Unless you’re a diehard Red Sox fan or had an 8 a.m. class, you probably missed the start of the 2008 Major League Baseball season. That’s because it started at 5:10 a.m. Tuesday morning.

In Japan.

That’s right. Our national pastime opened its season while most of the United States was asleep, thousands of miles away. While there are obvious benefits of playing games in foreign countries, opening day should be saved for the game’s home country.

Yes, baseball is big in Japan, but it has also never been more popular in the U.S.

Last year Major League Baseball saw a new attendance record, and media revenues are thriving.

For the record, this isn’t the first time baseball has opened its season in Japan. The Mets and the Cubs did it in 2000, the Yankees and the Devil Rays in 2004, and this year the Red Sox and the Athletics made the infamous 18 hour excursion to start their season abroad. This wasn’t a revolutionary idea by any means.

Still, you’d think this year would be different. Based on the steroid circus we’ve seen since the season ended last October, you’d think Bud Selig would work extra hard to appeal to his American fans. After all, he’s more aware of the embarrassment baseball has felt in recent years than anybody on this planet.

Selig could have used the start of this season to regain some of the lesser-known victims of the Mitchell Report, the fans that lost faith in our pastime’s integrity. Instead, he throws Dice-K a bone.

If he really wanted to expose Major League Baseball to Japan, he could have held an exhibition series like he did earlier this month. Selig wanted the 1.3 billion people in China to watch baseball, so he let the Dodgers and Padres play there. It didn’t count towards anything, but the game accomplished the same goal of international exposure.

But opening day is different. The success doesn’t translate when Selig decides to play a game overseas that so many American fans care about.

Nobody would want to see the All-Star game being played in Korea. Spreading baseball around the world is important, but that’s why we now have the World Baseball Classic.

Opening day isn’t a commercial. It’s a special day in our country, and Major League Baseball should treat it accordingly.