USA is WBC Champs!

YAY USA!!

I have been following this closely and enjoying every minute.

The Dominican Plantanain good luck charm and emotional style of play.

The Puerto Rican community rallying around their team after a new resurgence in the sport. Schoolchildren dying their hair blonde (and getting suspended from school) to show support for their team.

Amazing high level of play from teams like Japan and the Netherlands.

I was surprised and disappointed that there wasn't more interest or support here in the US. I could not find any mention of the PR/USA results this morning on the radio during my commute.

Lastly, I really enjoyed the tournament format. I would love to see the MLB try to integrate that somehow into the regular season. I think it would be more fun to watch.

The WBC was must watch TV at our house.  Watched Molina crying at the end of the game last night and was happy to see it.  Not because I had anything against Molina or PR but it shows those games really mean something to the players.  Has to be more meaningful than spring training games.

Yup, overall awesome event.  A bit anticlimactic with the final blowout but still great.  

I was disappointed, however, in several shows of lack of hustle.  Way too much assuming plays will be made or not be made.  I know this is a common thing in MLB regular season play but this event was supposed to carry a bit more immediate concern.  Just last night alone, a US player doubled off the RF wall and he totally pimped it headed to first, assuming either a catch or HR.  Another hit a ball in the 5-6 hole and practically jogged toward first until he realized there was going to be a throw.  I encourage our HS players to watch and then they see this crap going on.  It's not like they were cruising to avoid injury. You could tell it was the usual MLB BS.

I thought it was a really fun tournament. Too bad there is really no good time to have this and get max participation.  I hope the players had a great time so word of mouth brings in guys like Trout, Kershaw, and Harper.

I am an early riser and got to watch a lot of the games in Asia. It was great to get to see the Japanese and Korean players you never ever get to see until they get here.  The Israelis and Italians were a fun story.  The Puerto Rican, Dutch, Dominican, and US infield lineups were just a flat out sick amount of talent.

Pitching was better than what I thought it would be so early in the year.

cabbagedad posted:

Yup, overall awesome event.  A bit anticlimactic with the final blowout but still great.  

I was disappointed, however, in several shows of lack of hustle.  Way too much assuming plays will be made or not be made.  I know this is a common thing in MLB regular season play but this event was supposed to carry a bit more immediate concern.  Just last night alone, a US player doubled off the RF wall and he totally pimped it headed to first, assuming either a catch or HR.  Another hit a ball in the 5-6 hole and practically jogged toward first until he realized there was going to be a throw.  I encourage our HS players to watch and then they see this crap going on.  It's not like they were cruising to avoid injury. You could tell it was the usual MLB BS.

Some good hustle too though. Was it Yelich last night who legged out the dbl on the grounder to short left?

I thought the entire tourney was fun to watch. Great atmoshphere in Miami and the level of athleticism on display was sick. I think some of the showboating and sportsmanship would not fly in the MLB but I was glad to see some emotions. In fact I encourage it. Beats the heck out of Spring Training on the MLB Network

The hitting was much better than I anticipated. I wished they did a better job of selling it to the public. More "stars" would be nice also. IT would be nice to get a peak at Harper to see if he was his first half All Star form self or second half mediocre at best self. I saw other players on display and got a chance to see what to expect from them this year.

Great to see the Asian teams play against top level talent too. You always hear about players but you never know how they are going to compare with MLBers but we got to see some studs from Japan who could play in tthe MLB and produce.

Let's keep growing the WBC. Eventually it will be more of a premier event. 

cabbagedad posted:

Yup, overall awesome event.  A bit anticlimactic with the final blowout but still great.  

I was disappointed, however, in several shows of lack of hustle.  Way too much assuming plays will be made or not be made.  I know this is a common thing in MLB regular season play but this event was supposed to carry a bit more immediate concern.  Just last night alone, a US player doubled off the RF wall and he totally pimped it headed to first, assuming either a catch or HR.  Another hit a ball in the 5-6 hole and practically jogged toward first until he realized there was going to be a throw.  I encourage our HS players to watch and then they see this crap going on.  It's not like they were cruising to avoid injury. You could tell it was the usual MLB BS.

this post is spot on, the players cared but not enough to really hustle. Adam Jones wasn't able to go 1st to 3rd as the trailing runner on a single, with a ball thrown to home that went past the catcher and hit off the wall....and he was still standing on 2nd. The replay was damning and your average HS coach would have benched his ass in a minute!

