Check back with them in about 19 days or so and see if they still feel that way. That’s how long the Red Sox are going to be on the road, and you’ve got to wonder if the same geniuses in charge of handing out extra money were in charge of planning this brutal trip.

The players were reluctant to open the season in Japan to begin with, and who could blame them? By the time they open at home April 8, they will have played 12 games in three countries, seven of which count in the real standings. Almost as bad, they’ll be in Los Angeles playing exhibition games — including one on a field with a giant net just 195 feet away in left field — after already playing two regular-season games.

All of this because Major League Baseball hopes to sell a few more subscriptions to mlb.com, and maybe a few more Dice-K jerseys in Japan. Baseball is so enamored of the idea of branding itself in Japan that for the third time, two teams are traveling halfway around the world to start the season early.

That should make Boston fans nervous, considering the Yankees did the same thing in 2004 and played the first month of the season as though they were still jet lagged. Several players, including pitchers Mike Mussina and Kevin Brown, complained the trip hurt their early season.

As for the rest of us, we’re just trying to figure out when opening day is anymore. It used to be a Monday in Cincinnati, then became a Sunday night wherever ESPN could get the best ratings.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Flying on the hardwood, racing on the rink, getting physical on the gridiron, and much more. more photos

Now it’s 6:05 a.m. EDT on a Tuesday in Tokyo.

It’s bad enough that baseball doesn’t care about the youth of America by putting on postseason games when they are already in bed. But now they’re opening the season before they get up in the morning.

It’s all part of a chase for every last dollar, one that has stripped the game of almost any tradition once held dear. Greedy players and even greedier owners can’t seem to control themselves.

Maybe it’s only right that the coaches get their share.

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