2023 World Baseball Classic

jon abbey

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The announcers made the rare good point that if this game is tied in bottom 9 and COL has the bases loaded, the US almost has to intentionally walk the losing run in, since a grand slam would eliminate them and a one run loss is the same as a win (although it would screw GBR, who would drop to 5th in the pool).
 

Tokyo Sox

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There
So, the quarterfinals are all set:

Cuba 4, Australia 3
Italy/Japan, in about 4 hours
USA/Venezuela
Puerto Rico/Mexico

Winner of USA/VEN plays Cuba
Winner of ITA/JPN plays winner of PR/MEX

https://www.mlb.com/world-baseball-classic/2023-bracket-standings

Ohtani has the start tonight vs Italy and then that will be it for him as a pitcher in the tournament. Supposedly Darvish will be first out of the bullpen tonight but that only makes sense to me if it's a very tight game. If Japan is way ahead, saving Darvish for the next round seems better but we'll see how it goes.
 

BigSoxFan

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The atmosphere in these Tokyo games just can’t be topped. Will be interesting to see how many fans travel to FL, if Japan advances.
 

BigSoxFan

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Ohtani loses it in 5th. At 71 pitches so now out. Big spot here for Japan. Italy has been very resilient.
 

BigSoxFan

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His swing is freaking gorgeous. I'm so excited for this year.
The skills are clearly there but I also like how the moment of representing his country hasn't overwhelmed him. He's put together a consistent string of good ABs this tournament despite all that pressure.
 

Granite Sox

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Ohtani has the start tonight vs Italy and then that will be it for him as a pitcher in the tournament. Supposedly Darvish will be first out of the bullpen tonight but that only makes sense to me if it's a very tight game. If Japan is way ahead, saving Darvish for the next round seems better but we'll see how it goes.
Darvish hasn't looked great; Sasaki and Yamamoto have performed much better, so I think Japan should feel confident moving forward.

Devers, Alfaro, Chang, Bleier (and Rio Gomez) are now on their way back to the Sox. Either Kike or Verdugo and Duran will be heading back Sunday. Yoshida continues on!

Let's hope Devers can trim down before Opening Day and stop trying to hit 5-run homers with every swing.
 

Ale Xander

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Darvish hasn't looked great; Sasaki and Yamamoto have performed much better, so I think Japan should feel confident moving forward.

Devers, Alfaro, Chang, Bleier (and Rio Gomez) are now on their way back to the Sox. Either Kike or Verdugo and Duran will be heading back Sunday. Yoshida continues on!

Let's hope Devers can trim down before Opening Day and stop trying to hit 5-run homers with every swing.
I would pay big $ to see Devers hit a 5RHR
 

Bigdogx

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Ultimately it won’t matter in 4 years, but if the World Baseball Classic was played again next year it would look a lot different after the Mets $102 million relief ace just suffered a probable season ending celebration injury.
I'm going to hope that after last night, major league owners refuse to allow their signed players to compete in this event moving forward. I feel bad for Mets fans today, this tournament is really nothing important, it is a damn scrimmage, and to lose a top flight guy the team was absolute depending on 2 freaking weeks from now is absolute horse #@#@!
 

BigSoxFan

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I'm going to hope that after last night, major league owners refuse to allow their signed players to compete in this event moving forward. I feel bad for Mets fans today, this tournament is really nothing important, it is a damn scrimmage, and to lose a top flight guy the team was absolute depending on 2 freaking weeks from now is absolute horse #@#@!
It may not be important to you but it's clearly quite important to the players participating and their fans. Now, this injury will probably lead to some changes and potentially some guys pulling out but the event is pretty entertaining and important for growing the sport.
 

Kliq

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The overreactions coming off of the Diaz injury are one of the worst aspects of sports media/social media in today's world. Diaz could have easily gotten injured during spring training, or in this case, doing something stupid at home. The idea that players won't do the WBC because of the perception of more risk (as opposed to typical spring training) post-Diaz injury seems unrealistic. It's the exact same risk as before and the players know that.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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I'm going to hope that after last night, major league owners refuse to allow their signed players to compete in this event moving forward. I feel bad for Mets fans today, this tournament is really nothing important, it is a damn scrimmage, and to lose a top flight guy the team was absolute depending on 2 freaking weeks from now is absolute horse #@#@!
LOL

MLB created the World Baseball Classic. No way are they going to short circuit it by not allowing their stars to participate. What happened to Diaz is unfortunate, but it won't change anything. It could have happened in Clover Park just as easily as it happened at LoanDepot Park.

I don't think the players think it's "really nothing important." Mike Trout and Mookie Betts sure seem like they think it's important.

