Hate to break it to that angry dude, but *nothing* in baseball means anything. It's a game. People watch it because it's entertaining. And the WBC was hella entertaining.
As an American baseball fan, I can’t see anyone watching the WBC this year and not wanting more of that. I’m going to remember games from this tournament for years.
As a Mexican American I watched both the Mexico v Japan game and the US v Japan game. I was set to go on a plane to visit Japan for 2 weeks on the day of the final. Some of the most electric games I have ever watched, my mom (from sonora) was so put out when mexico lost. Even my dad (from nayarit) who doesn't give a single shit about baseball was getting really excited when mexico was taking the lead. On the day of the final, my mom was being petty and rooting for Japan since, and I quote "If Mexico didn't win, the US shouldn't either" lmao This was the first time I've ever watched the WBC (thx mom for never telling about it, even tho I've been playing softball for 7 years now lol) and I loved it, I will def be watching all the future tournaments. The reason why I think baseball is losing popularity in the US is because it's so hard to actually watch the teams you care about. My parents still pay for cable but can't watch 95% of the mlb games, and only occasionally will one of those games be from our local teams (Angels and Dodgers) Even with a mlb dot tv subscription which is supposed to let you watch all mlb games doesn't let you watch local games because of contractual regional blackouts. You bet your ass that I'd be watching all the dodger and angels games I could if I could just find a decently cheap way to watch them 😢 As it is, I have to wait on a chance free game of the week on the mlb youtube channel or hope that one of the channels on my parent's cable actually has the games (tho, I think there will be an angels game I can watch on Saturday lol, first one in a while) You'd think that a dying sport would try to make the sport easier to watch to appeal to the younger population. A pitching clock isn't going to do anything to attract more fans if they can't watch the games in the first place 🙄
It’s a shame that a lot of Americans don’t care about it here. We tend to care more about our individual cities and our individual teams. A lot of the people calling for it to be canceled are fans of the New York Mets. One of their star players got injured during a celebration and is out for the season and that made them upset
Pete Alonso getting hit in the hand just added to Mets fans fury. I must admit, as a Phillies fan, I was nervous after Trea hit that grand slam and the celebration that met him at home plate! Haha
@@lovesgucci1 and as a nats fan I will never allow you to claim Trea Turner as Philly's own lol My favorite fkn player :( Enjoy him. He is the definition of a game changer.
@Knoxvillian The Expos… oops, I meant the Nationals, refuse to pay and it’s a shame for their fans and the league. (The Nats were once fun to watch) Cheap owners need to be pushed out! Philly can’t wait to see him play at his new home at the Bank & happy he chose the red pinstripes!
I really enjoyed the WBC. I'm an Angel fan and we had eight players in the tournament. Baseball is kind of a religion to some people. They are traditionalist. I get it. It's their passion. And passion is good. Many people have changed their minds since. Maybe pick a team that you can actually watch. West coast might be better. Angels, Dodgers, San Francisco. Depends on the time difference. Ohtani is always entertaining. He does so many things. He even makes some great defensive plays. Then he apologizes to the batter for being so good. With a smile. He's a great athlete and has a great personality. Even his interpreter is popular.
I am an American baseball fan and I have to say the WBC is probably the greatest thing to happen in baseball the final was absolutely awesome the story of Czech republic was beautiful it's so sad that people hate it because I see it as a way for baseball to grow all over the world
I grew up with baseball. My old man never missed a Red Sox game on television. It's the only sport I understand well. I consider the WBC to be the true World Series of Baseball.
you have to understand that the wbc is a very new tournament (this is the 5th one). England didn't even send a team to the 1st 3 world cups because they didn't feel it mattered. Now the world cup is engrained in the sport and is the most important trophy. The American fans will come around on the wbc (more do every tournament), the more tournaments are played, the more normal it becomes, the more accepted it will be.
To be fair the first 2 WBC's didn't have qualifiers so GB couldn't participate either way, then once the qualifiers became a thing they didn't have the talent to go far.
"They could get hurt in a pre-season game." Literally what happened to our starting shortstop. Gavin Lux of the Dodgers tore his ACL this spring training and will be out for the season. That's ball baby
A lot of Americans care about international competitions like the Olympics or World Cup. Baseball fans are known for being crochety and hating anything that is different. I think it is because their sport has been popular for so long (and mostly in America) that there is kind of this reverence for how things used to be instead of focusing on how things should be. You gotta remember that professional baseball has been around even longer than professional soccer (1846 vs 1869). This tends to bring about all the "back in my day" people that generally hate anything new even if it is awesome.
You’re right bro and also to note that majority of players in MLB aren’t even american mostly puerto rican, dominican, venezuelan. So goes to show that these guys run the sport today.
They've played baseball in Japan for a 100 years. Babe Ruth went there and was hailed a hero before ww2. When American soldiers occupied Japan that was how they broke the ice with the Japanese. Played a game of baseball.
As a lifelong MLB fan I agree that all the best players should be playing for America, and other countries as well. I think the WBC has the potential to become a sporting event like the World Cup which will in turn grow the sport.
In most sports in America, it is a definite no-no to shake hands with the opposition before a game. Your opponent is the enemy. After the game, it's ok to shake hands. ...I definitely agree with you that American athletes, teams, and people need to open their minds to the world and stop thinking international tournaments are a waste of time. You would be amazed at the percentage of Americans who don't even have a passport!
The genuine interest of guys like you toward baseball because of the WBC, or toward American Football because of the NFL international games shows how important international play is. Baseball and Basketball have been very international sports for a long time. The amount of top flight foreign-raised players in MLB and NBA, for decades make this obvious.
This WBC victory was a historic day in which the Japanese "YAKYU" Baseball won over the American-style “Baseball”. Japanese YAKYU was derived uniquely from American-style baseball and took more than 100 years to achieve. The fact is that on this same planet, there is another baseball that exists in a different spirit than the US style. Of course, the roots of baseball are USA, but baseball that was exported to other countries from US and took root there developed in a different way. This would be a fact. the reason “why Japanese baseball is strong” in international tournaments is not because they have strong members and excellent coaches. It is because they are “not players who grew up learning baseball” in the United States. They were “educated in Japan's unique system of baseball education” when they were in high school. Americans don’t realize the importance of the unique " baseball education" system of Japanese baseball. Ohtani is undeniably a great athlete, but if he had been born and raised in the United States, the same DNA would not have grown into the Ohtani of today. He was born and raised in Japan and received a Japanese baseball education from childhood, which is why he is the player he is today. Not only the physical aspect, but also the way he thinks about baseball, his stoicism, and his gentle behavior are the result of his baseball education from his childhood to high school in Japan, and it is Japan's unique baseball education that produced the monster Otani. He is not a unicorn, but merely an honor student of Japanese high school baseball education.
Spot on about international tournaments! Fortunately it was just a loud and annoying minority who were upset about the WBC (mostly Mets fans because one of their best players got injured), the vast majority of baseball fans here absolutely loved the WBC. I can't wait for the next one!
One of the best players for Astros got hurt in the WBC game but you dont see their manager or owner complaining. Also i remember a player who got his season ended before it even began when he was injured in spring training. injuries happen. Just deal with it, well Mets though have different opinion cause i think they are the highest payroll in the MLB with even higher luxury tax.
Totally agreed. This is why I hated what the NHL did to international hockey as of late. Olympic hockey has been iconic for hockey nations. The atmosphere and uniting of countries and watching the best players compete did so much for the culture. For example, when Canada scored the winning goal when they hosted the Olympics, it's simply referred to as "the Golden Goal", a cultural term everyone in the country knows the meaning of. But the NHL has disallowed their players from competing the last two times and engagement fell off a cliff. Something was lost for sure and the effects are already felt. Good news is they realized their mistake and are scheduled to allow players for the next one.
Keep in mind its before the season during spring training. They are literally training in this tournament basically. Edwin Diaz out for the season in the WBC and Rhys Hoskins out for the season in Spring Training. I hope people continue crying about the event thats saving baseball.
