It’s World Baseball Classic time.
After an extra couple of years break because of COVID-19, the world’s baseball tournament started last week with games across the world from Taiwan to Japan to Phoenix and Miami.
For those unwilling or unable to stay up for 2 a.m. or 4 a.m. games -- which is reasonable, I didn’t either -- Saturday was the first chance to really get a look at some of the best teams in this year’s tournament.
Japan might be the favorite this year because its loaded with players, including many of the best pitchers, from the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization, which is widely regarded as the second-highest quality league in the world behind MLB. Add on annual MVP contender Shohei Ohtani, Cy Young contender Yu Darvish and Cardinal outfield Lars Nootbar, and the team has plenty of MLB talent to compete for the WBC championship.
But Japan’s games have been in Taiwan at odd hours for American viewers, good thing we had the Dominican Republic playing Venezuela on Saturday followed by the United States facing Great Britain.
Just look at the talent on the field for the Dominican and Venezuela.
With last year’s National League Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara on the mound, the Dominican sent Julio Rodriguez, Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Teoscar Hernandez, Rafael Devers, Wander Franco, Jeremy Pena, Jeimer Candelario and Gary Sanchez to the plate. There are too many MVP and Rookie of the Year votes to count among the group made up fully of not just major league players, but almost entirely All Stars.
That lineup went against Martin Perez, while Jose Altuve, Ronald Acuna Jr., Luis Arraez, Salvador Perez, Gleyber Torres, Andres Gimenez, Anthony Santander, Eugenio Suarez and David Peralta ran Venezuela’s offense.
Those are not just two All Star-equivalent teams, but would have a pretty good shot to be the winningest teams in the majors this year. With the clear possibility it will be beat later in this tournament, that game might have had the most baseball talent ever seen on a field at one time.
Then there’s the United States lineup.
Trea Turner, Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, Paul Goldschmidt, Kyle Schwarber, Nolan Arenado, Kyle Tucker, JT Realmuto and Jeff McNeil took the field for the United States in what might be the best batting lineup ever written out.
But the U.S. doesn’t have the pitching Japan does, and no other team in the tournament can really match up to the Japanese.
The WBC has a different issue than the World Cup. There’s no good time to have it.
That tends to be the main issue with the WBC, it’s very difficult to get high-level pitchers to agree (and get medically and contractually covered by insurance) to pitch high-leverage, meaningful innings in March when they haven’t had a long time to ramp up.
You’ll never get major league teams to agree to pause the season for the WBC, so April through October are out. Right after the season, players want to rest and baseball players need some time to get ready and in playing shape, so November through February are no goes.
March isn’t even that good of an option, but it’s the best one we’ve got.
But because you’re missing many of the top pitchers, the games tend to be high-scoring with a lot of action and the excitement level at games is incredible.
Players who have played call it similar to a postseason environment, so if you’re looking for baseball and are already tired of meaningless spring training games where starters get two at bats and pitchers pitch an inning or two, the WBC is the perfect option.
It’s exciting, it’s high-energy and you get to watch most of the best players in the world team up to create some of the best lineups ever seen.
There have been amazing moments in every tournament.
Think back to Adam Jones robbing a Manny Machado home run in the 2017 tournament to keep the U.S. ahead in a winner-take-all game. Or Javier Baez’s no-look tag off a throw from Yadier Molina to catch Nelson Cruz stealing. Or David Wright earning the nickname “Captain America” in the 2013 tournament.
Who will be this year’s Capitain America? Will the Dominican use its endless talent to run the table the way it did in 2013? Will Ohtani power Japan to its first championship since winning the first two WBCs in 2006 and 2009?
The games are exciting, the talent level is incredible, the players really care and it’s the first meaningful baseball we’ve had since October.
So tune in and cheer on whichever country you want or just cheer for good baseball, because you’ll get it.