Olympic baseball, aka the China Summer League
by Jay on Aug 12, 2008 12:03 AM EDT
in Events
25 comments
Some people get all worked up about the Olympics; I can't say I'm one of them, at least not since I was a kid. I couldn't tell you the first thing about the history of Olympic baseball, although I do know that after this month, Olympic baseball is history. So my main interest in these games is as a showcase for a few Indians prospects who are participating.
Team USA features Akron OF/1B Matt LaPorta, 23, centerpiece of last month's Sabathia trade and arguably the Indians' top propsect, period. Team USA also includes Buffalo reliever Jeff Stevens, not quite 25, notorious fruit of the Brandon Phillips trade (not that there's anything wrong with being notorious fruit). Stevens electrified Indians prospect watchers by striking out 102 in 83 innings last season, earning a spot on the 40-man roster, and he continued at that pace in Akron this season before slowing down somewhat upon his promotion to Buffalo.
Team Canada features Kinston OF Nick Weglarz, 20, an excellent slugger prospect having a fine season against older competition in the Carolina League, probably one of our best five prospects at this point. Joining Weglarz is Akron reliever T.J. Burton, 25, more of an organizational solider than a serious prospect at this point.
Like the other Olympic sports, baseball will be broadcast sporadically across NBC's confusing network of networks, and many other events are being streamed online at nbcolympics.com in surprisingly high quality. Here's the schedule of games being broadcast or streamed, featuring Team USA and/or Team Canada:
| Date | Time (EST) |
Matchup | Where |
| Tues Aug 12 | 11:30 p.m. | China vs. Canada | online |
| Wed Aug 13 | 6:00 a.m. | South Korea vs. USA (live) | online |
| 1:00 p.m. | South Korea vs. USA (replay) | MSNBC | |
| 10:30 p.m. | Netherlands vs. USA (live) | online | |
| Thurs Aug 14 | 2:00 a.m. | Netherlands vs. USA (replay) | USA |
| 6:00 a.m. | Cuba vs. Canada | online | |
| 11:30 p.m. | USA vs. Cuba (live) | online | |
| Fri Aug 15 | 2:00 a.m. | USA vs. Cuba (replay) | USA |
| 6:00 a.m. | Canada vs. South Korea | online | |
| 10:30 p.m. | USA vs. Canada (live) | online | |
| Sat Aug 16 | 12:30 p.m. | USA vs. Canada (replay) | MSNBC |
| Date | Time (EST) |
Matchup | Where |
| Sun Aug 17 | 10:30 p.m. | Canada vs. Japan | online |
| Mon Aug 18 | 7:00 a.m. | USA vs. China (live) | online |
| 12:00 noon | USA vs. China (replay) | MSNBC | |
| Tues Aug 19 | 7:00 a.m. | USA vs. Taiwan (live) | online |
| 12:00 noon | USA vs. Taiwan (replay) | MSNBC | |
| Wed Aug 20 | 6:00 a.m. | Canada vs. Taiwan | online |
| 7:00 a.m. | Japan vs. USA (live) | online | |
| 11:00 a.m. | Japan vs. USA (replay) | MSNBC | |
| Date | Time (EST) |
Matchup | Where |
| Thurs Aug 21 | 10:30 p.m. |
Medal semifinal A (live) |
online |
| Fri Aug 22 | midnight | Medal semifinal A (replay) |
CNBC |
| 6:00 a.m. | Medal semifinal B (live) | online | |
| 2:00 p.m. | Medal semifinal B (replay) | MSNBC | |
| 10:30 p.m. | Bronze Medal Game (live) |
online | |
| Sat Aug 23 | 2:00 a.m. | Bronze Medal Game (replay) |
USA |
| 6:00 a.m. | Gold Medal Game (live) | online | |
| 6:00 a.m. | Gold Medal Game (live) |
USA |
3 recs |
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Thanks, Jay, that is rather helpful.
