Team USA Watches Japan Beat Cuba in World Baseball Classic Final

The First World Baseball Classic came to an end Monday night with Japan defeating Cuba 10-6. That wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Team USA was the odds-on favorite, history favored the Americans, and somehow, they lost to both Canada and Mexico. Best in the world? Team USA isn’t even the best on its continent. And that makes the WBC a success.

The games in the early stages were not all that interesting. China against Japan, Italy against Australia, and South Africa against anybody just weren’t that great. However, one cannot underestimate the value in places like China, Australia, Italy and South Africa of the event. In nations where cricket is almost a religion especially, baseball got to be news for a few days. And if that means a few more kids pick up the round bat rather than the flat one, the tournament has served its purpose.

The real excitement came from the Latin American teams. There is a stereotype of the passionate Latin, and the tournament proved that there is some truth to this particular one. The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico (which fielded a team distinct from the Americans despite being American territory), Panama, Venezuela and Cuba showed the world that their fans are as adamant as any soccer mob (and quite well behaved – except for the anti-Castro banners that showed up in Round 1).

Baseball in Asia is a more mixed bag, with Chinese Taipei (Taiwan couldn’t use its real name because of the objections of the Communists in Beijing), Japan and Korea having excellent talent pools and a long tradition of the game. The People’s Republic of China needs work, but with 1.2 billion from which to draw its 9 players, they will be important very soon, like by 2009 when the second WBC is held.

All of which must get under the skin of all those American players who decided they had better things to do than represent their country, like play exhibition games in Florida and Arizona. America not only lost, but didn’t even qualify for the semi-finals. Guys like Derek Jeter and Chipper Jones will go back to spring training and tell the rest of players just how great it was. Competitors to a man, in 2009, America's players will try harder. And if USA baseball is smart, it won’t field an all-star team but a real team, just like USA soccer will do in Germany in June. Who knows? Maybe next time, Team USA will win it all because the team won’t feel entitled to the trophy.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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