A TOURNAMENT TO DYE FOR
Who says Blondes have more fun? The team from Puerto Rico who all dyed their hair Blonde (“Rubio”) to show team unity, fought back tears after losing the Championship game of the 2017 World Baseball Classic 8-0 to the US. Although they fell short of their goal, Carlos Beltran, Yadier Molina and other teammates spoke of the fierce pride they had, and the significance Puerto Ricans put on the WBC. You have to admire that kind of passion.
The one-sided final game capped off the international tournament which was composed of 16 competing nations from March 6th to March 22nd.
The Netherlands, Japan, Puerto Rico and the United States advanced to the Championship round. Defending champion Dominican Republic was eliminated in the second round. Pitcher Marcus Stroman won MVP honors by taking a no-hitter into the 7th inning of the US Championship game win.
This was the 1st WBC championship for the US who beat both former champs along the way. Japan in the semis and the DR in the quarter-finals. Four countries hosted the event .. Japan, Mexico, S. Korea, and the U.S.
Over 1 million fans attended the total of 39 games played (25,000+ avg./game). Over 3 million viewers watched the final game on TV, so the fourth installment of the classic set new records for attendance, TV ratings, digital consumption and merchandise sales. The bottom line is that .. the bottom line was good for the WBC and MLB. Fans from foreign countries showed overwhelming pride in their teams, and it is amazing the passion and energy that the players exhibit on the field. As I mentioned the Puerto Rico team dyed their hair “rubio”as a symbol of team unity and national pride.
The games were exciting, fun to watch and the teams showed that there was good competitive balance between the 16 nations. I have only one issue with the WBC and unfortunately it’s a big issue in my opinion.
Some MLB stars seem reluctant to participate in the event. But more specifically, many of the leagues best pitchers chose not to sign on. Here is why I believe most of the elite pitchers shy away. Early March is too early to throw all out. Pitchers need to ramp-up their innings and velocity slowly during the spring training process. Pitching with max effort in early March could lead to fatigue, or even worse .. injury.
I am one who firmly believes that pitching wins championships, and although Stroman pitched well, how can I take a tournament seriously when Kershaw, Bumgarner, Sale, Verlander, Syndergaard, Scherzer and others didn’t pitch for the US ?
And to be fair, if Japan had Tanaka, Darvish and Ohtani pitch for Japan, who’s to say they wouldn’t have won it all.
I love the passion that I saw on the field, in the dugout and in the stands, but when you watch teams compete for a world championship, you must be watching all the best players in the world compete against each other. The WBC was fun to watch, but again it is not a true championship because so many top stars did not participate. How in the WORLD could anyone argue that point ?
