World Baseball Classic games began last Friday, with Chinese Taipei beating Australia, 4-1. Few American baseball fans knew about this, and even fewer cared. As an advocate for all things baseball, my reaction to The WBC's lack lack of coverage has mostly been frustration and bewilderment. Until I realized that I don't care about it, either. Set in the middle of Spring Training, the WBC is a tournament that lacks identity, though it is not without purpose. As a showcase for international baseball fans, the WBC is doing fine and has room to grow.
Simply put, people around these parts don't care about the Classic because they already care too much about the World Series. A Major League Championship for our favorite baseball teams has a corner on the market for our baseball-related emotions. Until the WBC makes gains in its market share, America's best players will hesitate to participate; and until those stars are eagerly signing up, the WBC will struggle to pull on America's heart strings. It's all very chicken-or-the-egg-y. Somehow basketball has pulled it off with the Olympics. I'm not sure how.
Fans of Major League Baseball want their team to win a World Series. That's the first priority, and for most, the only priority. So when the Giants send seven of their players to go play in an exhibition tournament in the middle of their Spring Training, I'm not thrilled about it. Front offices are not excited, either. The players risk extending themselves too far too soon, and sustaining a season-altering injury as a result. Given that the Major League baseball season is so long, there's really not a good time for this tournament to be held.
But the international scene is where the WBC becomes relevant. It may never win the hearts of Americans, but not every country is spoiled with the world's most elite baseball league. Major League Baseball is the standard against which all other international baseball will be measured. The World Baseball Classic gives international fans a way to see how their guys compare. In fact, I think it might be more interesting if no MLBers were allowed at all. Everyone just sends their best who have yet to be deemed ready for The Show. The WBC would be relegated to a sort of world-wide scouting combine niche, but it would be interesting to see how the countries stacked up on that even playing field.
Either way, though, the WBC should focus on its role of being an international showcase (which it already does for the most part). The baseball-related emotional marketplace is not tapped out for non-American baseball fans, and if I may, a brief anecdote to support that point: I attended a few games of the inaugural WBC in Anaheim in 2006. My dad and I arrived a bit late to our first game, and upon hearing multiple raucous cheers as we were walking up to the stadium, we assumed we were missing a ton of excitement. On the contrary, the score was 0-0 when we arrived at our seats. Turns out fans were simply cheering every hit like a home run, and every out like it was the last one of the game.
And let's not forget that it is good baseball. The 2009 World Baseball Classic Title Game was a thriller, with two current and prominent Major Leaguers (Ichiro Suzuki and Yu Darvish) playing principle roles. And if America keeps losing, maybe at some point the USA will attempt to send an actual All-Star team.
Until then, the most important things for MLB fans will be the Spring Training opportunities created for scrubs by the vacancies left by Major Leaguers heading to the Classic. Case in point: Brock Bond! Marco Scutaro is playing for Venezuela, so with plenty of playing time available, the race for the Giants' 25th-man/utility-player is heating up! Left Coast Lean favorite Brock Bond has been playing well, and has upgraded his status from "outsider's puncher's longshot" to "longshot". What a man.
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