Those who knock the World Baseball Classic for being an event that nobody cares about are right.
Well, mostly.
People in Japan apparently followed the event in huge numbers, breaking multiple TV rating records, and the players always seemed invested in it.
It was just everybody else who didn’t seem to care.
When the United States was eliminated from competition last week, any casual fans who had been following the World Baseball Classic (WBC) immediately stopped caring about it. And why should they care? The NCAA tournament is right around the corner to snatch up everybody’s attention.
The WBC gave us one memory worth holding on to this year, and it didn’t even involve baseball. It involved the Mexican and Canadian teams getting in the worst brawl since Malice at the Palace. The seemingly personal nature of the fight was almost as shocking as the Indiana Pacers’ Ron Artest beating up a fan following an on-court brawl.
Other than that, there isn’t anything worth re-watching.
The WBC is still a relatively new event, so it’s understandable that it doesn’t have a huge following.
The sport of baseball itself doesn’t get great international attention either, as its fans are concentrated in North America, East Asia and the northern portion of South America. Unlike the World Cup, the WBC isn’t something to look forward to for countries that usually could care less about baseball.
The United States is considerably less invested in soccer than European countries, but when the World Cup rolls around every four years, it seems almost as big as the Super Bowl.
The same can’t be said about the WBC.
Another problem with the WBC is that the event is held at an awkward time of year. It starts at the beginning of spring training when most players and fans are starting to ease into baseball. You won’t see any pitchers throw complete-game shutouts in the WBC because their arms aren’t conditioned to throw that many good pitches for nine innings.
The final issue that needs to be addressed is the lack of participation among the sport’s best players.
Sure, Ryan Braun, David Wright and a handful of other stars chose the WBC over spring training, but other key faces of the sport declined to represent their countries. Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Justin Verlander all decided to stay with their MLB clubs for spring training.
By comparison, the World Cup always features the best players in soccer. Sometimes players are more remembered for their play in the World Cup than they are for their play with their club teams.
The WBC still has a long, long way to go before it gets to the level of the World Cup. It will likely never get close.
Jason Clark is a junior journalism major and the sports editor for the Daily 49er.