Proud supporter of the Cleveland.
by fwembt on Aug 12, 2008 12:45 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Thanks from me too. Sadly none of this is being shown over here until the Semis, so hopefully there’ll be some Indians interest by that point. I’ll also have to see if that website allows international visitors.
by Luis (Tribe Fan in London) on Aug 12, 2008 3:58 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
i’m up for gamethreads for some of these games…
by Brick. on Aug 12, 2008 11:49 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
So NBC isn’t showing US vs. Canada live on any of their networks? That’s bizarre.
by Ryan on Aug 12, 2008 8:48 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Friday night Phelps could be going for his 7th gold, so the NBC mothership is out. You could see some of it live on Universal, which just lists the broadcast as “Multiple Sports.”
by FredOx on Aug 12, 2008 9:18 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yeah, but NBC has like four other networks they could show this on. MSNBC, CNBC, USA, etc.
by Ryan on Aug 12, 2008 9:25 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Seven networks (NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, Universal, Telemundo, Oxygen, USA), plus the Olympic Basketball and Olympic Soccer networks. But of those seven, only two have primetime broadcasts on Friday night. Why that is, I have no idea. I’d guess Monk would outdraw LaPorta and Weglarz in prime time.
by FredOx on Aug 12, 2008 9:49 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I guess they don’t want the other networks cannibalizing the mother ship’s broadcast.
But still, if USA baseball is such a ratings bust, why would they care if 50,000 people watch the baseball game live on one of their cable networks?
by Ryan on Aug 12, 2008 9:58 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Just because it sells ads at higher prices to guarantee there will be little/no competition or alternatives available to the viewer.
//You already made this point in a round-about way//
by Ohiokie on Aug 12, 2008 12:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I don’t think US-Canada is of particular ratings interest. USA-Japan or USA-Cuba, maybe.
I don’t think any of these games are of ratings interest, but I imagine the Gold Medal Game will get a more prominent replay if Team USA makes it. I made this schedule on the assumption that we can’t expect primtime broadcast of any Olympic baseball.
by Jay on Aug 12, 2008 9:44 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
ie. it’d be nice for this post to “get andrewed” so the schedule is handy after it gets pushed down the center page by gamethreads, etc.
by Brick. on Aug 12, 2008 10:01 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
If you want, post a link-FanShot to this, and people can rec that up if they want.
by Jay on Aug 12, 2008 10:09 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
How has the online stuff on NBC looked? The quality of the CBC online video has been surprisingly good….far better than mlb.tv has ever looked.
by supermarioelia on Aug 12, 2008 12:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
It’s picture quality is very good. The NBC online feed doesn’t have commentary, just video and the score. If you don’t know a lot about the sport you’re watching, it’s a bit confusing, but it’s still quite an amazing feat to televise essentially the entire competition.
by Ryan on Aug 12, 2008 1:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I’m guessing it’s the same feed internationally because ours is exactly like that.
by supermarioelia on Aug 12, 2008 1:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
If you want to dabble in new and confusing sports, in addition to the NBColympics.com stuff, I recommend the ESPN.com fan guide to each sport. It has illustrations and clear explanations of what each sport is and how it is played.
You have no idea the physical toll that three vasectomies have on a person
by jakesinger777 on Aug 12, 2008 3:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Stevens and LaPorta, not so good today. Or yesterday. Or whenever that first game was.
by ASP on Aug 13, 2008 11:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
It seems like the Stevens error in the 9th was a huge one. I wonder what he did.
by Toxicadam on Aug 13, 2008 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
errant pickoff throw sent runner from 1st to 3rd, setting up the winning sac fly
by palcal on Aug 13, 2008 4:10 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
watching Koplove pitch on the MSNBC replay now, it looks like he is wired, constantly moving.
short turnaround, only 8 more hours until the US takes on the Netherlands later today (Thursday morning in Beijing)
by palcal on Aug 13, 2008 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
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