As you admit earlier, many in MLB/NBA aren't fluent English speakers, so I find it a little troubling that you're being weirded out by this. I hope I'm not assuming incorrectly.
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That's great of you to recognize it. It's probably due to (groups of) Asians not really getting much representation/focus in media, so I think it'd be jarring to anyone, even me. A reminder about how constant signaling from the media can shape our biases over time, I suppose
Fwiw someone pointed out that the teams will be playing from their cities next season and the whole thing feels much better to me knowing that