Sorry to rain on everyone's parade, but losing in this "made for tv" special was no great loss. The team was not made of true all stars who were bent on winning. This is early pre-season and most of the guys would be trying to get up to speed and not work themselves into a major season or career ending injury. There is really no way to figure out the "best" in this sport because to do so would eat up about a month of time in the middle of the season and would require the Americans to really care - something they manifestly do not unless multi-millions are at stake.

Remember back when pros were first allowed to compete in the Olympics? Who could touch the U.S. basketball team? Now other nations are fielding teams that play better fundamentals and better team ball and the U.S. gets beat regularly. Same with baseball. In a 7 game series I believe you could get any one of several American professional teams that would beat the national teams of many foreign countries. But you will never get a conglomeration of U.S. players to care for an out-of-season specatacle that means nothing and could prove to be detrimental to their bank accounts.

Freightdawg