Congratulations Japan

The 2009 World Baseball Classic is in the books. Japan toppled Korea 5-3 in ten innings effectively defending their title. Ichiro, after struggling throughout the entirety of the classic, came through with a 4-4 night. None of his hits bigger than his tenth inning 2 run double giving Japan the lead for good. Props to Japan.

Now that I have gotten the formal stuff out of the way, I can zero in on my thoughts about the classic as a whole. I am not opposed to the World Baseball Classic but I also think it has several problems that need to be addressed sometime in the next four years. First let me explain where i feel the classic is a good idea. After the Beijing Olympics closing cremonies ended so to did the olympic events Baseball and Softball. Now the world has no international event that determines the best baseball country in the world. The rules of the olympics prohibit professional athletes from competiting in its events with some exceptions: Basketball, Hockey, etc. Since the World Baseball Classic is an international tournament amongst professional baseball players, two birds are being killed with one stone here. Another positive to the classic is the national display of talent. What i mean by this is that the MLB is being exposed to otherwise unknown players. Prime example of this is that Daisuke Matsuzaka. He blew up in popularity after his display in the classic. One last positive to the classic is the placement. Since several of the players are Major League players it makes sense to hold the tournament in the United States. Moving it to another country would only decrease the involvement of big name players, specifically among the United States players.

Unfortunately the classic is not perfect.  The timing of the tournament is without question THE biggest concern regarding the event. Some people have suggested simply playing it after the world series. However that completely eliminates the two teams in the world series which this year would have eliminated, Akinori Iwamura (Japan), Matt Stairs (Canada), JP Howell (USA), Evan Longoria (USA),  Jimmy Rollins (USA), Shane Victorino (USA),  Willy Aybar (Dominican Republic), and Carlos Ruiz (Panama). Several of these players were integral to their country's teams. Now that just excludes those in the World Series many Boston Red Sox were featured in the classic including the MVP of the tournament for the second consecutive tournament: Daisuke Matsuzaka. Therefore due to a lack of willingness to participate, the classic can not be held after the World Series. The timing of the classic as it is now poses several problems; lack of participation, players not being in game shape, and the worry of teams that their players are going to get hurt. As a result the timing needs to be changed. In my opinion holding the classic later on in spring training would be a better alternative. Make the tournament so that the championship game would be held with a week of spring training left. This would make it so that the players are closer to game shape and probably decrease the amount of injuries due to the players not being in game shape. Also the players would have time to work with their teams to build chemistry. Other problems of the classic include lack of big name involvement (ie. Pujols). This will not be fixed unless those big names decide they want to risk their contracts and play. 

In closing the classic is not perfect and MLB teams will continue to despise the tournament. However much the classic is despised congrats to Japan.