But it was great event! I do envy the way the various island teams obviously love the game! they are certainly not the most discipline teams (and that is an understatement) but they do have a ton of fun!

CmassRHPDad posted:

cabbagedad posted:

Yup, overall awesome event.  A bit anticlimactic with the final blowout but still great.  

I was disappointed, however, in several shows of lack of hustle.  Way too much assuming plays will be made or not be made.  I know this is a common thing in MLB regular season play but this event was supposed to carry a bit more immediate concern.  Just last night alone, a US player doubled off the RF wall and he totally pimped it headed to first, assuming either a catch or HR.  Another hit a ball in the 5-6 hole and practically jogged toward first until he realized there was going to be a throw.  I encourage our HS players to watch and then they see this crap going on.  It's not like they were cruising to avoid injury. You could tell it was the usual MLB BS.

Some good hustle too though. Was it Yelich last night who legged out the dbl on the grounder to short left?

He turned a single into a double the night before also.  He may be the exception though.  

fenwaysouth posted:

So, I'm finding it a little strange that nobody is talking/posting about the World Baseball Championship and the performance that USA put on last night.   A tip of the cap to Stroman for taking a no-hitter into the 7th.   I love my country and I love baseball, so it is a natural thing for me to be drawn to this event.  Way to go USA and congrats to Puerto Rico for making the finals. 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/...uerto-rico/99522822/

Puerto Rico beat the Kingdom of the Netherlands (KOTN) in the semi-finals with an awesome top of the 1st inning display by Yadi Molina gunning down two less than worthy KOTN baserunners.  I spit up my adult beverage when Yadi caught Profar showboating off of first base.  What a freaking dumb*ss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4HJyuhqFZk

 

 

There are two sides to it why a lot of people don't pay attention. The US doesn't send its best roster. If they did it would be one sided. I'm too caught up in basketball right now. I'll focus in on baseball when I go to games one and three of the first week of the season. 

I love the WBC.  Tons of great games

it is true that the USA doesn't have their best pitching on the roster, and Trout and Harper weren't there, but much of the rest of the roster represented the USA's best:  Buster Posey, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Ian Kinsler, Brandon Crawford, Giancarlo Stanton etc are not exactly C Team talent.

 

There are two sides to it why a lot of people don't pay attention. The US doesn't send its best roster. If they did it would be one sided. I'm too caught up in basketball right now. I'll focus in on baseball when I go to games one and three of the first week of the season. 

Exactly why I like it.  Possibly it wasn't our countries best & youngest talent roster but somebody at USA Baseball put together a damn great team  I don't get to see Christian Yelich,  Brandon Crawford or others play much now but they were impressive.   I've seen Branadon Crawford play in the minors many times and my son's travel team played Yelich's team a few times.  These guys are the quiet talent that makes a team like this enjoyable to watch for me because it was about team.  The United States is deep in talent and they just proved it.  JMO.

Hat tip to Jim Leland. Great job managing all of those players and the limits their respective teams put on them.

I would say the US didn't send their best pitching staff, but the pitchers that went were very good.  Who wouldn't enjoy watching Kershaw, Sale, and Baumgartner jump in on the fun though? The position players on the roster were very very good. No other team anywhere could just switch from day to day Posey and Lucroy. Paul Goldschmidt, Daniel Murphy, and Josh Harrison were back ups and role players.  That is insane when you think about that, but in context of how the guys they were backing up played you see why.

Adam Jones was really good during the tournament, base running mental mistake aside. I wouldn't want to be the average HS Coach who benches the guy who can go up over the wall to make a game saving catch, or drive in a couple of game winning runs.

Christian Yelich was awesome hitting in the middle of a line up full of middle of the lineup hitters.  You knew he deserved to be where he was.

We really enjoyed watching, and I thought it was great I could flip between a WBC game and a hoops game of choice.  I also liked that we didn't have a maxed out roster, seeing some of the younger talented players involved was a treat.  

I remember on this forum lots of people came to complain about Team USA but few here to give them praise.

I love the WBC because it gives an opportunity to watch players I don't get to see often all at all,  and I am glad that you all got to watch my favorite player, Christian Yelich, who we in Marlin Territory  get to watch and Stanton every night. 

Best team ever for team USA, congrats to Leyland, who still is a great manager.

FWIW, Josh Zaid, from team Israel was signed by the Cardinals. This is a great opportunity for free agents to show their stuff, and I wonder how many others got FA contracts.