World Baseball Classic

[bmags]

This has actually been awesome. The players are pumped, nobody is going through motions.

[The Beast]

Robertson got out of a jam, looked good. Hopefully it helps his trade value.

[The Beast]

Sucks to suck, team USA. Andrew Miller s*** the bed again.

[BigHurt3515]

Confused why all these great Cuban players aren't playing for the national team

[Quin]

Confused why all these great Cuban players aren't playing for the national team

 

The detectors?

[Quin]

Israel somehow stays undefeated, Carlos Santana is bad at fielding and Andrew Miller blows a game.

 

WBC is more fun than any All-Star game. Maybe it could replace the All-Star break?

[BlackSox13]

Looking forward to a Dumpster fire. Team USA should/better win this game.

[demonbluess]

DR saved USA's ass with that extra inning win over Colombia. If it went the other way we'd have to win then beat DR in a tiebreaker. Now just beat the damn Canadians tonight and we advance.

Edited March 12, 2017 by SmashROT

[BlackSox13]

Dumpster sucked as expected and gone already. 3-0 USA after 1.

[BlackSox13]

7-0 USA after two.

[DirtySox]

Who would the US potentially be playing on Wednesday? Venezuela if they beat Mexico tonight?

[demonbluess]

Israel eliminated. Started 4-0, lost 2 in a row and are out.

 

Japan 6-0. Juggernaut.

 

 

 

[flavum]

Puerto Rico beat USA last night 6-5. Stroman gave up 4 runs in the 1st inning; Arenado made a huge error later in the game.

 

Robertson gave up a long strike to Beltran, but had a 1-2-3 inning, as did Jones.

 

The final 4 are Netherlands, Japan, Puerto Rico, and the winner of USA and Dominican Republic tonight.

[pettie4sox]

USA looks poised to make the championship round for the first time in the WBC.

[Nokona]

Great game last night, withthe US advancing.

 

What a catch by Adam Jones.

 

This tournament has been really great.

[Jake]

I can't imagine any other team is as harmed by non-participation as Team USA. In particular, our pitching staff seems bafflingly bad. Here are non-participating Americans listed by 2016 WAR:

 

1. Clayton Kershaw

2. Noah Syndergaard

3. Max Scherzer

4. Rick Porcello

5. Justin Verlander

6. Chris Sale

7. Corey Kluber

8. Madison Bumgarner

9. David Price

10. Kyle Hendricks

11. Jon Lester

12. Jake Arrieta

13. Jon Gray

 

and then you finally get to the first American WBC participant, Stroman.

 

And then we can look at relievers specifically:

 

We do have the best, Andrew Miller. Yay! And then...

 

1. Addison Reed (had to double take at that one)

2. Zach Britton

3. Tyler Thornburg

4. Will Harris

5. Mark Melancon

 

and then we get to Nate Jones and after that, about 10 more until you get to Luke Gregerson.

 

Of course the point isn't that 2016 WAR should be the main criterion for selection, but we're just not anywhere close to assembling our best.

 

And let's think about some of the position players missing:

 

1. Mike Trout

2. Kris Bryant

3. Mookie Betts

4. Josh Donaldson

5. Corey Seager

6. Adam Eaton

7. Brian Dozier

 

and then Ian Kinsler and Brandon Crawford, a few spots and you get Murphy and Arenado.

 

The outfield stands out, though—why does Team USA have Christian Yelich batting 3rd? McCutchen probably shouldn't be getting the time, but I understand how some may not be inclined to penalize him as much for last year when he had been so sensational for years beforehand.

 

Either way, I find it galling that the US has the world's two best players (Trout and Kershaw) and neither is out there. They have their reasons that are perfectly rational, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.

 

It's also bad for the tournament. On one hand, nobody will like it around the world if the US wins every time...it has to be competitive. But few would deny that the US has the most talent in the world, so it delegitimizes the tournament if Team USA does poorly each time, as it has pre-2017.

[Quin]

I can't imagine any other team is as harmed by non-participation as Team USA. In particular, our pitching staff seems bafflingly bad. Here are non-participating Americans listed by 2016 WAR:

 

1. Clayton Kershaw

2. Noah Syndergaard

3. Max Scherzer

4. Rick Porcello

5. Justin Verlander

6. Chris Sale

7. Corey Kluber

8. Madison Bumgarner

9. David Price

10. Kyle Hendricks

11. Jon Lester

12. Jake Arrieta

13. Jon Gray

 

and then you finally get to the first American WBC participant, Stroman.

 

And then we can look at relievers specifically:

 

We do have the best, Andrew Miller. Yay! And then...

 

1. Addison Reed (had to double take at that one)

2. Zach Britton

3. Tyler Thornburg

4. Will Harris

5. Mark Melancon

 

and then we get to Nate Jones and after that, about 10 more until you get to Luke Gregerson.

 

Of course the point isn't that 2016 WAR should be the main criterion for selection, but we're just not anywhere close to assembling our best.