Part of the problem the American teams have with it is that it is taking place right as Spring Training starts, and they don't have any time at all to recover from an injury. The teams are run by billionaires who don't give a damn about anything other than their money. There is zero national pride for these owners, they only care about having fans in the seats at their games, and if their best player gets hurt at the WBC, then fans may not be eager to pay inflated prices to go watch the backups play, and if one of your best players goes down for the entire season, it could mean you don't make the playoffs and it might kill your chance to win a World Series that season...and for most teams they have very short windows where they are good enough to compete at that level before guys get traded, hit free agency, etc..
British Guy, you must remember that we Americans are NOT accustomed to our professional players, regardless of sport, participating in international tournaments, like the FIFA World Cup, baseball especially. The World Baseball Classic was only first played in 2003, and the fact that it's played during MLB's spring training, account for the general attitude of American's towards the tournament. Remember, the United States DID NOT participate in the FIFA World Cup after 1950 until 1990, forty years in total. It was only in the 1990's that professional players could participate in the Olympics, so it wasn't until then that you saw NBA andf NHL players take part in either the Olympics or other international tournaments. To most American sports fans, winning the professional leagues here is more important than participating in or wining an international tournament. Also, the winners of MLB's World Series, the NFL's Super Bowl, and the NBA's NBA Finals are called "World Champions," and we Americans have been conditioned to think that way over the past century. Yes, the WBC draws big audience numbers in Japan, Puerto Rico and other countries, but that doesn't carryover to MLB, so MLB teams don't reap any rewards in TV viewership or ticket sales.
I ❤ the WBC. My St. Louis Cardinals had our 41 yr old starting pitcher Adam Wainwright, in the tournament. Players can get injured in Spring Training, they can get injured at home, they can get injured working out. There's no greater chance of injury just because they're representing their countries in this tournament. I hope it keeps going and I hope the best players continue to play.
Every time this tournament is played, i always come away saying the best game of baseball was played in the tournament... the problem with this latest version of that there was an amazing game almost the entire way through... so excited to see this thing continue to grow
I’m Dominican and for us, there’s two important things in our lives, women and baseball, my father watches every game in the Dominican league and the American, we don’t know how a football ball looks like, and some people thinks that nobody cares about the WBC, Americans don’t care about the rest of the world, that’s why they called the tournament finals World Series, the WBC is the real World Series.
Your point about seeing players in international tournaments and becoming a fan of their club is true, because I became a Tottenham fan (oof) when watching Son and Kane in the 2018 World Cup
In Japan, we are so passionate about baseball. Going to a baseball game in Japan is like going to a music festival. I once went to the MLB game held in London for the first time, where Masahiro Tanaka was pitching. It was very interesting listening to the Brits around me trying to figure out the rules.
Unfortunately the US team wasn't nearly as good as it could/should have been. You just can't win a tournament if your pitching is subpar, no matter how talented the other positional players are. All the best pitchers available pitched for their countries except for the US. Last season out of the 20 pitchers with the lowest ERA, there were 13 Americans, and NONE of them played in the WBC.
This WBC was absolutely phenomenal. I don't even watch that much baseball here in NY anymore (and my team is the Yankees) but it's insane for these sports talk guys to hate the WBC at this point. Shit happens, people can get injured at any point in any game.
Seeing Venezuela 🇻🇪 beat the Dominican Republic was one of the highlights of my life to see my country and countries like PR and Mexico on the biggest stage is unforgettable
One thing i can say as an american is if there is another country I want to see againat us in the finals of anything baseball its Japan. Be it the Olympics, WBC, Little League World Series, Japan will always produce a good game. They're so passionate about baseball that no matter the age or skill level they'll give anyone a run for their money.
you were right. also great britain didnt do too bad either! they didnt make it out of pools but they beat columbia which now guarantees them a spot in the next WBC!
That Puerto Rico upset over the Dominican Republic is one of the underrated moments of the tournament. That DR team was absolutely stacked they absolutely could have won the whole thing
Its not the players being afraid to get injured its their teams. Almost 100 percent of the players who didn't participate in the tournament wasn't even their decision.
As an American I’ll never understand people not wanting to spread the games we’ve invented I believe we have beautiful sports to share with the world and most of our finals in our sporting leagues are called world titles but then they don’t want to actually compete against the world and represent our country proudly sometimes a sports team representing your country even with all the bad that happens in it is the best thing for the people
Nothing wrong with pre and post game handshakes, fist pumps, or whatever. But when the batter steps into the batter’s box, the game is afoot as Sherlock Holmes would say. It is no longer pre game. It was mostly New York based sports announcers and bloggers angry about their New York Mets Puerto Rican pitcher getting injured. And New York rules most of the National media in the USA. Good thing none my Texas Rangers and Houston Astros players got injure. The Mets are paying Diaz over $20 Million per year over 5 years to be their closer pitcher. A closer pitcher plays the last inning when the team is winning or tied heading into the last inning. So they expect Diaz to play 2 days in 3 on average. In a 162 games, they expected Diaz to play in over 108 games this year. So that injury basically destroys any chances of them going into the playoffs this year when most analysis we’re choosing the Mets to win their division. So no surprise the Mets fans are disillusioned and angry. Imagine how soccer fans feel when their star players get “season ending” injuries at the World Cup. Baseball has been playing well over 150 years without a World Classic tournament. Whereas I agree this tournament is great for the sport in the World, it is not necessarily great for the teams. I hope it continues to grow interest in the sport. It is a tournament, not an entire season of play.
Before I respond to this lol I don't want anyone to think I have any bad thoughts about Diaz. He's great. But this thing you said is absurd. As much as I'd like to think that Daiz's injury "basically destroys any chances of them going to the playoffs this year", as a Braves fan, that is hyperbolic at best and absurd at worst. Baseball players get injured all the time - especially pitchers - great teams have depth to muscle through injuries. The Mets sure have spent enough money so they better have arms in their pen that can step up. I mean I support lolMets and I hope it happens every year in my heart, but if one closer going down kills their chances, that's possibly the lamest reason.
Congrats to Grreat Britain on getting their first WBC win! I'm a Seattle fan and Harry Ford is in our minor league system,as we wait for him to come up.
When the Olympic baseball tournament and the Baseball World Cup existed, this tournament was kinda viewed as an exhibition tournament. I don't think you would've heard as much hatred toward the Olympics from American baseball fans, as it was seen as a "real" trophy. (In Association football terms, you can think about the difference between the World Cup and the Olympic men's baseball tournament, with teams not releasing their players for the latter--or at least for its qualifiers--because of injury risk, but more so since the Olympics are at least a "real" trophy in some sense, rather than an exhibition or "tournament of friendlies" such as the International Champions Cup which is probably more analogous to the way the WBC has been viewed in the United States.) I think that the WBC can grow out of this reputation--and is doing so--now that both the Baseball World Cup and the Olympic baseball tournament are gone, since it is now the only international baseball tournament.
p.s. I would also add that we're pretty used to the idea (which is decreasingly true over the last few decades) that other countries don't really care about our sports, and as a result aren't as hard to beat as teams made of fellow Americans. Think about it--which would be more impressive: Seeing Patrick Mahomes quarterback the Kansas City Chiefs to a win against the Philadelphia Eagles, or seeing Patrick Mahomes quarterback a team of American NFL players to a preseason win against a team of players from the UK or Germany? (It also doesn't help that we've historically gotten a lot of stick from the rest of the world for hyping sports other than soccer--it's always been "You guys had to invent sports that nobody else cares about so you could win" and "You guys had to invent sports that fat guys could play so you could win something." That's why some people were saying that "nobody cares" about the WBC and not counting people from other countries--we're just used to the idea that the rest of the world only plays soccer, which has basically been true for most of the 147-year history of MLB.) This WBC showed that there's more than one team that can compete with Team USA (and make no mistake--while Team USA might not have been a "Dream Team" like our 1996 national men's basketball team, it did include some really strong players, including both Mike Trout and Mookie Betts), and in a way, that makes it a lot more exciting and may cause it to explode in popularity among American fans. (After all, would you be more excited to watch your country's national Association football team compete against Germany or Andorra?) The biggest obstacle? The younger generation of American sports fans--the ones who haven't spent years watching American hegemony and seeing MLB as a higher level of competition than international play--is also the generation that is, to some extent, abandoning the sport for soccer.
