I'll make a couple of comments here.
1st is that technically, I think this board is for high school baseball. Hence, highschool baseball web. Back when I first joined the site it seemed like the site really was mostly about high school situations and there were a good number of kids/parents of kids getting ready to move to the HS level. I will agree that the tone and focus of the board has changed to kids with the desire to play at the next level beyond HS. Or maybe it's just my perspective since my son is beyond the HS age. So to bring up situations involving kids pre-hs isn't that far out of the realm of reasonable on this site.
My second point is in regard to Greg65's post. Depending on the age we are talking about, travel can be good or bad depending on your viewpoint. For the HS aged player who wants to play at the next level, it is, without doubt, a good and really a necessary thing. For players age say 12 - 14 or so who want to play for their HS team, I would say it is a beneficial, but not necessary thing. And for players below 12, I think it can be a bad thing. Especially when we're talking about kids starting at age 6 or 7 starting to play travel ball.
When kids are starting to play travel ball at those young ages, there are a lot of things that can be considered negative. My biggest concern for these young kids is the potential overuse of pitching. If you are playing rec ball and only play 20-25 games in the spring and 10-15 games in the fall, you will not pitch nearly as much as when you are playing 60-70 games in the spring and another 25-30 in the fall. If a kid starts pitching at 8 years old and is a pitcher right up to HS, that kid will have a ton of use on his young arm. I think too much.
Everyone playing travel ball at these young ages talks about the lack of competition in rec ball. A big part of that is because there are so many people playing travel. And not only the best of the best. There are major teams, AAA teams, AA teams and A teams. Why in the world would there be teams playing AA and A travel, when if all those players played rec, it would be fairly competitive? Because they want to say they play travel. And that is asking for trouble IMO.
So, yes, travel can be bad. But as the kids get older, and depending on their goals, it can become beneficial and eventually necessary. As far as the odds of playing at the next level, I am not one to squash anyone's dreams. Are some kids/parents delusional? Probably, but who knows what may happen in the future with maturity and growth. As long as a kid has the dream, let him pursue it. But travel ball below a certain age is certainly not necessary to do that and could be harmful.
JMHO.