World Baseball Classic Thread

[Benjamin Grimm]

I also can't see stopping the regular season for two weeks in July. Eliminating the All Star Game would be no significant loss, and there may very well be better things to do during that three-day break. But expanding the break to 14 days would be a serious drag. One of the nice things about the WBC is it injected some meaning into March games. July doesn't need that kind of help.

[Willets Point]

That's another advantage of my November WBC proposal that Frayed Knot poo-pooed on the assumption that diva ballplayers would not want to play a longer "season" once each four years: If a player is injured in the WBC he has the maximum offseason time to recover before the next MLB season.

[Frayed Knot]

I'm very much against a mid-season WBC for all the season interrupting reasons. I'm not all that worried about injuries cropping up.
There were a total of 39 games played in this thing which is less than what's played in a regular MLB sked over 3 days. Throw in that only about 1/3 of the total rosters were MLB players and the injury possibility adds up to the same as about a day or two in reg season ball. Steinbrenner's whining aside, it's just not all that big a risk.

[Guest Edgy DC]

No, but it's a much bigger risk than March and much much bigger risk than November.

Most importantly, considering teams bend over backwards to come up with reasons to keep the Pedros of the world out of a single inning in the All-Star Game, they'll certainly be balky when it comes to a July WBC.

[duan]

Sorry I wasn't very clear earlier on.

The European Championships are held every FOUR years and are for NATIONAL TEAMS - it is like the World Cup except just for Europe (and with 16 teams rather then 32)

The European Cup (more commonly known now as the Champions League) is for club teams and it is held every season. It is rather complicated who qualifies for it. EVERY champion of a national league does, but as leagues get stronger they get additional places. ie: in Ireland First gets in, in Scotland First and Second, in England First, Second, Third & Fourth. - ( who get's what is decided by what's called the 'CoEfficient' which is a mathmatical representation of how well a country's teams have done in these competitions over a 5 year period.) There's also a seeding process at certain points.

The reason i was suggesting a 'midseason' classic is that the big issue with playing this at the start of the year is pitchers not having had to time to 'get their arms ready'. That wouldn't be the case with a midseason classic.

The issue with November is that it's SO far after the regular season that it's hard to think it makes sense for people who finish playing on Sep 30 to start again on Nov 1st. Baseball's prolonged climax means that but for the 8 teams involved there'd be a crazy gap.

[side note]
Israel & Israeli teams have been participating in UEFA - european football's governing body - competitions for decades.

[Willets Point]

This is totally stupid and unrealistic, but I wasted time thinking on it so now I share my labors with you.

The World Baseball Champions Cup (based on 2005 season)
Includes champions of:
Italy's Serie A1 - Foritudo BC Bologna
Japan's Nippon Profession Baseball (NPB) - Chibba Lotte Marines
Korea's Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) - Daegu Samsung Lions
Mexico's Mexican League - Angelopolis Tigres
Netherlands' Dutch Major League - Rotterdam DOOR Neptunes
United States/Canada Major League Baseball (MLB) - Chicago White Sox

MLB and NPB as the top leagues in the world get a second team based on best regular season record:
NPB - Fukoka SoftBank Hawks
MLB - St. Louis Cardinals

1st Round:
1. Rotterdam v. Bologna
2. Angelopolis v. Daegu Samsung

2nd Round:
3. Fukuoka SoftBank v. Rotterdam/Bologna
4. St. Louis v. Angelopolis/DaeguSamsung

Semi-Finals
5. Chicago v. Winner of #3
6. Chibba Lotte v.Winner of #4

Finals
7. Winners of Semi-Finals


We now return you to less delusional posts.

[nymr83]

The problem is that while some of these countries can field a competitive national TEAM only the U.S. and Japan have individual professional teams on the same high level.

[Willets Point]

From the Onion:

] Injury-Free U.S. Team Deems World Baseball Classic 'A Complete Success' March 23, 2006 | Onion Sports ANAHEIM, CA—Players on Team USA, along with MLB owners and managers, rejoiced Thursday night following their final game of the World Baseball Classic, a 2-1 loss to Mexico, as the Americans came out of the tournament safe, sound, and in one piece. "There is an amazing sense of accomplishment among these healthy, injury-free players. Wearing this uniform, and not getting hurt while inside of it, will be something these players are going to remember for the rest of the regular season," said Team USA manager Buck Martinez while helping each player navigate an awkward step up into the clubhouse. "We didn't emerge victorious, but we did emerge completely unscathed. I say we are the real winners here." Following their elimination from harm's way, Martinez joined his 30 healthy players in a cautious locker-room celebration, during which they gingerly spritzed shatterproof plastic bottles of champagne on each other.

and

] Ichiro: 'The Best Part About Playing For My Country Was Not Playing For The Seattle Mariners' March 23, 2006 | Onion Sports SAN DIEGO—In an interview following Japan's 10-6 victory against Cuba in the World Baseball Classic championship game Monday, Ichiro Suzuki called the tournament a "great opportunity to represent anything besides the Seattle Mariners." "Playing alongside my countrymen on the world stage was nice, but the highlight of the event for me was not having to watch helplessly from the on-deck circle as [seattle outfielder] Willie Bloomquist pops out for the fourth time in one game," said Ichiro, who has been contemplating a return to his non-Mariner roots since late 2003. "Honestly, I would have played for the Netherlands team if it meant 17 days away from the Mariners spring-training camp." Although he said that the legendary Sadaharu Oh did a fine job coaching Team Japan, Ichiro added that "next to Mike Hargrove, any idiot in a baseball cap would seem like a decent manager."

[Guest Rotblatt]

Hah! Both hilarious.