The main issue for MLB teams not wanting players in the WBC is that the WBC doesn't have the longevity of other international competitions. Like the MLB has been operating as the MLB since the early 1900s, the first WBC happened in 2006.
100% agree with your heatedness at the detractors of WBC. International competition really is special. There's something different and magical about them and sports that promote such competition will prosper in the long run.
True. I think the fact that team owners and GMs are so strongly against it and have actively been trying to destroy its image has a large part to do with the poor image of the wbc in the US Admittedly I would agree though that during spring training isn’t the best time to be holding it
For all the years baseball was in the olympics, like last time in japan, the mlb and even minor league teams wouldnt let their players go. So no, americans would not be more interested at all.
Nah olympics are for amateurs players. The WBC is great, you guys have to accept the fact that WBC will be more important than a gold medal. Look at the rating and the marketing if you are not looking for the patriotic side. Thats why football (soccer) are so big in the world, they created the FIFA world cup in 1930 and since then is the dominant sport in almost all the world. If this WBC was created way back in the 50s, the baseball were bigger than now. But your closed minded not looking for worldwide, only USA.
It doesn't happen in every other sport. No American football player has ever been injured from competing in an international American football tournament.
@@insertcolorherehawk3761 How does an American football player get injured in international competition when there is no international competition for American football?
@@DFusions_ I'm not sure what the point of this post is. Are you claiming I was wrong? Is there a "World Cup" of American Football that I was unaware of where NFL players compete and potentially get injured? I'm confused as to what was learned.
I don't have a horse in this race, but here are a few things to consider. The WBC takes place during American Baseball's spring training. Spring training is a critical time. That's when players slowly (to prevent injury) get themselves back into competition shape for the six-month season. Players in the WBC have to skip part of spring training AND push themselves to competition readiness when they should be working with their trainers to ensure top form for the upcoming season. Typically, players that play in the WBC show poorer performance during the season than in the previous season rather than the expected improvement (assuming, of course, that they don't completely ruin their season by pushing too hard too fast and getting injured). Then there is the club's point of view: these players are very expensive assets. If you're paying someone $6+ million a year to pitch for you, you certainly don't want him taking unnecessary chances with his arm. Some of these pitchers make more per game in the regular season than the whole team gets paid for the WBC. As for making international fans? There's just no money in it for the club. The three primary sources of income for a club are television contracts, licensing, and game-day sales. You might become a rabid fan of some team, but you're not getting on a plane to go to the games. You're not buying enough merch to matter. Unless you can find 20 million equally rabid fans in your country there's no money to be made in UK television contracts. As far as the clubs are concerned, it's all risk and no reward.
I see your point, but you have to understand baseball was getting less and less popular. WBC is much needed event to show the people, and new generation about the beauty of baseball. Making baseball more popular throughout the world is worth any kind of downside it could have imho.
As a Rays fan, I love Randy Arozarena. His story resonates with me because my family also defected from Cuba. And he's a damn good ballplayer and he's on my favorite team. Go Rays!
Baseball is different than soccer in that it took long for the sport to become popular. We only know our club teams and we care a million times more for our club season than this. But everything has changed, and now we feel embarrassed that Japan has won three when this is our sport. Next classic we will send a more dominant team.
The thing was this time around here in the states the MLB advertised the crap out of the WBC and I watched for the first time and it was a ton of fun. Now yes there are upset people but the thing is many of them were upset Mets fans. There were some dodger and Astros fans as well when Freddie Freeman and Jose Altuve went out but they were considerably less and yeah injuries happen but they can happen anywhere.
Teams only have so many pitchers. One pitcher gets injured it'll put strain on the other pitchers' arms. Imagine a player like Justin Verlander whose making $40+ mil a year gets injured on a team that doesn't have contract with him and is out for the season. Now his actual team has to still pay him even though hes not playing. Its fun to watch the WBC but its risky at times for pitchers
@@Kojak024 Ok. The tone of the statement seemed different. Notice I made the same point in my own post. I don't know of a single MLB fan that cares more about winning the World Cup than the World Series.
Yeah, but isn’t that part of the problem? If you want to root for your team over the nation, you have that right. But it’s also equally fine to prioritize your national team or any other international team over your MLB team, and not enough American fans can grasp that because they seemingly can’t put themselves in the shoes of international fans.
depends on the sport.with baseball the wbc is irrelevant compared to the mlb which has much tougher competition. the best players on all of these teams besides some japan players all play in the mlb. thats why its the true world series because its the best players from all over the world. you also cant compare it to the worls cup because the season stops during the world cup the wbc is right before the season even starts.
the NHL keeping its players from the olympics is one of the most disappointing things to happen to hockey. baseball and hockey are similar in that other countries are super super good at it now. these kinds of tournaments are awesome
Goosebumps everytime I watch that … hey man speak your mind,I think it’s great that you’re even paying attention to American sports. I tried to understand European football but just don’t get it but would really like to learn. My teams are Baltimore ravens and Baltimore orioles being that I’m from Baltimore Maryland usa
America's sports leagues (MLB, NHL, NFL, NBA) are the highest level of play in those retrospective sports. International tournaments are watered down versions of what already exists, the best players from around the world already play in in those American leagues. This is why we say "world champions" for our pro leagues, there isn't another league that compares. It's not like with football/soccer, tennis, golf, etc. where the rest of the world is competitive in and have their own equally important leagues/tournaments. It has nothing to do with being international or not, just the level of play and historical significance our leagues hold
@@DFusions_ Everybody is always chasing team USA bc we’ve been the best since the 90s 😂 but Australia is definitely the second best team in the world tho but just not better than USA
I agree I love the wbc but I also understand where the teams are coming from the Mets lost Edwin Diaz for the whole season and had pay him millions for doing nothing because of his injury
The USA did not put forth our best players this year. Especially the pitching staff, which is the most important position on the field. Not to mention, several American born and raised players played for other countries. Freddy Freeman comes to mind, not to mention the entire Puerto Rican team.
should be noted that 90% of the people pissed at the WBC were Mets fans cuz Edwin Diaz is one of the biggest draws to Mets games. Whenever the Mets have the lead its time to "Sound the Trumpets" and because of the WBC the trumpets will remain silent. The Mets also gave him a massive new contract before this season. So when a team built for the World Series...especially a New York team...loses an absolutely crucial player for the season ...youre gonn have far more vocally pissed off people than say...a Milwaukee Brewers player going down. Its especially difficult cuz Mets fans and Diaz have had a rocky relationship and they didnt really buy into him 100% until last year and then this happened and it kind of undone all that good will.
Tbh, i like watching tournaments like this, like the olympics, country vs country, love the side interactions among the players as well. On games like this I get interested on teams to be honest. I find a player that stood out for me, search his team and probably support.
The reason Americans think this is dumb is because there are no American baseball fans that care more about winning the World Cup than the World Series. This isn't the same with other sports like soccer, rugby or cricket.
Maybe we SHOULD care about it, because baseball is dying and has been for a while. Players hit home runs and no fan gets the ball because nobody is sitting in that whole section. I played baseball my whole life, and now it’s the one American sport I don’t watch
@@waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaluigi MLB is making more money today than it ever has. Player salaries are higher than ever and higher than almost any other sport in the world. MLB is not dying. And I don't watch MLB anymore either. I don't watch because they fucked it up with cheating scandals that get ignored, stupid "ghost runner" rules and 7 inning games. The WBC is not bringing me back to MLB.
One complaint I have about the WBC, is the fact that it's not played in the winter. It's played during MLB's Spring Training. So, 1 injury could cost a team during the season. If a player gets injured for 30 days in December, for example, they'll still have time to rehab that injury.
