Team USA in the World Baseball Classic is right about where Team USA basketball was in 2004. Team USA basketball had their heyday before they started struggling, of course, but I'm guessing we would have seen something similar in baseball had the WBC existed in the 80s and 90s as well. The rest of the world is good enough that Team USA can't just show up and expect to win. Until the top players care enough to play and the organizing body cares enough to develop a program like they did in basketball, this is going to happen.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0445HMGAzA0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Mexico are punks
pretty damn embarrassed to be of Mexican nationality right about now. this is why the country will never triumph to greater things and why the country is what it is right about now.
Even though I haven't been able to see anything but highlights of this tournament (see earlier post), it has been interesting thanks to what I feel is a little shift in the world baseball landscape. In a lot of ways, the talent a nation produces is somewhat cyclical. For example, Australia hit a boom a little over a decade ago and won a silver medal at the Olympics in 2004, but now the talent out of the country has slowed to a trickle and they weren't even competitive in this WBC. Puerto Rico is much the same way. They had a golden era with the likes of Pudge, Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran, but now they have tailed off as far as elite talent goes. Now, we are seeing the rise of nations like the Netherlands and Italy in the sport to varying degrees. The Dutch have some of the most exciting prospects in all of baseball (Schoop, Profar, etc.). In the first WBC, the Dutch were just another team. Sure, they had that no-hitter from Sharon Martis, but they weren't ready for the big time. In '09, they took the next step and upset D.R. twice and now they are among the top teams in the field. While Italy isn't quite there yet, they have shown that they can compete. They are in the driver's seat as far as advancing goes, they talk about being committed to player development in their country and not just being a passport team and maybe come the 2017 WBC, they'll be in the position the Netherlands is in this time around. And maybe by 2017, I'll have MLB Network so I can see it.
As far as the Mexico brawl goes, I think that's a sign of a team that lacks leadership and I don't think we should be surprised about. The tone for this team was set when the Mexican baseball federation basically got into a pissing match with the Mexican League about who was going to represent Mexico in this event. Obviously I'm not close to the team, but I can't imagine that would make for a great team atmosphere to start off with.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Pool A, 2017 WBC: United States, Tuvalu, Liechtenstein, Malta.</p>— Joe Sheehan (@joe_sheehan) <a href="https://twitter.com/joe_sheehan/status/310594252130373633">March 10, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Seriously, Mexico? You decide to pick a fight with Canadians? They've grown up fighting all their lives playing Hockey! Of course you Mexicans are going to get your asses whipped!
It's interesting that ESPN is going to simulcast the Dominican Republic/Puerto Rico game in Spanish on both ESPN Deportes and ESPN. I'm no ESPN historian, but I'm guessing this will be the first time that there will be a live event in Spanish in prime time on ESPN proper.
