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Japan takes the WBC more seriously than the rest of us

5

As much as I wildly prefer the Indians to the US national baseball team, coming from a soccer fan it's always surprised me just how little people here care about the WBC. Injury concerns are greater in baseball than international soccer, granted. Will it take more time to gain tradition from which more respect will follow? Or maybe a change in the time of the year of the event? The third option, of course, is that an international tournament will never be taken seriously for the game of baseball, but that to me seems a disappointing, albeit understandable, conclusion.