2:00 America doesn't care about int'l sports I think b/c of its history and geography. When international sports became a thing in the late 19th century, it was a time of nationalism and imperialism, where all these European nations wanted to show off their powers in an era where there were no major wars between the imperial powers (ofc not the case for what they were doing elsewhere) from 1870-1914, it was a world of commerce and imperialism. It was also an era where pro sports became possible for the first time due to an emerging middle class and also of leisure, and even stuff like having regulation size balls and equipment etc was a product of industrial revolution.The stuff like "World's Fair" etc were big then too (and lol Crystal Palace, the building not the team that was named after the area is a product of this kind of d*ck measuring contest between the Great Powers). But America during this time was still very much isolationist, and moreover while regular games between European countries could be easily done w/ railroads now, it was still a MAJOR hassle to travel across the ocean for sports. So things developed locally, (baseball in the north, following a similar pattern w/ soccer in Europe also spread amongst laborers and the first clubs were formed in a similar way, while the South instead took American football, especially collegiate football, itself an offshoot of rugby/football in England which spread via the boarding schools like Harrow, Eton, as well as universities like Oxford and Cambridge to the equivalents in the US in Harvard, Yale, Princeton. And by the time the World Cup really took off after WWII, America was no longer isolationist but already had 50 years of development of its sporting culture, and most of all I think the reason why everyone else loves int'l sports is bc a lot of it IS nationalism and you need this kind of national insecurity about your place among the major powers to have your people care about the games. I as a korean definitely DEFINITELY care about the games against Japan for example. And America has not much of those kinds of moments, and b/c of its sportring culture taking a different route, it pretty much was the best at the sports it cared about lol
Yeah, I think a lot of the anger was localized within the New York Mets fandom. In my personal experience, the New York baseball fandom has always felt very self-centered (though that may be too strong a word). New York is the birthplace of baseball, and has had some of its most historic teams and moments. I get that they want the Mets to win and I respect that passion, but the WBC is about way more than just one season, it's about the future of baseball as truly international sport. EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to add that New York sports media also tends to be really brash and bombastic, which means the volume of hot takes and rage is way higher.
Personally, I am rather indifferent to the world baseball classic… I understand both sides of the coin. That being said, I am so incredibly passionate about it because of what I know it means to other countries and because I know how much it pisses other MLB clubs off.
Despite what many Americans may claim, we aren't really patriotic like that. We're very fractured and divided and will often be more proud of what state we are from than we are of being from America. As such, this means most American baseball fans don't care about international play at any level, and only care about their favorite teams, which are usually whichever team is closest to where they live.
I remember being stationed in Pearl Harbor during the 2006 WBC and being excited about it, thinking it was a great idea. Plus my favorite player, Chipper Jones was on team USA. I was later pissed off when I heard a lot of teams were trying to keep all their best players from joining and representing their country.
I've said it once and I will say it again.. when a guy like Trout, or Ohtani miss a season (or worse, have their career end) due to an injury in the WBC, that will be the end of MLB players (and most top prospects) participating in the WBC.
Seriously.. STOP THINKING ABOUT BEING AN ANGELS FAN. They are wasting Trout and Ohtani! They have little chance of making the playoffs this year, barring some sort of baseball miracle (it's happened before).. If Ohtani isn't traded by the trading deadline in July, he's sure to sign with another team when he hits free agency.. Trout, sadly, is on the downside of his career.. back issues can end a career fast. And Trout has back issues. It's not worth the heartburn.
The USA versus Japan game is the most watched baseball game of all time. Prior to that it was the Japan versus Mexico game which was watched by 200 million people. 😂
I live in America and it felt like every baseball fan I knew was watching the tournament but it was mostly lost on non fans. These games are so good it’s only a mater of time before it draws in the college basketball crowd.
When I decided to experience Cricket it took me only a few days to learned the game. Then immediately started watching The Ashes, The IPL, Big Bash etc.. You don't give a hoot about Baseball. You just want the clicks and views to grow your channels.
This tournament has done more to reignite my baseball fire than anything MLB has done in the past 20 years.
100% agreed
Hate to break it to that angry dude, but *nothing* in baseball means anything. It's a game. People watch it because it's entertaining. And the WBC was hella entertaining.
lol fr what a shit take although he’s a mets fan he was probably just angry that diaz got hurt
Yup
Especially in the mets fandom, where nothing means anything. Ever.
People yelling about sports is a money making industry in the US
Exactly lol
I’m a Yank and I loved this tournament, despite the ultimate result! Congrats to Japan! They earned it!
As an American baseball fan, I can’t see anyone watching the WBC this year and not wanting more of that. I’m going to remember games from this tournament for years.
As a Mexican American I watched both the Mexico v Japan game and the US v Japan game. I was set to go on a plane to visit Japan for 2 weeks on the day of the final.
Some of the most electric games I have ever watched, my mom (from sonora) was so put out when mexico lost. Even my dad (from nayarit) who doesn't give a single shit about baseball was getting really excited when mexico was taking the lead. On the day of the final, my mom was being petty and rooting for Japan since, and I quote "If Mexico didn't win, the US shouldn't either" lmao
This was the first time I've ever watched the WBC (thx mom for never telling about it, even tho I've been playing softball for 7 years now lol) and I loved it, I will def be watching all the future tournaments.
The reason why I think baseball is losing popularity in the US is because it's so hard to actually watch the teams you care about. My parents still pay for cable but can't watch 95% of the mlb games, and only occasionally will one of those games be from our local teams (Angels and Dodgers) Even with a mlb dot tv subscription which is supposed to let you watch all mlb games doesn't let you watch local games because of contractual regional blackouts. You bet your ass that I'd be watching all the dodger and angels games I could if I could just find a decently cheap way to watch them 😢 As it is, I have to wait on a chance free game of the week on the mlb youtube channel or hope that one of the channels on my parent's cable actually has the games (tho, I think there will be an angels game I can watch on Saturday lol, first one in a while)
You'd think that a dying sport would try to make the sport easier to watch to appeal to the younger population. A pitching clock isn't going to do anything to attract more fans if they can't watch the games in the first place 🙄
It’s a shame that a lot of Americans don’t care about it here. We tend to care more about our individual cities and our individual teams. A lot of the people calling for it to be canceled are fans of the New York Mets. One of their star players got injured during a celebration and is out for the season and that made them upset
Pete Alonso getting hit in the hand just added to Mets fans fury. I must admit, as a Phillies fan, I was nervous after Trea hit that grand slam and the celebration that met him at home plate! Haha
@@lovesgucci1 and as a nats fan I will never allow you to claim Trea Turner as Philly's own lol My favorite fkn player :( Enjoy him. He is the definition of a game changer.
@Knoxvillian
The Expos… oops, I meant the Nationals, refuse to pay and it’s a shame for their fans and the league. (The Nats were once fun to watch) Cheap owners need to be pushed out!
Philly can’t wait to see him play at his new home at the Bank & happy he chose the red pinstripes!
It's literally just Mets fans crying. 😂
I watched every game I could and I learned about different countries baseball coutures
I really enjoyed the WBC. I'm an Angel fan and we had eight players in the tournament.
Baseball is kind of a religion to some people. They are traditionalist. I get it. It's their passion. And passion is good. Many people have changed their minds since.
Maybe pick a team that you can actually watch. West coast might be better. Angels, Dodgers, San Francisco. Depends on the time difference. Ohtani is always entertaining. He does so many things. He even makes some great defensive plays. Then he apologizes to the batter for being so good. With a smile. He's a great athlete and has a great personality. Even his interpreter is popular.
While I love watching the "World Series" because playoff baseball is the best, I realize the real "world series" is the WBC.
