PEORIA, Ariz. -- Baseball is setting up plans for tougher security for major league teams traveling out of the country amid the threat of war and terrorism.

Advance personnel, including a former Air Force officer now working as a consultant to baseball, have traveled to Japan, major league security chief Kevin Hallinan said Wednesday.

The Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics open the season in Tokyo on March 25-26.

"We want to make sure we have done adequate planning for teams leaving the United States if it turns out our country is at war," Hallinan said.

He declined to discuss details.

The commissioner's office also revisited security for teams that will travel this season to Puerto Rico, where the Montreal Expos are scheduled to play 22 home games in San Juan.

Additionally, the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers are scheduled to play two spring training games in Mexico City on March 15-16.

The concerns present a peculiar contrast at spring training.

Sunshine and stretching remain prevalent, but there is also the quiet undercurrent of more serious matters.

At the Mariners' training complex, team chairman Howard Lincoln said there are uncertainties about what kind of international political climate the Mariners and Athletics will face when traveling abroad.

"We won't know for sure what's going to happen until March 19, when we're supposed to get on that plane," Lincoln said.

Mariners infielder Willie Bloomquist said he's not too concerned, considering Japan is a United States ally and an industrialized nation. He expressed confidence in authorities to protect the teams.

"I'm sure they'll take the proper precautions. I haven't given it a lot of thought, to be honest," Bloomquist said.