View: https://twitter.com/TalkinBaseball_/status/1636382126626177025
 

BigSoxFan

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The overreactions coming off of the Diaz injury are one of the worst aspects of sports media/social media in today's world. Diaz could have easily gotten injured during spring training, or in this case, doing something stupid at home. The idea that players won't do the WBC because of the perception of more risk (as opposed to typical spring training) post-Diaz injury seems unrealistic. It's the exact same risk as before and the players know that.
100%. Ohtani is looking at the biggest contract in sports history in 8-9 months and he’s playing. They’re being extremely careful with pitch counts. The rest of the injuries are normal injuries that could happen in FL or AZ or of the fluke variety like last night.
 

JimD

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I'm going to hope that after last night, major league owners refuse to allow their signed players to compete in this event moving forward. I feel bad for Mets fans today, this tournament is really nothing important, it is a damn scrimmage, and to lose a top flight guy the team was absolute depending on 2 freaking weeks from now is absolute horse #@#@!
Wait, we have people on a Boston Red Sox message board feeling bad for Mets fans? I take it that you folks weren't around any Mets fans in October 1986 or the ensuing decade or so. I feel bad for Diaz and kinda sad for Puerto Rico fans, but LOL boo hoo to Mets fans. I'm sure their gazillionaire owner will just buy them another one as soon as possible.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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Wait, we have people on a Boston Red Sox message board feeling bad for Mets fans? I take it that you folks weren't around any Mets fans in October 1986 or the ensuing decade or so. I feel bad for Diaz and kinda sad for Puerto Rico fans, but LOL boo hoo to Mets fans. I'm sure their gazillionaire owner will just buy them another one as soon as possible.
I’m so past being pissy about Mets fans… and I do have an “enemy of my my enemy” feeling towards them.
But it’s interestingly very American that we prefer to root for our corporate owned teams where players move from city to city chasing the most bucks, instead of the team representing our country.
 

loshjott

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Wait, we have people on a Boston Red Sox message board feeling bad for Mets fans? I take it that you folks weren't around any Mets fans in October 1986 or the ensuing decade or so. I feel bad for Diaz and kinda sad for Puerto Rico fans, but LOL boo hoo to Mets fans. I'm sure their gazillionaire owner will just buy them another one as soon as possible.
As a Sox fan from childhood and also now a Nats fan I double like this post.
 

InsideTheParker

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You guys are nuts to want something bad to happen to a player because thirty-six + years ago his team beat your team. The only Mets fans I know hate the NYY and root for the Sox when they are up against the Yankees.
 

NJ_Sox_Fan

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LOL

MLB created the World Baseball Classic. No way are they going to short circuit it by not allowing their stars to participate. What happened to Diaz is unfortunate, but it won't change anything. It could have happened in Clover Park just as easily as it happened at LoanDepot Park.

I don't think the players think it's "really nothing important." Mike Trout and Mookie Betts sure seem like they think it's important.

View: https://twitter.com/TalkinBaseball_/status/1636382126626177025
They may say it’s important, but clearly none of the American born top flight pitchers think it is, or think it’s worth the risk.
 

JimD

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You guys are nuts to want something bad to happen to a player because thirty-six + years ago his team beat your team. The only Mets fans I know hate the NYY and root for the Sox when they are up against the Yankees.
C'mon, none of us were rooting for Diaz or any other Mets/Yankees/(insert team you can't stand here) players to get hurt. Not the same thing at all.
 

LogansDad

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They may say it’s important, but clearly none of the American born top flight pitchers think it is, or think it’s worth the risk.
Well I bet it's pretty important for the Italian players who want to spread the game more through Italy, and the Puerto Ricans whose fans don't get to watch them play at the highest level all that often, or the Japanese players, who want to continue to prove that their country is near the top in baseball talent. And also to MLB itself, which needs the game to keep spreading worldwide in order to keep being a profitable organization.

Just because it isn't important to some American pitchers, doesn't mean it isn't important.

The Olympics are, technically, an "exhibition", and while the WBC is not on the level of that, I don't think, it is still incredibly important to the sport of baseball.

But, hey, a few Americans don't want to play in it, so obviously nobody should care, am I right?
 

NJ_Sox_Fan

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Well I bet it's pretty important for the Italian players who want to spread the game more through Italy, and the Puerto Ricans whose fans don't get to watch them play at the highest level all that often, or the Japanese players, who want to continue to prove that their country is near the top in baseball talent. And also to MLB itself, which needs the game to keep spreading worldwide in order to keep being a profitable organization.

Just because it isn't important to some American pitchers, doesn't mean it isn't important.

The Olympics are, technically, an "exhibition", and while the WBC is not on the level of that, I don't think, it is still incredibly important to the sport of baseball.

But, hey, a few Americans don't want to play in it, so obviously nobody should care, am I right?
I’m not saying it’s not important to grow the sport internationally, or to fans from other countries who don’t get to watch their players live very often. Just that I don’t think the US players think it’s all that important, or if they did, they’d field a better overall team.