I am an American baseball fan and I have to say the WBC is probably the greatest thing to happen in baseball the final was absolutely awesome the story of Czech republic was beautiful it's so sad that people hate it because I see it as a way for baseball to grow all over the world
It really is the best way for it to grow worldwide. I probably never would have gotten interested in baseball without first seeing the WBC
I grew up with baseball. My old man never missed a Red Sox game on television. It's the only sport I understand well. I consider the WBC to be the true World Series of Baseball.
you have to understand that the wbc is a very new tournament (this is the 5th one). England didn't even send a team to the 1st 3 world cups because they didn't feel it mattered. Now the world cup is engrained in the sport and is the most important trophy. The American fans will come around on the wbc (more do every tournament), the more tournaments are played, the more normal it becomes, the more accepted it will be.
If they had a cool trophy to win like the Super Bowl trophy designed by Tiffany’s that would also help.
I know a lot of people that will NEVER accept it. Including myself.
To be fair the first 2 WBC's didn't have qualifiers so GB couldn't participate either way, then once the qualifiers became a thing they didn't have the talent to go far.
@@ISLAVERDE29 i was talking about the fifa world cup and how england disregarded it for years
@@jjw1072 Doesn't matter if millions of people nationally are tuning in and eating ads
"They could get hurt in a pre-season game." Literally what happened to our starting shortstop. Gavin Lux of the Dodgers tore his ACL this spring training and will be out for the season. That's ball baby
“Nobody cares about the WBC”
Then why was the Japan vs USA final the most watched baseball game EVER?
A lot of Americans care about international competitions like the Olympics or World Cup. Baseball fans are known for being crochety and hating anything that is different. I think it is because their sport has been popular for so long (and mostly in America) that there is kind of this reverence for how things used to be instead of focusing on how things should be. You gotta remember that professional baseball has been around even longer than professional soccer (1846 vs 1869). This tends to bring about all the "back in my day" people that generally hate anything new even if it is awesome.
1869 versus 1888 for professionalism 1846 versus 1862 is for codification of the rules and 1862 to 1871 for organized play.
You’re right bro and also to note that majority of players in MLB aren’t even american mostly puerto rican, dominican, venezuelan. So goes to show that these guys run the sport today.
Your comments around the 14-minute mark are spot on!
The WBC mixed with the rule changes hyped me up for the regular season. I'm a genuine baseball fan now after I lost interest about 15 years ago.
They've played baseball in Japan for a 100 years. Babe Ruth went there and was hailed a hero before ww2. When American soldiers occupied Japan that was how they broke the ice with the Japanese. Played a game of baseball.
As a lifelong MLB fan I agree that all the best players should be playing for America, and other countries as well. I think the WBC has the potential to become a sporting event like the World Cup which will in turn grow the sport.
In most sports in America, it is a definite no-no to shake hands with the opposition before a game. Your opponent is the enemy. After the game, it's ok to shake hands.
...I definitely agree with you that American athletes, teams, and people need to open their minds to the world and stop thinking international tournaments are a waste of time. You would be amazed at the percentage of Americans who don't even have a passport!
I did enjoy the WBC and your video. Hope baseball will be the cup of tea for people in GB. Cheers from Japan.
The genuine interest of guys like you toward baseball because of the WBC, or toward American Football because of the NFL international games shows how important international play is.
Baseball and Basketball have been very international sports for a long time. The amount of top flight foreign-raised players in MLB and NBA, for decades make this obvious.
You should watch more baseball doesn’t exist he’s the best baseball channel
Him and Foolish Baseball
Add baseballs not dead and, and that’s baseball. They’re pretty good as well
Love his channel and I’m not even a baseball fan lol I’m just a fan of his channel and Jomboy’s channel
The final showdown boiled down to the drama of the sport. Bittersweet and beautiful. It was enough to make the WBC grow.
This WBC victory was a historic day in which the Japanese "YAKYU" Baseball won over the American-style “Baseball”. Japanese YAKYU was derived uniquely from American-style baseball and took more than 100 years to achieve.
The fact is that on this same planet, there is another baseball that exists in a different spirit than the US style.
Of course, the roots of baseball are USA, but baseball that was exported to other countries from US and took root there developed in a different way. This would be a fact.
the reason “why Japanese baseball is strong” in international tournaments is not because they have strong members and excellent coaches. It is because they are “not players who grew up learning baseball” in the United States.
They were “educated in Japan's unique system of baseball education” when they were in high school.
Americans don’t realize the importance of the unique " baseball education" system of Japanese baseball.
Ohtani is undeniably a great athlete, but if he had been born and raised in the United States, the same DNA would not have grown into the Ohtani of today. He was born and raised in Japan and received a Japanese baseball education from childhood, which is why he is the player he is today.
Not only the physical aspect, but also the way he thinks about baseball, his stoicism, and his gentle behavior are the result of his baseball education from his childhood to high school in Japan, and it is Japan's unique baseball education that produced the monster Otani.
He is not a unicorn, but merely an honor student of Japanese high school baseball education.
Spot on about international tournaments! Fortunately it was just a loud and annoying minority who were upset about the WBC (mostly Mets fans because one of their best players got injured), the vast majority of baseball fans here absolutely loved the WBC. I can't wait for the next one!
One of the best players for Astros got hurt in the WBC game but you dont see their manager or owner complaining. Also i remember a player who got his season ended before it even began when he was injured in spring training. injuries happen. Just deal with it, well Mets though have different opinion cause i think they are the highest payroll in the MLB with even higher luxury tax.
Totally agreed. This is why I hated what the NHL did to international hockey as of late. Olympic hockey has been iconic for hockey nations. The atmosphere and uniting of countries and watching the best players compete did so much for the culture. For example, when Canada scored the winning goal when they hosted the Olympics, it's simply referred to as "the Golden Goal", a cultural term everyone in the country knows the meaning of. But the NHL has disallowed their players from competing the last two times and engagement fell off a cliff. Something was lost for sure and the effects are already felt. Good news is they realized their mistake and are scheduled to allow players for the next one.
Keep in mind its before the season during spring training. They are literally training in this tournament basically. Edwin Diaz out for the season in the WBC and Rhys Hoskins out for the season in Spring Training. I hope people continue crying about the event thats saving baseball.
Part of the problem the American teams have with it is that it is taking place right as Spring Training starts, and they don't have any time at all to recover from an injury. The teams are run by billionaires who don't give a damn about anything other than their money. There is zero national pride for these owners, they only care about having fans in the seats at their games, and if their best player gets hurt at the WBC, then fans may not be eager to pay inflated prices to go watch the backups play, and if one of your best players goes down for the entire season, it could mean you don't make the playoffs and it might kill your chance to win a World Series that season...and for most teams they have very short windows where they are good enough to compete at that level before guys get traded, hit free agency, etc..
British Guy, you must remember that we Americans are NOT accustomed to our professional players, regardless of sport, participating in international tournaments, like the FIFA World Cup, baseball especially. The World Baseball Classic was only first played in 2003, and the fact that it's played during MLB's spring training, account for the general attitude of American's towards the tournament. Remember, the United States DID NOT participate in the FIFA World Cup after 1950 until 1990, forty years in total. It was only in the 1990's that professional players could participate in the Olympics, so it wasn't until then that you saw NBA andf NHL players take part in either the Olympics or other international tournaments. To most American sports fans, winning the professional leagues here is more important than participating in or wining an international tournament. Also, the winners of MLB's World Series, the NFL's Super Bowl, and the NBA's NBA Finals are called "World Champions," and we Americans have been conditioned to think that way over the past century. Yes, the WBC draws big audience numbers in Japan, Puerto Rico and other countries, but that doesn't carryover to MLB, so MLB teams don't reap any rewards in TV viewership or ticket sales.
I ❤ the WBC. My St. Louis Cardinals had our 41 yr old starting pitcher Adam Wainwright, in the tournament. Players can get injured in Spring Training, they can get injured at home, they can get injured working out. There's no greater chance of injury just because they're representing their countries in this tournament. I hope it keeps going and I hope the best players continue to play.
