Until We Meet Again

We’ve seen our last WBC action for the next four years. The attendance issues are a bit concerning given the American venues hosting the American team, but it’s hard to be disappointed with the championship game and crowd. Let’s talk about some of the aspects that may need tweaking.

Television
The WBC presented the first opportunity for the MLB Network to produce original broadcasts. The first round games, when Harold Reynolds was reserved to the studio, were easily the best called games of the tournament. The announcers largely allowed the action to dictate the talking points and emotion. There was no inherent bias and the announcers did some research, presenting compelling information on players most of us knew absolutely nothing about. Reynolds’ presence in the booth all but killed that, as he all but transformed the broadcasts into a typical ESPN broadcast.

Speaking ESPN, whoever thought it was a good idea to have Joe Morgan, Steve Phillips, and Bud Selig in the booth at one time during a meaningful and exciting game should really never work again. Never. Also, the apologetic comments after Derek Jeter made a mistake was ridiculous. Jeter is a great player, nobody is ever going to argue that, but guys, you don’t have to act like a sycophant towards him.

Scheduling
The “plus-one” games were pretty worthless, even if they determined seeding. Some will complain about Japan and Korea playing five times and about repeat matches in general. With a limited field in a double elimination tournament, it’s hard to not expect some rematches. Perhaps a reseeding is in order although I’m sure the idea of a compelling “rematch” storyline is too match to pass on.

Venues
American fan turnout seemed to disappoint. With the best moment coming during the U.S.’s last stand as a unified “U.S.A.” chant broke out during Evan Longoria’s at-bat. Otherwise, the Japan and Korean fans stole the tournament. Perhaps it was the odd body paint, drums, chants, or presence of thousands of Thunderstix, but the atmosphere came across as everything you would hope for in the title game.

Heading forward, you have to imagine the U.S.A. team will have to go to a non-MLB stadium for a set of games. Where is beyond me, and how that would work with the TV schedule is again beyond me. The Olympics do it though.

Participation
A lot will be made of the perceived “lack of representation” for the Americans. In many ways, this is setting up for a “Redeem Team” similar to U.S. Basketball, only without the run of dominance proceeding it. There’s no easy solution here. For selfish reasons, I wonder if the U.S. team would ever consider going to collegiate athletes or even minor leaguers. Obviously that lowers the talent threshold and the tournament occurring during the college season makes the former nearly impossible, but who wouldn’t have tuned in to see Stephen Strasburg hurl against Daisuke Matzuaka or Yu Darvish? The American team was a bit stale to watch because of the familiarity with the players especially when you contrast it to their opponents.

Expansion is probably the next big issue. Whether that means expanding the field and tweaking the elimination rules or simply holding a qualifying tournament during the American off-season, it will be interesting to see just how popular the tournament can become internationally over the next four years.