Two of New York’s favorite baseball players are currently representing their country in the World Baseball Classic and nobody seems to notice or care. David Wright and Derek Jeter are followed by legions of fans, but apparently only when they play for the Mets and Yankees respectively. It was Wright who delivered the biggest hit of the tournament for Team USA, a game-winning single that capped a thrilling comeback in the ninth against Puerto Rico. Wright was mobbed by his teammates, who celebrated like they had won the World Series, but his heroics garnered little attention in the New York area.
The lack of interest in the WBC is coupled with the fear of injury. Teams have been getting back damaged players and they stopped certain players from participating in the first place. C.C. Sabathia was blocked by the Yankees and the Mets kept Johan Santana from participating. The list goes on: Albert Pujols, Manny Ramirez, Mark Teixeira, the best names in the game are not in the WBC and that takes away from the tournament.
Putting the tournament in March is also part of the problem. There is only one tournament in March and college basketball has it. Everything else in sports takes a back seat to “The Madness” for the three weeks it runs. In addition, most players are just getting into game shape in March, their bodies are simply not ready to play at 100% exertion in the first few weeks of March. So, the games toil in obscurity and put the players at risk, a terrible combination.
A sensible change would be to move the WBC to July and hold a weeklong tournament in place of the All-Star Game. But, MLB doesn’t want to do that because it would cut the revenues they receive from the regular season. So, baseball owners will probably continue with the current tournament and the WBC will continue to be an obscure precursor to the baseball season. That’s a stupid decision, but it shouldn’t stop you from watching Team USA tonight when they face Japan. The players are into it and if you like baseball, you should be too.
