That most wholesome of sports

Yahoo has made an agreement to sell ads and distribute video for Major League Baseball.

Yahoo shall sell the ad space in games streamed online during the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Considering the number of games shown on MLB.TV, the deal adds significantly to Yahoo's available video inventory.

Yahoo will also distribute over 2,400 games live and on-demand through 2010 on Yahoo Sports. Games will be streamed through a co-branded video player, with Yahoo selling pre- and post-roll video spots.

AOL — which, if all goes well, might join the Yahoo family — formed a similar syndication alliance with ESPN this week.

In the first year of the agreement, Yahoo and the MLB will be jointly responsible for selling ads, with Yahoo taking full control in 2009.

The MLB is stringent about baseball content dissemination over the 'net. Viewers hoping to watch live streaming baseball games must to be paid subscribers to one of its packages, which range from $14.95 for a single month or $119.95 for a year.