The World Baseball Classic is well underway. On Saturday, ESPN aired baseball game after baseball game. Heaven for every baseball fan.It has been around 130 days since an intense game has been played. 130 days since the Phillies won the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays. 130 days later the entire world is watching playoff atmosphere games.
For many players, especially ones from foreign countries, it means the world to represent their native country. A loss feels like they let their whole country down.
In the United States and Canada, the tournament may not be as big as it is in Asia, the Dominican Republic or other countries. Worried about injuries, many Americans opted not to play, wanting to prepare for the upcoming MLB season. However, in other countries, turning down the opportunity was not an option.
The Olympics used minor league players because it was in the middle of the baseball season. The WBC should be using as many professional players as possible. Better games will be played and more people will watch. Players can showcase to the entire world why they are the best player in the game. Fans get a chance to see players they don't normally get to see.
I like the idea of the tournament, just not the timing. More players would participate if it weren't right before the season. November would be an appropriate time, after the postseason, guys are still in shape, and if a player gets hurt, they have time to recover.
Even though it's in March, its still awesome, and fun to watch.
2 comments:
November is tough because of weather. And some players would have been off all of the playoffs - they would need to stay sharp somehow (train with the national team)
The bottom line, in my opinion, is once every four years, like in the NHL for the Olympics, MLB should shut down and focus on a serious World tournament.
All professional soccer leagues around the world build their schedules around World Cup qualifying because they know how important the World Cup is to their sport.
This time for WBC, who cares who couldn't or didn't want to come. The games are very entertaining.
WBC is awesome. Looking forward to Japan vs South Korea at 4:30 this morning!
I've been bleary-eyed at work ever since Pool A started!!!
In certain areas the weather should be fine. They can always play in domes too. But your right, this is very different from the World Cup.
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