HAVANA -- It's just a baseball game. That's the way Major League Baseball and sports officials from Cuba have attempted to characterize today's historic meeting between the Orioles and a team of Cuban all-stars at Latin American Stadium.

If only it were that simple.

The long-anticipated exhibition game is laden with political implications and historical significance. The Orioles will be the first American major-league team to play in Cuba since Fidel Castro turned this island nation into a Communist beachhead nearly 40 years ago, and a lot of people aren't happy about it.

The event has sparked protest demonstrations by anti-Castro groups in South Florida and expressions of disgust from sympathetic congressmen in Washington. It has put Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos on the international map and -- by some accounts -- put Major League Baseball on a public relations hot seat.

But MLB commissioner Bud Selig, who arrived at Jose Marti International Airport yesterday on an afternoon charter flight packed with baseball officials and an advance contingent of Orioles players, defended Major League Baseball's latest and most controversial international outreach.

"We're very happy to be part of this sports and cultural exchange with the Cuban people," Selig said. "We're looking forward to the game tomorrow. Hopefully, it will be a constructive effort. Baseball is the national pastime of both countries. It's certainly appropriate that baseball is helping in this process."

The rest of the Orioles arrived a few hours later and were greeted at the airport by hundreds of Cuban baseball fans, many holding up makeshift "Welcome" signs. The visit has clearly generated great excitement in Havana, where baseball is a culture unto itself and a visit from a major-league team is the ultimate compliment to the country's high-quality international baseball program.

"Hopefully, there will be a lot of excited fans," said Orioles pitcher Scott Erickson, who is scheduled to start today's game. "Both teams will be fighting to the end. Both teams will be trying to win. It's not the seventh game of the World Series, but it's not just an exhibition game. Political or not, I think our guys want to win the game."

Critics continue to attack the event as an inappropriate overture to Castro's repressive regime, which recently evoked international outrage when it jailed four dissidents for speaking against the government. Proponents have hailed the goodwill mission as an important people-to-people exchange that is certain to have a positive effect on Cuban-U.S. relations.

The long-range implications are uncertain. Angelos has stated repeatedly that his personal objective in spearheading the venture is to aid in the eventual normalization of relations between the Cuban and American people, but he also insists that the game has no political dimension.

That won't fly with the Cuban exile community, especially after seeing pictures of Castro and Selig together last night for a scheduled photo opportunity. Castro is expected to attend the game and make an on-field appearance during pre-game ceremonies, then hold a reception tomorrow night.

Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and his wife, Patricia, arrived in Havana yesterday for a three-day stay that will include a visit to the Palacio de la Revolucion for Castro's reception.

The mayor's office is discussing future sporting exchanges -- including a yacht race between Baltimore and Havana -- but conceded that it is virtually impossible to put together an event of the magnitude of today's game without some political ramifications.

Selig has tried to avoid the subject of Cuban politics, but it is difficult to straddle the fence on such an emotionally charged issue.

"All I can tell you is that in the planning of this, we were very sensitive," Selig said. "I understand how people feel. In the end, we're here because our State Department and everyone else in our government wanted us to be here, so that's why we're here."

The players have been careful to sidestep the sensitive issues that surround the game, which is the first half of a two-game exhibition series that is scheduled to conclude with a game at Camden Yards on May 3.

"We know that it's more than a game, but to us that [the game] is what it has to be all about," said relief pitcher Mike Timlin, who joined Erickson, Harold Baines, Delino DeShields and Scott Kamieniecki on the first flight yesterday. "Other people made the decision for this to take place. We're players. We play."

The 55,000-capacity Latin American Stadium is expected to be full, but the game won't be a sellout because there was no public sale of tickets. Entry passes were distributed through schools, sports organizations and workers groups, creating more fodder for opponents of the event, who claim that the invitation-only ticket policy violates the spirit of the people-to-people exchange.

The ticket issue has been a point of contention since serious negotiations to schedule the game got under way in January, according to a source in the American delegation, but Cuban officials have remained adamant that the targeted distribution of tickets is necessary to prevent a crowd control problem at the stadium.

The Cubans used basically the same method of controlling admission to events during last year's visit by Pope John Paul II, but turning the baseball game into an invitation-only event runs counter to the supposedly egalitarian nature of Cuban sports.

Regular-season and postseason games are open to all, and admission prices are so nominal -- as little as a few cents for a bleacher seat -- that almost anyone can get in.

Of course, this isn't a normal game. The scene at Latin American Stadium will be broadcast worldwide, and Cuban government officials apparently want to make sure that everything looks good for the cameras -- including a well-behaved crowd and a stadium that has been upgraded significantly since it was inspected by major-league officials in January.

Workers have been putting in long hours at the 1940s-era ballpark, cleaning up after the crowds attending the Cuban national championships and preparing for today's game.

Anticipation has been building all week. After reporting little about the Orioles game, the state-run media started offering more details on Friday. They announced, for example, that the Orioles' most popular player, Cal Ripken, would not travel to Cuba with his teammates because of his father's death earlier in the week.

Cuban fans have been speculating on which players would represent their country as officials kept the makeup of the team secret until yesterday.

Rumors, though, flew among the fans: that the Orioles specifically requested that German Mesa be named to the team because they wanted to see the dynamic shortstop; that his cousin, Victor Mesa, who has been playing in Japan, was seen driving to a practice of the Cuban team.

The Orioles are willing to wait and find out. They did not heavily scout the Cuban team for today's game, choosing instead to treat it more like an exhibition game than a politically charged international event.

"We're just going to come down here and have a good time and do the best we can," Erickson said.

If only it were that simple.

Sun staff writers Jean Marbella and Joe Strauss contributed to this article.