WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC 2009

It's the second edition of the international baseball tournament, and it kicked off today in Tokyo with defending champion Japan defeating China 4-0. I'm excited, especially since I'll be attending the games in Toronto. Canada is in a tough group with the USA, Venezuela and Italy, but I think they have a pretty good chance. The tournament in 2006 turned out better than I expected, so I'm looking forward to this one.

Sites and teams:

POOL A (Tokyo):

Japan
China
Korea
Chinese Taipei

POOL B (Mexico City):

Mexico
Australia
Cuba
South Africa

POOL C (Toronto):

Canada
USA
Italy
Venezuela

POOL D (San Juan):

Puerto Rico
Dominican Republic
Panama
Netherlands

After this round, the second round will take place in San Diego and Miami, with the semi-finals and finals to take place in Dodger Stadium. Anyone else watching this tournament?

GO CANADA!

 

Update: Chinese Taipei has been eliminated by losses to Korea and China, and Korea took a major thumping from Japan, losing 14-2. Next elimination game is tomorrow with China facing Korea.

Later today, Holland faces The Dominican Republic, Canada plays the USA, Panama plays Puerto Rico and Italy meets Venezuela.

GO CANADA!

 

I'm heartbroken by the loss of my team (Dominican Republic), but oh well, baseball is that unpredictable

 

How do you think I feel? Canada was knocked out by Italy! Granted, our four best pitchers weren't there, but damn... The Canada-US game was great though, in spite of the loss.

Round two starts today. In Miami, the Netherlands faces Venezuela this afternoon with the US meeting Puerto Rico tonight. The San Diego group starts tomorrow with Japan vs Cuba (a rematch of the 2006 final) and Mexico vs Korea in the evening.

 

Mercy rule. lol at that game.

 

Definitely - lol @ the US getting mercy rule'd

 

Yeah, that was pretty frickin' funny.

 

I don't get why this is not more popular. I love the idea of the WBC. The games are fun to watch.

 

The problem which I think is a very valid one is how it hinders Spring Training

 

Yeah, cut the number of teams, and maybe do it while taking a week for the All Star game, maybe I'd be more excited. Though I still don't know how I'd feel about Major Leaguers being involved. Especially pitchers. I was very glad when the Brewers decided to not let Yovani Galldardo pitch for Mexico. I'd much rather have him on the team getting ready for the season.

 

The idea of it I love, The execution, I find severely lacking.

 

Oh whine. (this is not directed at you Inty.... but at some fans I've heard and some sportscasters) As if Major League soccer players from around the world don't take time out of their precious greedy lives to play in the World Cup every four years. Honestly, America's attitude towards the whole thing sucks. We deserve to get our asses handed to us every time until we pull it out.

 

^ Bravo. I think American fans would only really care about this if they had won every game in '06 by ten runs and humiliated everyone else. Guess what? Talented ballplayers come from a bunch of different countries! You won't win all the time! I find this tournament very enjoyable in spite of Canada getting wiped out in two games.

I think this is why American sportscasters refer to Super Bowl, World Series or NBA Championship winners as "World Champions". An American team always wins.

 

That's exactly my problem with it Strilo. It's not a showcase event unless it actually showcases the best talent in the world.

 

I am sure it took a while to get the other world cup type competitions dialed in and working well. Give the WBC time to really get things tweaked and settled in.

 

I agree, but to a degree-even if more top U.S. talent were to play in future WBC's, a World Series championship (is still) > than any other baseball team award. This is why I cannot ever get 100% behind the WBC. Soccer is different in that the World Cup is > greater than any other soccer championship.

 

US Rallies in 9th to oust Puerto Rico and advance to the semifinals

Not bad at all.

 

That is America-centric thinking and it will probably change over time if the WBC gains momentum and prestige.

 

Where's the advertising for the WBC? A casual fan of baseball in the US might not even know about the whole event. The freak'n game was on ESPN deportes. No, you can't rip on the American fans. I saw games in other countries that didn't draw big crowds.

Great game last night though.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-perezteamusa031809&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Nice story.

 

And with MLB teams blocking the participation of many of the players, it will never be the wonderful show it can be.

 

I think maybe they should do it before Spring Training as a form of winter ball. I just think it hurts the cohesion of the Spring Training process of building a ball club for the regular season.

 

Well, Toronto did win the '92 and '93 World Series.

The amount of international baseball talent is staggering. The Dominican Republic pumps out ballplayers at a ridiculous rate, Puerto Rico and Venezuela aren't too far behind, and now Japan and Korea are making their presence known. And the proportion of international players will continue to increase. I suspect Americans will make up a minority in MLB in less than 20 years.

 

Even if it does, do you really think that a WBC title will one day have more prestige/value than a World Series championship? Seriously?

 

World Baseball Classic has become all the more relevant now that the Olympics has eliminated baseball. I all ways thought the Olympic competition was much more interesting considering the fact it wasn't flooded by Major Leaguers. I see the reasoning for it but the fact is I don't believe in MLB's intentions for it to spread Baseball to other countries. Baseball has been around forever and the countries have decided if it will become a part of their culture or not. Did anyone hear about this memo from Selig's office that makes it a fineable offense to say anything the least bit contradictory to the WBC?

 

Yes I do think that is a possibility.