カージナルスファンは、いますか？
セントルイス・カージナルスは、13人がWBCに登録していた！
❶ ポール・ゴールドシュミット 1塁手 アメリカ
❷ ノーラン・アレナド 3塁手 アメリカ
❸ アダム・ウェインライト 投手 アメリカ
❹ マイルズ・マイコラス 投手 アメリカ
❺ トミー・エドマン 内野手 韓国
❻ ラーズ・ヌートバー 外野手 日本
❼ ジオバニー・ガジェゴス 投手 メキシコ
❽ タイラー・オニール 外野手 カナダ
❾ アンドレ・パランテ 投手 イタリア
➓ ヘネシス・カブレラ 投手 ドミニカ共和国
❶❶ ジョジョ・ロメロ 投手 メキシコ
❶❷イバン・ヘレーラ 捕手 パナマ
❶❸ ギレルモ・ズニガ 投手 コロンビア
ところで、私は日本人であるが、セントルイスによく行く、カージナルスのファンであり、特にオジー・スミスに憧れた。
1987年、私が12歳の小学生の時、The Wizard of Oz"、「オズの魔法使い」と呼ばれた、カージナルスのオジー・スミスを初めて知った。
テレビで大リーグ映像が短時間流れ、オジー・スミスの守備やバク転が映って、感動した。
それを録画したVHSのビデオテープを繰り返し見て、私もバク転を真似した。
1992年、オジー・スミスが日米野球で来日し、17歳の私は、初めて直接会うことができた。
その時、ボールと色紙に、オジー・スミスのサインをしてもらった。
懐かしい思い出である。
参考までに、以下❶～❼の日米野球のオジー・スミスの映像。
もしよかったら、お楽しみください。
❶ オジー・スミス出場。珍しくエラーをしたシーン。0:58～。1:13～。
↓
ruclips.net/video/iHOZZCpHzNo/видео.html&feature=share
❷ 野茂英雄 vs オジー・スミス。東京ドーム。見逃し三振。
（野茂英雄は、1995年ドジャースで、奪三振王。ナショナルリーグ新人王）
↓
ruclips.net/video/yGic54KpoKk/видео.html&feature=share
❸ 野茂英雄 vs オジー・スミス。甲子園球場。レフト前にツーベースヒット。0:40～。
↓
ruclips.net/video/qnXJRHwwTk8/видео.html
❹ 佐々木主浩 vs オジー・スミス。甲子園球場。センターフライ。
（佐々木主浩は、2000年マリナーズで、メジャー新人記録の37セーブ。アメリカンリーグ新人王）
↓
ruclips.net/video/ykDGMmW7X54/видео.html
❺ 渡辺久信 vs オジー・スミス。平和台球場。2:37～。三振。
（渡辺久信は、NPBで通算125勝。1994年に「Sports Illustrated」表紙を飾った。日本人としては4人目であった。3人目は王貞治）
↓
ruclips.net/video/ULrijxlQ0ts/видео.html
❻ 渡辺久信 vs オジー・スミス。東京ドーム。0:24～。セカンドゴロ。
↓
ruclips.net/video/KjuNeczejXU/видео.html
❼ 原辰徳 vs ロジャー・クレメンス。甲子園球場。3:50～。ショートゴロの守備。
（原辰徳は、2009年第2回WBC優勝監督）
↓
ruclips.net/video/YXnAYj1AFXk/видео.html&feature=share
Every time this tournament is played, i always come away saying the best game of baseball was played in the tournament... the problem with this latest version of that there was an amazing game almost the entire way through... so excited to see this thing continue to grow
I’m Dominican and for us, there’s two important things in our lives, women and baseball, my father watches every game in the Dominican league and the American, we don’t know how a football ball looks like, and some people thinks that nobody cares about the WBC, Americans don’t care about the rest of the world, that’s why they called the tournament finals World Series, the WBC is the real World Series.
Your point about seeing players in international tournaments and becoming a fan of their club is true, because I became a Tottenham fan (oof) when watching Son and Kane in the 2018 World Cup
In Japan, we are so passionate about baseball. Going to a baseball game in Japan is like going to a music festival.
I once went to the MLB game held in London for the first time, where Masahiro Tanaka was pitching. It was very interesting listening to the Brits around me trying to figure out the rules.
"your Country calls, you answer the call." Damn straight.
If the owners start holding players from playing next WBC. I sense there will be a massive uproar in the US
Unfortunately the US team wasn't nearly as good as it could/should have been. You just can't win a tournament if your pitching is subpar, no matter how talented the other positional players are. All the best pitchers available pitched for their countries except for the US. Last season out of the 20 pitchers with the lowest ERA, there were 13 Americans, and NONE of them played in the WBC.
The japanese love baseball and they're good at it too
This WBC was absolutely phenomenal. I don't even watch that much baseball here in NY anymore (and my team is the Yankees) but it's insane for these sports talk guys to hate the WBC at this point. Shit happens, people can get injured at any point in any game.
Seeing Venezuela 🇻🇪 beat the Dominican Republic was one of the highlights of my life to see my country and countries like PR and Mexico on the biggest stage is unforgettable
One thing i can say as an american is if there is another country I want to see againat us in the finals of anything baseball its Japan. Be it the Olympics, WBC, Little League World Series, Japan will always produce a good game. They're so passionate about baseball that no matter the age or skill level they'll give anyone a run for their money.
You fn earned my subscribe cause your view of American clubs and fans is spot on……and I’m an American
you were right. also great britain didnt do too bad either! they didnt make it out of pools but they beat columbia which now guarantees them a spot in the next WBC!
That Puerto Rico upset over the Dominican Republic is one of the underrated moments of the tournament. That DR team was absolutely stacked they absolutely could have won the whole thing
Lol it’s one game of baseball. You don’t judge who is better in one game
@@philmccracken179 you clearly do, you play and whoever wins is the best lol
@@nanisupreme no that’s why each team plays 162 in the mlb. The worst team in the league will still win 60 games and the best team will lose 60 games.
@@philmccracken179 i dont really care about your stupid format lol
We are used to the way things are, spring training, actual season, post-season playoffs,then the world series, the WBC just doesn't fit into that.
💯
Its not the players being afraid to get injured its their teams. Almost 100 percent of the players who didn't participate in the tournament wasn't even their decision.
As an American I’ll never understand people not wanting to spread the games we’ve invented I believe we have beautiful sports to share with the world and most of our finals in our sporting leagues are called world titles but then they don’t want to actually compete against the world and represent our country proudly sometimes a sports team representing your country even with all the bad that happens in it is the best thing for the people
Not all Americans,I love the World Cup and now the WBC… it’s about your country pride
Nothing wrong with pre and post game handshakes, fist pumps, or whatever. But when the batter steps into the batter’s box, the game is afoot as Sherlock Holmes would say. It is no longer pre game.
It was mostly New York based sports announcers and bloggers angry about their New York Mets Puerto Rican pitcher getting injured. And New York rules most of the National media in the USA.
Good thing none my Texas Rangers and Houston Astros players got injure.
The Mets are paying Diaz over $20 Million per year over 5 years to be their closer pitcher. A closer pitcher plays the last inning when the team is winning or tied heading into the last inning. So they expect Diaz to play 2 days in 3 on average. In a 162 games, they expected Diaz to play in over 108 games this year. So that injury basically destroys any chances of them going into the playoffs this year when most analysis we’re choosing the Mets to win their division. So no surprise the Mets fans are disillusioned and angry.
Imagine how soccer fans feel when their star players get “season ending” injuries at the World Cup.
Baseball has been playing well over 150 years without a World Classic tournament. Whereas I agree this tournament is great for the sport in the World, it is not necessarily great for the teams. I hope it continues to grow interest in the sport. It is a tournament, not an entire season of play.
