The European selection, which is taking on world no. 1 Samurai Japan at the Tokyo Dome on March 10 & 11 (10am CET, Eurosport 2), is also playing an exhibition game against the legendary Yomiuri Giants. Honkbalsite.com reports this week that “Team Europe” will leave for the Japanese capital on March 3 with most of the squad traveling from Frankfurt, Germany. Following a couple of workouts in Japan, the match versus the Giants will be played on March 8. Yomiuri is going to use minor league players and the venue will be their training complex in Kawasaki.

28 players from Europe will be making the trip, 15 from the Netherlands, six from Italy, four from Spain, two from Germany and one from France. Steve Janssen (Netherlands) and Marco Mazzieri (Italy) have selected the players. The Global Baseball Matchup between Japan and Europe was organized after the initiative of the World Baseball Softball Confederation and Nippon Professional Baseball. Japan is using an all-NPB team, which has 19 players on the roster which faced the MLB All-Stars last November.