Personally I’d rather watch it with all amateur players - IE, non MLB players.
 

Sad Sam Jones

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I’m so past being pissy about Mets fans… and I do have an “enemy of my my enemy” feeling towards them.
But it’s interestingly very American that we prefer to root for our corporate owned teams where players move from city to city chasing the most bucks, instead of the team representing our country.
I watch some of the WBC because it's baseball and my favorite team has very few televised spring training games, but I couldn't care less about any of the results. I would find it really weird to care more about an all-star team that's assembled for a couple of weeks every few years with completely different rosters than the team I've followed 162 games a year for over 35 years. I'm not going to piss on anyone's cornflakes, because I know it's really important to some fan bases, but I just don't get into nationalism and would prefer if all the players for my favorite team were in spring training with my favorite team.
 

simplicio

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Personally I’d rather watch it with all amateur players - IE, non MLB players.
But that's the thing, right? Americans already get to root for the best players in the world on their teams every year, so it's like who cares if we shuffle some of those players around for a couple weeks in the spring to face inferior talent?

But for every other country, it's a homecoming where all their best talent that's been exported to the US plays under their own flag for just a moment, alonside their local guys that never made it, and they all get to face off against Mike Trout. And that's awesome.
 

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But that's the thing, right? Americans already get to root for the best players in the world on their teams every year, so it's like who cares if we shuffle some of those players around for a couple weeks in the spring to face inferior talent?

But for every other country, it's a homecoming where all their best talent that's been exported to the US plays under their own flag for just a moment, alongside their local guys that never made it, and they all get to face off against Mike Trout. And that's awesome.
This, exactly. When watching Japan play, I thought about how awful it would be to have a US player as special as Ohtani go to another country to play the bulk of his career. It gave me a deeper appreciation for the enthusiasm of the fans of the other nations in the WBC for getting the rare opportunity to watch their best ex-pat players compete for their home country for a brief spell.
 

jon abbey

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This, exactly. When watching Japan play, I thought about how awful it would be to have a US player as special as Ohtani go to another country to play the bulk of his career. It gave me a deeper appreciation for the enthusiasm of the fans of the other nations in the WBC for getting the rare opportunity to watch their best ex-pat players compete for their home country for a brief spell.
This happens with soccer now, the best US players need European club competition to try to get to their potential.
 

InsideTheParker

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I don't think anyone said that or even implied it. From my reading, no one is remotely rooting for guys to get hurt.
You are correct. I was mostly responding to the Diaz specific thread, and the "rooting" seemed to be against the Mets fans and front office rather than for Diaz hurting himself. I do think that is odd, but I expressed myself poorly.
 

Fred not Lynn

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The Olympics are, technically, an "exhibition", and while the WBC is not on the level of that, I don't think, it is still incredibly important to the sport of baseball.
Every sports game ever played with a spectator present is ultimately an “exhibition”. To criticize the WBC as meaningless is to see the sport through the narrow lens of one’s own interests.

Injuries, freak or “normal” are a part of sport, and to have sport at all, we need to understand and accept the risk that they’re going to happen.

The international aspect of the WBC has an energy that is good for the game. I’d like to see more of this energy…maybe MORE WBC style play, and definitely something legit for the 2028 LA Olympics.

Also - I’ve mentioned it before; Why not have MLB do more to pump up the Junior World Championship so it’s got a higher profile. I’d be much more interested in a proper U20 international tournament as a July TV staple than in the not-good-at-all for kids Little League World Series (maybe U18, or U21, I’m not totally sure which age line would be most engaging. Too young and they’re not ready for it, too old and you lose some of the very best to MLB and other pro leagues).

I’d much rather see the BEST National Teams of College, MiLB and High School aged players, playing a bit more freely for their countries than adult-engineered groups of 12 years olds who (with some sort of sketchy adult-engineered exceptions) only represent a tiny portion of their nations.
 

InsideTheParker

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I am kind of surprised at the scheduling, P.R. having to play Mexico tonight after just playing on the 15th. There may be a very good reason.
Anyway, It's Stroman v. Urias on FS1 @ 7:05.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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I am kind of surprised at the scheduling, P.R. having to play Mexico tonight after just playing on the 15th. There may be a very good reason.
Anyway, It's Stroman v. Urias on FS1 @ 7:05.
I think it's primarily because they're at the stage of the tournament where it's one game per day. One of the remaining quarterfinal games had to be tonight, and all four teams involved played on Wednesday. The only strange thing is that it's P.R. and Mexico where the winner doesn't play again until Monday where as the winner of the U.S.-Venezuela game tomorrow turns around and plays Cuba on Sunday.