rays revealed a broken pinky toe.

In the game, four Japanese pitchers combined to no-hit the MLB All-Stars 4-0 to take a 3-0 lead in the five-game series (clinching the series win).

According to reports, Cano will be sidelined for 3-4 weeks while he recovers from his broken toe. He is scheduled to resume “baseball activities” by mid-December, in time for Spring Training.

But it raises concerns over participation in exhibition games. Several players withdraw their names from consideration from the Home Run Derby each year because of the possibility of over-swinging and hurting themselves.

Some teams remove their players from participation in the All-Star Game or the World Baseball Classic for fear of injury.

Prior to the Japan Series this year, Bryce Harper and Albert Pujols were said to be on the team before pulling their names out of consideration for reasons unknown.

I am all for International competition. This series, despite the lack of wins by the MLB, has been fun to watch. But this is the latest example that will be used to fuel arguments against participation in such events.

This marks the first time in eight years that the Japan Series was held (after playing it every other year for over 20 years prior).

Of course Mariners fans are breathing a sigh of relief that it wasn’t much worse than it was. After signing a 10-year $240 million deal with Seattle last winter, the last thing the Mariners thought would happen would be to lose him for any significant period of time due to an injury in an exhibition.

It will be interesting to see if the Mariners send representatives to the next Japan Series.