Japan takes the WBC more seriously than the rest of us

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.

almost 3 years ago thevicar 5 comments 0 recs |

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England ignored the World Cup until 1950, and lots of countries decided it wasn’t even worth the expense to send teams overseas for the ’32, ’34 and ’38 tournaments… but I think you could say that eventually caught on. The US is still semi-ignoring international basketball events, but those are eventually going to be a big deal.

The main difference with baseball is that it’s just not as widely played, so the WBC is not legitimately a worldwide event, and there are probably only four legit contenders. That doesn’t mean it won’t eventually be awesome.

by still ill on Feb 17, 2009 5:45 PM EST reply actions

I think if the MLB took it seriously as a venue for worldwide athletic competition, they would find a way to rectify the timing of the WBC. As it currently stands, it is competition to the MLB teams for a player’s attention & focus and youll never get the teams to buy into it. RIghtfully so in my opinion.

I think every 2 years is too frequent and the event is less of a occurence of competition on the world stage than MLB attempting to penetrate emerging (or even established) baseball markets.

I think make it every 4 years and get rid of the All-Star game if you’re serious about trying to push it toward World Cup status. Hell, te little league world series is a more legitimate competition at this point.

As General Manager of this team, I demand to know when I'm getting a start.

by bigbrabbs on Feb 17, 2009 6:01 PM EST up reply actions

I think you’ve got it right. The reason this won’t change is because it isn’t the purpose of the WBC to increase interest in baseball in the U.S., but rather to increase interest elsewhere. For that purpose, the current setup works well, and it may even be better served by not fielding the best possible U.S. and Dominican teams, making other countries more likely to win.

by Jay on Feb 17, 2009 7:32 PM EST up reply actions

I think that any country (with the exception of the US) would be taking it very seriously had they won the first one as Japan did. Having lived in Japan for 3 years, I understand how proud the Japanese are of their culture—specifically food and sports. It makes sense that the team and the Japanese public fully expect a repeat performance.

by PatBordersHelmet on Feb 17, 2009 6:06 PM EST reply actions

I agree, and think that Seligs knows its a very good idea from the perspective of simply stirring up some emotion and pride in baseball. I dont think there is any situation where excitement in baseball and MLB revenues are inversely related.

As General Manager of this team, I demand to know when I'm getting a start.

by bigbrabbs on Feb 17, 2009 11:03 PM EST up reply actions