Apple is pretty picky about placement in its iTunes store, and Major League Baseball is pretty demanding with its outlets about maintaining a consistent marketing message. That message? Major League Baseball is tops and no one arges, capiche? Upset about being placed in with the riff raff (otherwise known as fan podcasts about baseball), MLB has decided to pull its podcast from iTunes, forcing fans to resubscribe through its own MLB.com.

Pundits are quiping that the move shows the unease that some digital content providers have with Apple's growing digital media presence, and that may be so. This dispute however, boils down to MLB throwing around lots of weight, as it's accustomed to being able (if MLB pulled rights from a television network, it would get the network's attention in a hurry) in an area where its leverage is pretty slim (The cost in lost revenue to iTunes is nil, and the MLB isn't a core driver of sales for other iTunes selections)

[WSJ via MacNN]