 

And let's think about some of the position players missing:

 

1. Mike Trout

2. Kris Bryant

3. Mookie Betts

4. Josh Donaldson

5. Corey Seager

6. Adam Eaton

7. Brian Dozier

 

and then Ian Kinsler and Brandon Crawford, a few spots and you get Murphy and Arenado.

 

The outfield stands out, though—why does Team USA have Christian Yelich batting 3rd? McCutchen probably shouldn't be getting the time, but I understand how some may not be inclined to penalize him as much for last year when he had been so sensational for years beforehand.

 

Either way, I find it galling that the US has the world's two best players (Trout and Kershaw) and neither is out there. They have their reasons that are perfectly rational, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.

 

It's also bad for the tournament. On one hand, nobody will like it around the world if the US wins every time...it has to be competitive. But few would deny that the US has the most talent in the world, so it delegitimizes the tournament if Team USA does poorly each time, as it has pre-2017.

 

This is really one of the more frustrating things about it. I understand why players don't go, but it would be amazing to actually put out the top teams.

 

[LittleHurt05]

The pitchers make a lot of sense to me, but I dont get as much why the top hitters won't go, guys like Trout or Bryant.

[bmags]

I don't care it's raining LA should be embarrassed. Whole thing should have stayed in Miami.

[pettie4sox]

These conditions are absolutely awful. They should have played in Arizona or something.

[pettie4sox]

Since when do homers go out at night at Dodgers stadium?

Edited March 22, 2017 by KagakuOtoko

[Eminor3rd]

I f***ing love the WBC.

 

I've been following the NPB ever since Balentien broke the HR record. I actually went over their and saw three games last September. Tsutsugoh hit 3 homers in the two BayStars games we saw. I bought a shirsey. Jose Lopez also hit a couple, lol.

 

As fans, they simply have WAY more fun than we do at games.

 

Also, look up Brandon Laird's stats for Hokkaido. Ha

Edited March 22, 2017 by Eminor3rd

[Eminor3rd]

I can't imagine any other team is as harmed by non-participation as Team USA. In particular, our pitching staff seems bafflingly bad. Here are non-participating Americans listed by 2016 WAR:

 

1. Clayton Kershaw

2. Noah Syndergaard

3. Max Scherzer

4. Rick Porcello

5. Justin Verlander

6. Chris Sale

7. Corey Kluber

8. Madison Bumgarner

9. David Price

10. Kyle Hendricks

11. Jon Lester

12. Jake Arrieta

13. Jon Gray

 

and then you finally get to the first American WBC participant, Stroman.

 

And then we can look at relievers specifically:

 

We do have the best, Andrew Miller. Yay! And then...

 

1. Addison Reed (had to double take at that one)

2. Zach Britton

3. Tyler Thornburg

4. Will Harris

5. Mark Melancon

 

and then we get to Nate Jones and after that, about 10 more until you get to Luke Gregerson.

 

Of course the point isn't that 2016 WAR should be the main criterion for selection, but we're just not anywhere close to assembling our best.

 

And let's think about some of the position players missing:

 

1. Mike Trout

2. Kris Bryant

3. Mookie Betts

4. Josh Donaldson

5. Corey Seager

6. Adam Eaton

7. Brian Dozier

 

and then Ian Kinsler and Brandon Crawford, a few spots and you get Murphy and Arenado.

 

The outfield stands out, though—why does Team USA have Christian Yelich batting 3rd? McCutchen probably shouldn't be getting the time, but I understand how some may not be inclined to penalize him as much for last year when he had been so sensational for years beforehand.

 

Either way, I find it galling that the US has the world's two best players (Trout and Kershaw) and neither is out there. They have their reasons that are perfectly rational, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.

 

It's also bad for the tournament. On one hand, nobody will like it around the world if the US wins every time...it has to be competitive. But few would deny that the US has the most talent in the world, so it delegitimizes the tournament if Team USA does poorly each time, as it has pre-2017.

 

You are, of course, correct in that assumption. But Japan is hit really hard too, if only on the pitching side. Sugano and Ishikawa are really legit, and Norimoto probably has the best raw stuff outside of Otani, but they're missing:

 

1. Yu Darvish

2. Shoehei Otani

3. Masahiro Tanaka

4. Kenta Maeda

5. Chihiro Kaneko

6. Hisashi Iwakuma

 

On the position side, though, they're absolutely stacked. Those are all the best hitters and they're mostly high-end defenders too.

 

I've been following Tetsudo Yamada for a few years (because the Swallows were the team I paid attention too because Balentien), just praying he would get posted and the Sox would pounce. Now that he's moved to second base (used to be SS) and we got Moncada, though, I no longer think we'd get him. Unfortunately.

[flavum]

I hope Robertson strikes out Baez and Molina tomorrow night.

[pettie4sox]

I hope Robertson strikes out Baez and Molina tomorrow night.

 

He will give up bombs, that's all the Sox pitchers have been doing all WBC.