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OT: World Baseball Classic

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Some great early season baseball in USA vs Mexico. Judge and Roman Anthony launching HRs. Pitching by Skenes and nice plays by Bobby Witt Jr.
 
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I don't follow this stuff but he was born in Virginia and played college ball at ODU. probably doesn't even speak Italian

 
I don't follow this stuff but he was born in Virginia and played college ball at ODU. probably doesn't even speak Italian


Apparently Vinnie has Italian ancestry on his father’s side. Not sure how far back they go. Jarren Duran plays for Mexico since his father was born in Mexico. If I was younger and better, I could play for Italy since my maternal grandfather was born in Italy.
 
I looked it up. 3 of their players (out of 30) were actually born in Italy. The others have Italian heritage meaning parents or grandparents. Ridiculous.
 
Apparently Vinnie has Italian ancestry on his father’s side. Not sure how far back they go. Jarren Duran plays for Mexico since his father was born in Mexico. If I was younger and better, I could play for Italy since my maternal grandfather was born in Italy.
Seems strange to me. Everyone has heritage somewhere else if they go back far enough. Even with immigrant parents I think I'd want to play for the USA. Born, raised, educated, and played ball.
 
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Seems strange to me. Everyone has heritage somewhere else if they go back far enough. Even with immigrant parents I think I'd want to play for the USA. Born, raised, educated, and played ball.
I agree but none of the Italian players would probably make the USA team anyway. Greg Weissert is pitching well for Italy by way of the Red Sox.
 
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I don't get some of that stuff. Like I have friends born and raised in the USA. Parents born here. They've never even visited Italy, but they'll root for Italy over the US in World Cup games. I 1000% disagree with that type of stance.
 
I only saw the end of USA’s victory over Canada due to BET. Good news is that USA moves on to play Dominican Republic on Sunday night with Paul Skenes starting. Should be a good one in Miami.
 
There's discussion about moving the WBC into a window with the All Star Game - iow, shutting down baseball for around 2 weeks mid-season. That's just stupid. This tournament is a win for baseball right where it is, in pre-season. It's a great appetizer for the regular season to come. I would not change the scheduling.

US-born players representing other countries doesn't bother me one bit. It's a great way to help develop baseball in countries where it's been a minor sport at best. Love what Francisco Cervelli is doing to develop baseball in Italy.
 
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I would love for the WBC to someday become a mid-season summer 20+ day event and more independent from MLB rules / limitations.

At this point MLB / MLBPA are holding back the WBC from its full potential by treating it as exhibition spring-training event. Limiting pitching counts, capping outings, pulling players from roster sucks and takes prestige away from the tournament

I think baseball has an opportunity to grow into a true global sport.


With that said. I get that MLB, NPB and other leagues are first and foremost a business. They will do what is best for their business
 
I would love for the WBC to someday become a mid-season summer 20+ day event and more independent from MLB rules / limitations.

At this point MLB / MLBPA are holding back the WBC from its full potential by treating it as exhibition spring-training event. Limiting pitching counts, capping outings, pulling players from roster sucks and takes prestige away from the tournament

I think baseball has an opportunity to grow into a true global sport.


With that said. I get that MLB, NPB and other leagues are first and foremost a business. They will do what is best for their business
Not sure how the event would work if it took 20 plus days during mid-season. For example, the Red Sox had 14 players spread out over multiple WBC teams. I loved watching this intense competition in March in spite of USA loss and pitching restrictions imposed by the MLB clubs.

The next WBC will not occur again until 2030 due to Olympics in 2028.
 
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I looked it up. 3 of their players (out of 30) were actually born in Italy. The others have Italian heritage meaning parents or grandparents. Ridiculous.
Extremely ridiculous. Just another reason I could not possibly care less about this made for TV nonsense.
 
Extremely ridiculous. Just another reason I could not possibly care less about this made for TV nonsense.
Exactly. And great job picking Judge as Captain. The guy with the leadership and personality of a file cabinet. I feel bad the Olympic hockey team had their uniforms riddled with the mind numbing apathy of this team.
 
Exactly. And great job picking Judge as Captain. The guy with the leadership and personality of a file cabinet. I feel bad the Olympic hockey team had their uniforms riddled with the mind numbing apathy of this team.
My expectations were lower than yours and others. I enjoyed watching high level baseball in March and didn’t care about US players on Team Italy. I didn’t look at this event as one that awarded world supremacy. Team USA was not as passionate as other teams but I still enjoyed watching the games although their hitting was subpar. Good springboard for regular season.
 
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😂 I had to stop and think about it for a second when I saw the initials bc that was my initial thought also.
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It’s a fun event but it is just a warmup to the real season. I place little importance on these cobbled together teams.
 

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