Congratulations to Team USA in the WBC – My Thoughts

The World Baseball Classic came to an end on Wednesday and while I have been absent from the blog this week, once again my apologies, that doesn’t mean I have been absent from my fandom with the sport. I watched and rooted on Team USA as they blanked Team Puerto Rico in the WBC finale to win their first championship from the tournament in its short history and I wanted to take the time to not only congratulate them this afternoon but I also want to give my thoughts on the game and the entire tournament as a whole for Team USA.

I have to say that as a whole I am not a huge fan of the World Baseball Classic. I get the whole idea behind it, representing your country on a worldwide stage, but I think my biggest beef with it is when the games are actually played. In years past I have always said that teams like Team Dominican Republic and Team Venezuela and Team Puerto Rico to name a few have a clear and concise advantage because they have warm weather nearly year round and they have winter leagues such as the Dominican Winter League where players can play baseball year round. While Americans can play baseball and stay in shape all year long there is and always will be a huge difference in training and exhibition type baseball and the real live thing giving players outside the country a distinct advantage in my opinion, well until this year of course.

Team USA stormed the mound on Wednesday night not after only beating Team Puerto Rico but completely dominating and shutting them out 8-0 to capture the championship. Players hoisted the decorative bald eagle mascot on their shoulders and ran across the field with American flags across their backs and dammit I’d be lying if it didn’t make me proud to be an American. The chants of USA-USA-USA inside Dodger Stadium were echoing and chilling and they sent shivers down my spine as Team USA simply lowered their heads and received their gold medals in pride.

Honestly I think the WBC, until this week anyway, was a much bigger deal and was way more important to countries like the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Japan etc. than it was to the United States. We have Major League Baseball…. But now we have a World Baseball Classic championship and we earned it in front of over 57,000 fans in Dodger Stadium. This may change the WBC for Team USA forever. You think Mike Trout and Bryce Harper so “no” to defending the title again in a few years? Part of me wants to say “hell no” they won’t. Stay tuned. 

The WBC: Previewing the Second Round

The 2017 World Baseball Classic is shifting to San Diego’s Petco Park where four teams will vie for just two spots in the semifinals of the tournament. This is  a double-elimination round robin type round and it will showcase Team Dominican Republic, Team USA, Team Puerto Rico and Team Venezuela fighting for the final two spots from their pool let’s recap how they got their and preview the second round of the WBC.

Team Dominican Republic is the defending World Baseball Classic champions and will head into the second round after posting a 3-0 record in Pool C. The offense has been as stellar as advertised and Juerys Familia has been absolutely dominant in the closer role. Having Dellin Betances and Alex Colome in front of him turns every game Team Dominican Republic is in into a seven inning game, sometimes earlier. Ervin Santana will enter the team’s starting rotation for the second round which can only help them although their offense will have to start scoring before the later innings against presumably tougher competition in Round 2 if they want to defend their title.

The team that the Dominican Republic beat in the finals of the last World Baseball Classic, and three times total in the 2013 WBC, is Team Puerto Rico and these two teams look destined for another matchup or three this time around as well. Puerto Rico also went 3-0 in their Pool and they didn’t just win, they obliterated any pitcher put in front of them. From the Carlos Correa bat flip to the outstanding hitting from the likes of Francisco Lindor and Javier Baez you have to think the Puerto Ricans have at least the advantage offensively. It will come down to the pitching for Team Puerto Rico but if Seth Lugo and Jorge Lopez can pitch in Round 2 like they did in the first round the team should be just fine.

Team USA was in Pool C with Team Dominican Republic and head into the second round with a 2-1 record, that one loss to the defending WBC champions. Team USA actually led for much of that contest before the Dominican Republic offense finally woke up later in the game to snatch the victory from the jaws of defeat. Chris Archer, Marcus Stroman and Danny Duffy were fantastic for Team USA combining for exactly zero runs allowed in 12.2 innings pitched but while the team pitched well the offense was sluggish in two of the three games. A narrow victory over Team Columbia, the tough loss to Team Dominican Republic and the rout of Team Canada equates to a team that needs to pick up the pace if they want to advance to the semifinals. You have to expect Paul Goldschmidt, Giancarlo Stanton and Nolan Arenado to hit above the Stephen Drew Line (trademark pending for hitting .150) and you have to expect Andrew Miller and that bullpen to be better, and they will be, so color me “not worried.”

The final team in the pool is Team Venezuela who had to head to a tiebreaker game with Team Italy to reach the 2-2 mark and to advance in the tournament. Team Venezuela beat Team Italy 4-3 over the weekend to advance after an embarrassing 11-0 loss to Puerto Rico. Team Venezuela bounced back with nail biting victory over Italy 11-10 before a tough loss to Mexico 11-9. The pitching has struggled, due in large part to the team losing Salvador Perez to a knee injury, and the offense has been inconsistent at best aside from Martin Prado. Miguel Cabrera, Jose Altuve and Carlos Gonzalez should be better but if I was Team Venezuela I would worry if it was too late before they woke up. This pool is stacked with talented teams and I’m not sure the Venezuelans can afford to wait very long for their sluggers and pitching to wake up.