But why kid ourselves: Brazil? Great Britain? The Netherlands? Czechia? What about Madagascar? This so-called "Classic" is crapola. Globally, three teams, maybe four - USA, Japan, Dominican Republic and maybe Mexico? - stand above the rest. You could make a case for an eight-team tourney. But twenty? Ridiculous.
It is a shame to see a writer as gifted and clever as Mr. Seely stoop to writing a sentence like this. Perhaps he does not understand that every tournament-style competition will have teams that are decidedly weaker than the rest of the competition. Let's take a look.
In the recently concluded Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics of 2026, there were 93 participating countries. Here's the complete list. I do not recall seeing one word written by any reputable writer that the Olympics were "crapola" because Lichtenstein brought a team of 7 athletes who won zip. They let them play and compete.
In the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup, 48 countries will be competing. Here's the complete list. We should probably kick out at least half of those third-world countries (like Iran) who have no chance of winning, and cut to the chase. Hell, no one in the USA likes soccer anyway, right? So even though we're hosting the event alongside Mexico and Canada, let's just have Team USA serve Gatorade to the real competitors.
The International T-20 Cricket World Cup features 20 teams, with the United States as one of them. Here's the complete list. Why is the USA even in this tournament? They suck. Throw the bums out and let the real cricket powerhouses play, I say!
The 2024 Summer Olympic games in Paris featured teams from 204 countries. Here's the complete list. I'll let Mr. Seely go through the list and pick out the ones he would eliminate so we could get the Olympics down to a reasonable number of countries - say, 20 - and just get it over with. 206 countries? Ridiculous! I'm sure the IOC would love to hear Mr. Seely's recommendations.
When you compete in a world sporting tournament, of course you're going to have weaker teams, and in many cases, much weaker. So what's the point of picking on the Brazils and Great Britians and Chinese Taipeis of the WBC? Such criticism simply shows a small-mindedness, a provincial way of looking at worldwide competition. Brazil itself admitted that it would be an accomplishment just to play 9 innings against the USA. They know what they're up against, and I doubt they have any illusions.
And guess what? The MLB stars on the USA team don't think the WBC is crapola anymore. They used to. Now they ask their agents to try and get them an invite to join the team. People who think the WBC is crapola are simply looking at the event through their narrow provincial glasses. The excitement the tournament brings to baseball lovers around the world seems to escape their notice or attention. It's an unfortunately typical way that Americans view anything outside their shores.
They came to play. So let 'em play.
Posts
19 comments:
AA blows into his pitch pipe. Takes a deep breath and begins . . .
Don't cross the street in the middle, in the middle
In the middle, in the middle, in the middle of the block
Don't cross the street in the middle, in the middle
In the middle, in the middle, in the middle of the block
Use your eyes to look up, use your ears to hear
Walk up to the corner, when the coast is clear
And wait, AND WAIT
Until you see the light turn green
Don't cross the street in the middle, in the middle
In the middle, in the middle, in the middle of the block
Don't cross the street in the middle, in the middle
In the middle, in the middle, in the middle, of the block
Don't cross the street in the middle, in the middle
In the middle, in the middle, in the middle of the block
Use your eyes to look up, use your ears to hear
Walk up to the corner when the coast is clear
And wait and wait
Until you see the light turn green
AA bows and thanks each and everyone of you
.
I find it difficult to believe in this widespread enthusiasm among baseball fans, O Contrarian. Most of us are simply holding our breath in the hope that no one gets seriously injured—the usual, lasting result of these ridiculous tournaments...
...As it happens, you inadvertently list the reasons why the WBC is so inane. It is MLB trying to be something it is not.
Baseball is NOT the Olympics. It is NOT the World Cup. It is a game played out over months, not some grand international tournament. And for as long as the WBC has been played, and as far and wide, it has yet to stimulate new interest in the sport anywhere else...
...As to why the players like it (if they do): it is a break from the normal exhibitions of spring training. Some players probably are filled with genuine national pride; some, particularly from the U.S., are smart enough to fake it, no matter what they feel.
But the bottom line is, at the end of the day, no matter how the players feel about it, win, lose, or get injured...they still get paid their millions. And I'm not saying they shouldn't. But we fans stand a good chance of having our enjoyment of this season, ruined.
I don't think that's a worthwhile trade-off.