Agree with your 1st and last paragraphs but your rant in the middle… 🤷♀️
PS Your Rangers are ruining opening weekend for this Phillies fan!! 🥺
Before I respond to this lol I don't want anyone to think I have any bad thoughts about Diaz. He's great. But this thing you said is absurd. As much as I'd like to think that Daiz's injury "basically destroys any chances of them going to the playoffs this year", as a Braves fan, that is hyperbolic at best and absurd at worst. Baseball players get injured all the time - especially pitchers - great teams have depth to muscle through injuries. The Mets sure have spent enough money so they better have arms in their pen that can step up. I mean I support lolMets and I hope it happens every year in my heart, but if one closer going down kills their chances, that's possibly the lamest reason.
Congrats to Grreat Britain on getting their first WBC win! I'm a Seattle fan and Harry Ford is in our minor league system,as we wait for him to come up.
When the Olympic baseball tournament and the Baseball World Cup existed, this tournament was kinda viewed as an exhibition tournament. I don't think you would've heard as much hatred toward the Olympics from American baseball fans, as it was seen as a "real" trophy. (In Association football terms, you can think about the difference between the World Cup and the Olympic men's baseball tournament, with teams not releasing their players for the latter--or at least for its qualifiers--because of injury risk, but more so since the Olympics are at least a "real" trophy in some sense, rather than an exhibition or "tournament of friendlies" such as the International Champions Cup which is probably more analogous to the way the WBC has been viewed in the United States.)
I think that the WBC can grow out of this reputation--and is doing so--now that both the Baseball World Cup and the Olympic baseball tournament are gone, since it is now the only international baseball tournament.
p.s. I would also add that we're pretty used to the idea (which is decreasingly true over the last few decades) that other countries don't really care about our sports, and as a result aren't as hard to beat as teams made of fellow Americans. Think about it--which would be more impressive: Seeing Patrick Mahomes quarterback the Kansas City Chiefs to a win against the Philadelphia Eagles, or seeing Patrick Mahomes quarterback a team of American NFL players to a preseason win against a team of players from the UK or Germany? (It also doesn't help that we've historically gotten a lot of stick from the rest of the world for hyping sports other than soccer--it's always been "You guys had to invent sports that nobody else cares about so you could win" and "You guys had to invent sports that fat guys could play so you could win something." That's why some people were saying that "nobody cares" about the WBC and not counting people from other countries--we're just used to the idea that the rest of the world only plays soccer, which has basically been true for most of the 147-year history of MLB.)
This WBC showed that there's more than one team that can compete with Team USA (and make no mistake--while Team USA might not have been a "Dream Team" like our 1996 national men's basketball team, it did include some really strong players, including both Mike Trout and Mookie Betts), and in a way, that makes it a lot more exciting and may cause it to explode in popularity among American fans. (After all, would you be more excited to watch your country's national Association football team compete against Germany or Andorra?)
The biggest obstacle? The younger generation of American sports fans--the ones who haven't spent years watching American hegemony and seeing MLB as a higher level of competition than international play--is also the generation that is, to some extent, abandoning the sport for soccer.
The main issue for MLB teams not wanting players in the WBC is that the WBC doesn't have the longevity of other international competitions. Like the MLB has been operating as the MLB since the early 1900s, the first WBC happened in 2006.
This tournament is so fun as a Mexico fan i loved it .. we had that sparked but Japans burned brighter . cant wait for the next WBC !!!
This baseball fan loves the WBC
100% agree with your heatedness at the detractors of WBC. International competition really is special. There's something different and magical about them and sports that promote such competition will prosper in the long run.
If this were the Olympics with an Olympic medal at stake, I think more Americans would be interested in this.
True. I think the fact that team owners and GMs are so strongly against it and have actively been trying to destroy its image has a large part to do with the poor image of the wbc in the US Admittedly I would agree though that during spring training isn’t the best time to be holding it
True.
For all the years baseball was in the olympics, like last time in japan, the mlb and even minor league teams wouldnt let their players go. So no, americans would not be more interested at all.
Nah olympics are for amateurs players. The WBC is great, you guys have to accept the fact that WBC will be more important than a gold medal. Look at the rating and the marketing if you are not looking for the patriotic side. Thats why football (soccer) are so big in the world, they created the FIFA world cup in 1930 and since then is the dominant sport in almost all the world. If this WBC was created way back in the 50s, the baseball were bigger than now. But your closed minded not looking for worldwide, only USA.
11:31 Well to be fair, he refused to shake his hand in the MIDDLE of a game lol
I am a Taiwanese and we really love the baseball...
2:00. Couldn't of said it better. The next 10 years for Ohtani and the Dodgers will be MAGICAL. Keep an eye out 😅
As an American I loved it
It doesn't happen in every other sport. No American football player has ever been injured from competing in an international American football tournament.
?????
@@waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaluigi Am I wrong?
@@josephmorneau4339 yes, it’s been a while but they do get injured at times
@@insertcolorherehawk3761 How does an American football player get injured in international competition when there is no international competition for American football?
@@DFusions_ I'm not sure what the point of this post is. Are you claiming I was wrong? Is there a "World Cup" of American Football that I was unaware of where NFL players compete and potentially get injured? I'm confused as to what was learned.
I don't have a horse in this race, but here are a few things to consider. The WBC takes place during American Baseball's spring training. Spring training is a critical time. That's when players slowly (to prevent injury) get themselves back into competition shape for the six-month season. Players in the WBC have to skip part of spring training AND push themselves to competition readiness when they should be working with their trainers to ensure top form for the upcoming season. Typically, players that play in the WBC show poorer performance during the season than in the previous season rather than the expected improvement (assuming, of course, that they don't completely ruin their season by pushing too hard too fast and getting injured). Then there is the club's point of view: these players are very expensive assets. If you're paying someone $6+ million a year to pitch for you, you certainly don't want him taking unnecessary chances with his arm. Some of these pitchers make more per game in the regular season than the whole team gets paid for the WBC. As for making international fans? There's just no money in it for the club. The three primary sources of income for a club are television contracts, licensing, and game-day sales. You might become a rabid fan of some team, but you're not getting on a plane to go to the games. You're not buying enough merch to matter. Unless you can find 20 million equally rabid fans in your country there's no money to be made in UK television contracts. As far as the clubs are concerned, it's all risk and no reward.
I see your point, but you have to understand baseball was getting less and less popular. WBC is much needed event to show the people, and new generation about the beauty of baseball. Making baseball more popular throughout the world is worth any kind of downside it could have imho.
As a Rays fan, I love Randy Arozarena. His story resonates with me because my family also defected from Cuba. And he's a damn good ballplayer and he's on my favorite team. Go Rays!
This film touches on it, but it's the owners that have the most vested interest in protecting their "property"
Baseball is different than soccer in that it took long for the sport to become popular. We only know our club teams and we care a million times more for our club season than this. But everything has changed, and now we feel embarrassed that Japan has won three when this is our sport. Next classic we will send a more dominant team.
The thing was this time around here in the states the MLB advertised the crap out of the WBC and I watched for the first time and it was a ton of fun. Now yes there are upset people but the thing is many of them were upset Mets fans. There were some dodger and Astros fans as well when Freddie Freeman and Jose Altuve went out but they were considerably less and yeah injuries happen but they can happen anywhere.
Teams only have so many pitchers. One pitcher gets injured it'll put strain on the other pitchers' arms. Imagine a player like Justin Verlander whose making $40+ mil a year gets injured on a team that doesn't have contract with him and is out for the season. Now his actual team has to still pay him even though hes not playing. Its fun to watch the WBC but its risky at times for pitchers
The people who argue against the WBC are more worried about the team they root for than USA baseball
And?
@@josephmorneau4339 and nothing he was wondering about it and I was answering.
@@Kojak024 Ok. The tone of the statement seemed different. Notice I made the same point in my own post. I don't know of a single MLB fan that cares more about winning the World Cup than the World Series.
Yeah, but isn’t that part of the problem? If you want to root for your team over the nation, you have that right. But it’s also equally fine to prioritize your national team or any other international team over your MLB team, and not enough American fans can grasp that because they seemingly can’t put themselves in the shoes of international fans.
