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Originally Posted by Airbornelawyer
So, is anyone here following the World Baseball Classic?
Nice to see some strong performances from countries like Italy and Israel who aren't exactly known for their baseball cultures, although eventually they bowed to the inevitable and fell to the teams with more depth. You don't normally think of baseball when you think of the Netherlands, but many of their players are from the Netherlands' Caribbean territories where baseball is an institution.
It was also nice to the USA get a large and supportive crowd in the game in San Diego yesterday. I still can't tell if the Team USA players are treating this as little more than an exhibition/All-Star game, while others such as the DomRep are playing to win.
John Smoltz is really getting on my nerves, as he cannot apparently refer to "StatCast" without immediately following it with "powered by Amazon Web Services". We get it, you are a corporate shill. Every time I hear it, all I can think of is the Secretary of State in the movie Idiocracy, who got paid every time he said "brought to you by Carl's Jr.".
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I've been mostly tracking the brackets but did watch parts of a couple of USA games. Adam Jones (Orioles) seems to be pulling the bacon out of the fire repeatedly. Big one today vs PR.
It's a great opportunity for the fans to see some good baseball and some players they aren't necessarily familiar with. Also, without baseball in the Olympics recently, it's a player's opportunity to play for their "country".
I get the MLB idea of getting the WBC put together... although it does hose up some spring training time. Hopefully everyone walks away without injury as the real season starts.
Smoltz probably hears a "Cha-ching" every time he says that.