Meanwhile...regarding the baseball that matters, I remain skeptical as to whether George Lombard, Jr., is our shortstop of the future. Is it just the fact that he's young? Does he have an amazing glove? Is it his ability to steal bases?
When it comes to the hitting, at least, he is a lifetime, .236 batter in the minors. In 2024, he hit .232 with 5 homers at high-A ball, and was promoted to higher-still-A—where he hit .226 with no homers.
In 2025, he mastered higher-still-A—hitting .329 with 1 homer in 24 games—and was promoted to Double-A...where he hit .215 with 8 homers in 108 games.
I dunno...it's hard to tell with minor leaguers. Maybe he's about to break out and show us he's a superstar in the making. But right now, I worry that he's the Anthony Volpe of the future.
I don't know anyone who is paying attention to the World Baseball Classic, except to make sure their team's players aren't hurt. I live in Red Sox territory these days and nobody gives a damn up here, either.
It is the one thing that unites all of baseballdom in common cause: don't get hurt playing a game that doesn't matter to anyone except the doyens of the MLB.
If Aaron Judge stubs his toe on the foul line, while jogging out to his position during a WBC game against Pakistan, and he misses one Yankee AB, just ONE... we riot.
Agreed, E.D.
Dr, do you live in northern CT or RI?
LOLOL!
The WBC is a crock of shit. It’s a sideshow gimmick and it’s actual proof that baseball has become bankrupt, both philosophically and spiritually. I would rather see these teams barnstorming in the off-season the way that they used to then this Creighton attempt to harvest money off of other countries. They should produce a good product here and that should be enough. Major league baseball can go fuck itself.
Craven, not Creighton
SIRI hates me
Siri actually L O V E S you - but she can't find the way to express it to you.
I'm your huckleberry.
I was going to say, Creighton had enough trouble against UConn yesterday—why pick on them?
But Bitty called it. The WBC displays the lack of confidence that baseball has in its own product. "MLB" is always trying to be something else. It's always trying to dress the game up in new (and atrocious) colors for the gear heads. It's always trying to add another team to the playoffs, like basketball and hockey and football, or invent some big global tournament, like soccer.
Baseball is none of those things. It should stop trying so hard, and go to its strengths.
The WBC is not the world, although it's more the world than the World Series, which is flagrantly not the world. The WBC isn't a classic, either, in any sense of the word. It's MLB pouting because the Olympic Committee doesn't make baseball a permanent Olympic sport for two reasons: one, hardly any countries play baseball as a popular sport, and two, MLB players won't fuck up their pro seasons to play in the Olympics.
There's no solution to either of those, so we get the WBC, a lame attempt to increase interest in baseball worldwide. Which it doesn't. Which makes it pointless, except as a fun diversion for any players who want to participate.
I'd like to see a real World Series, with the champion MLB, Japanese, Korean, Dominican, and Mexican teams play for the real World Championship. But that's no doubt difficult to arrange, and we know MLB doesn't do difficult.
Meanwhile, the NFL is conquering the UK and pieces of Europe, and the NBA has followers all over (not to mention some very active leagues in a bunch of mountries).
Sorry, Contrarian, but the WBC is a joke, crappola, nonsense. These guys are not ready to play baseball at a high level. The level of play is all over the place and mostly crap. The annual tradition of spring training is there for a reason: guys need the winter to recuperate and then they have to ramp up again for another baseball season. The timing of the WBC could not be worse. Most of these guys look like they just woke up and rolled out of bed.
You want to move the WBC to maybe after the MLB World Series, then okay maybe. You want to have a "real" world series like JM suggest, excellent. But this right now is crazy nonsense. And players get hurt trying to play at an elite level too early in the year.
And like Hoss says, baseball just ain't like most other team sports like soccer, or ice hockey, or basketball. In the other sports, I don't think there is a long prep period necessary for the players to get going. And those other sports translate pretty well to tournament play. Not so baseball. This is a sport that requires a long season to weed out the pretenders and get everyone up to full speed. Then playoffs require best of seven series to determine the winner. In WBC, what do you get, one game? This is why they got rid of baseball from the Olympics, right? It's just not do-able. Not a good idea.
If they scheduled the baseball Olympics as a separate thing that would be part of the summer Olympics, only played later in November, probably where they have access to several domed stadiums within driving distance of one another, then that could work. But like we've noted, that would be very hard to schedule and pull off. The collective willpower to make such a thing happen just ain't there.
Post a Comment