I suggest the Great Britain Colombia game for you to react to
depends on the sport.with baseball the wbc is irrelevant compared to the mlb which has much tougher competition. the best players on all of these teams besides some japan players all play in the mlb. thats why its the true world series because its the best players from all over the world. you also cant compare it to the worls cup because the season stops during the world cup the wbc is right before the season even starts.
13:32 - In the US, the business comes before the People.
the NHL keeping its players from the olympics is one of the most disappointing things to happen to hockey. baseball and hockey are similar in that other countries are super super good at it now. these kinds of tournaments are awesome
Goosebumps everytime I watch that
… hey man speak your mind,I think it’s great that you’re even paying attention to American sports. I tried to understand European football but just don’t get it but would really like to learn. My teams are Baltimore ravens and Baltimore orioles being that I’m from Baltimore Maryland usa
America's sports leagues (MLB, NHL, NFL, NBA) are the highest level of play in those retrospective sports. International tournaments are watered down versions of what already exists, the best players from around the world already play in in those American leagues. This is why we say "world champions" for our pro leagues, there isn't another league that compares. It's not like with football/soccer, tennis, golf, etc. where the rest of the world is competitive in and have their own equally important leagues/tournaments. It has nothing to do with being international or not, just the level of play and historical significance our leagues hold
Couldn’t have said it better
@@DFusions_ Everybody is always chasing team USA bc we’ve been the best since the 90s 😂 but Australia is definitely the second best team in the world tho but just not better than USA
👍🏻
I agree I love the wbc but I also understand where the teams are coming from the Mets lost Edwin Diaz for the whole season and had pay him millions for doing nothing because of his injury
The USA did not put forth our best players this year. Especially the pitching staff, which is the most important position on the field. Not to mention, several American born and raised players played for other countries. Freddy Freeman comes to mind, not to mention the entire Puerto Rican team.
should be noted that 90% of the people pissed at the WBC were Mets fans cuz Edwin Diaz is one of the biggest draws to Mets games.
Whenever the Mets have the lead its time to "Sound the Trumpets" and because of the WBC the trumpets will remain silent. The Mets also gave him a massive new contract before this season.
So when a team built for the World Series...especially a New York team...loses an absolutely crucial player for the season ...youre gonn have far more vocally pissed off people than say...a Milwaukee Brewers player going down.
Its especially difficult cuz Mets fans and Diaz have had a rocky relationship and they didnt really buy into him 100% until last year and then this happened and it kind of undone all that good will.
The overwhelming majority of people in the USA love the WBC it’s a small minority of people that actually dislike it
Tbh, i like watching tournaments like this, like the olympics, country vs country, love the side interactions among the players as well. On games like this I get interested on teams to be honest. I find a player that stood out for me, search his team and probably support.
It was really only people mad about Diaz getting hurt that hated it
The reason Americans think this is dumb is because there are no American baseball fans that care more about winning the World Cup than the World Series. This isn't the same with other sports like soccer, rugby or cricket.
Maybe we SHOULD care about it, because baseball is dying and has been for a while. Players hit home runs and no fan gets the ball because nobody is sitting in that whole section. I played baseball my whole life, and now it’s the one American sport I don’t watch
@@waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaluigi MLB is making more money today than it ever has. Player salaries are higher than ever and higher than almost any other sport in the world. MLB is not dying. And I don't watch MLB anymore either. I don't watch because they fucked it up with cheating scandals that get ignored, stupid "ghost runner" rules and 7 inning games. The WBC is not bringing me back to MLB.
One complaint I have about the WBC, is the fact that it's not played in the winter. It's played during MLB's Spring Training. So, 1 injury could cost a team during the season.
If a player gets injured for 30 days in December, for example, they'll still have time to rehab that injury.
just hope we can get judge to play next time 🤭
2:00
America doesn't care about int'l sports I think b/c of its history and geography.
When international sports became a thing in the late 19th century, it was a time of nationalism and imperialism, where all these European nations wanted to show off their powers in an era where there were no major wars between the imperial powers (ofc not the case for what they were doing elsewhere) from 1870-1914, it was a world of commerce and imperialism. It was also an era where pro sports became possible for the first time due to an emerging middle class and also of leisure, and even stuff like having regulation size balls and equipment etc was a product of industrial revolution.The stuff like "World's Fair" etc were big then too (and lol Crystal Palace, the building not the team that was named after the area is a product of this kind of d*ck measuring contest between the Great Powers).
But America during this time was still very much isolationist, and moreover while regular games between European countries could be easily done w/ railroads now, it was still a MAJOR hassle to travel across the ocean for sports. So things developed locally, (baseball in the north, following a similar pattern w/ soccer in Europe also spread amongst laborers and the first clubs were formed in a similar way, while the South instead took American football, especially collegiate football, itself an offshoot of rugby/football in England which spread via the boarding schools like Harrow, Eton, as well as universities like Oxford and Cambridge to the equivalents in the US in Harvard, Yale, Princeton.
And by the time the World Cup really took off after WWII, America was no longer isolationist but already had 50 years of development of its sporting culture, and most of all I think the reason why everyone else loves int'l sports is bc a lot of it IS nationalism and you need this kind of national insecurity about your place among the major powers to have your people care about the games. I as a korean definitely DEFINITELY care about the games against Japan for example. And America has not much of those kinds of moments, and b/c of its sportring culture taking a different route, it pretty much was the best at the sports it cared about lol
Yeah, I think a lot of the anger was localized within the New York Mets fandom. In my personal experience, the New York baseball fandom has always felt very self-centered (though that may be too strong a word). New York is the birthplace of baseball, and has had some of its most historic teams and moments. I get that they want the Mets to win and I respect that passion, but the WBC is about way more than just one season, it's about the future of baseball as truly international sport.
EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to add that New York sports media also tends to be really brash and bombastic, which means the volume of hot takes and rage is way higher.
Personally, I am rather indifferent to the world baseball classic… I understand both sides of the coin. That being said, I am so incredibly passionate about it because of what I know it means to other countries and because I know how much it pisses other MLB clubs off.
Despite what many Americans may claim, we aren't really patriotic like that. We're very fractured and divided and will often be more proud of what state we are from than we are of being from America. As such, this means most American baseball fans don't care about international play at any level, and only care about their favorite teams, which are usually whichever team is closest to where they live.
BINGO !
American don't know sports only knows Business 😅
Off topic, can I, an American, take a guess based on your accent and ask if you're Scouser? That's a Beatles accent if I ever heard one ❤
There is no sound on the video
I remember being stationed in Pearl Harbor during the 2006 WBC and being excited about it, thinking it was a great idea. Plus my favorite player, Chipper Jones was on team USA. I was later pissed off when I heard a lot of teams were trying to keep all their best players from joining and representing their country.
The wbc should be played every year !!!
i love your contents
From japan
I've said it once and I will say it again.. when a guy like Trout, or Ohtani miss a season (or worse, have their career end) due to an injury in the WBC, that will be the end of MLB players (and most top prospects) participating in the WBC.
💯
Imagine the 1992 USA dream team never existing because players prioritized their franchises over the national team and fans WANTING that.
Seriously.. STOP THINKING ABOUT BEING AN ANGELS FAN.
They are wasting Trout and Ohtani! They have little chance of making the playoffs this year, barring some sort of baseball miracle (it's happened before).. If Ohtani isn't traded by the trading deadline in July, he's sure to sign with another team when he hits free agency.. Trout, sadly, is on the downside of his career.. back issues can end a career fast. And Trout has back issues. It's not worth the heartburn.
The USA versus Japan game is the most watched baseball game of all time. Prior to that it was the Japan versus Mexico game which was watched by 200 million people. 😂
I live in America and it felt like every baseball fan I knew was watching the tournament but it was mostly lost on non fans. These games are so good it’s only a mater of time before it draws in the college basketball crowd.
When I decided to experience Cricket it took me only a few days to learned the game.
Then immediately started watching The Ashes, The IPL, Big Bash etc..
You don't give a hoot about Baseball. You just want the clicks and views to grow your channels.
You might like watching Little League World Series videos.
theres no handshakes in baseball