World Baseball Classic Reflects Growth of the Sport Worldwide – Sportico.com

The aim of the World Baseball Classic, first held in 2006, was to spread the game around the world and in that regard it was an overwhelming success.

A perfect example of this, as the fifth iteration of the tournament begins this week, is Great Britain, who open Saturday night’s pool game against Team USA at Chase Field in Phoenix. Interest in baseball in this region of the world was fleeting in 2006; 17 years later Great Britain qualified for the first time.

Already in this tournament, the Czech Republic has stunned China at the Tokyo Dome; Panama defeated Chinese Taipei at their home ground, Taichung International Baseball Stadium; and Italy defeated Cuba at the same location.

More excitement is sure to follow.

“The WBC sparked international growth, made the game grow internationally,” Paul Seiler, USA Baseball’s longtime executive director, said in an interview Tuesday. “In some ways, has exposed it to non-traditional markets.”

The tournament has also introduced several international stars to fans in the United States. In 2006, pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka played for Japan, who defeated Cuba to win the inaugural WBC at San Diego’s Petco Park. The following year, Matsuzaka won the 2007 World Series with the Boston Red Sox.

At the 2009 WBC tournament, pitcher Aroldis Chapman and outfielder Yoenis Cespedes played for Cuba. Chapman won the 2016 World Series as a close for the Chicago Cubs, and Cespedes lost the 2015 World Series with the New York Mets.

Chapman, who recently signed a one-year deal with the Kansas City Royals, could play as a member of Britain’s 50-man roster at WBC 2023 thanks to his Jamaican roots.

Now the WBC has become the top players in the MLB. This year, Shohei Ohtani could face teammate Mike Trout in a single-elimination match if Japan and Team USA go that far.

The success of the tournament has also had an impact on the US team. In the past, trying to get US-born MLB players to leave spring training for two weeks and play for Team USA was like pulling teeth. In 2017, manager Jim Leyland sent pitchers home mid-tournament because he felt they didn’t have the right commitment. In 2009, key players left the team before it lost a crucial semi-final to Japan at Dodger Stadium.

Not this year.

“This is the first time we haven’t had to ask a single player, ‘Do you want to play? Do you want to join?’” Said Seiler. “In turn, every single man has come forward and said they wanted to be a part of it, which is amazing and incredible and makes us very excited to see how that looks for us.”

Expanded from 16 to 20 teams, this year’s tournament sees teams split into four pools and playing in a round-robin format in the first round. The teams with the top two records in each pool advance to the single-elimination quarterfinals. Two losses in one pool and one team is practically eliminated.

The US begins defending their 2017 title in a pool with Great Britain, Canada, Colombia and Mexico. Always a hard-fought team, Mexico has long seemed to be Team USA’s No. 1 when it comes to international play.

The finals are scheduled for March 21 at LoanDepot Park in Miami, where a first round pool, quarterfinals and semifinals will also be played.

As the MLB adjusts to its new rules, WBC players will go back in time. There will be no pitch clocks or batter time restrictions. If a manager wants to move infielders, you’ve got it.

“You can’t implement the new rules in this tournament,” said Tony Reagins, MLB’s chief operations officer and general manager of Team USA. “No country had the opportunity to see the new rules. It has to be fair, so let’s stick to the 2022 rules.”

Reagins follows the late Bob Watson, Joe Garagiola Jr. and Joe Torre as Team USA GM.

Team USA’s manager is Mark DeRosa, a former MLB Network player and analyst with no managerial experience. He follows veteran skippers Buck Martinez, Davey Johnson, Joe Torre and Leyland in the US dugout.

“It’s going to be a tough balancing act,” DeRosa said of leading a team with an All-Star in just about every position. “Other than that, there’s just so much talent.”

Seiler is the stabilizing force, having served in a senior capacity at USA Baseball since 2000, when Team USA won its lone Olympic gold medal at this year’s Summer Games in Australia. Only months later he was appointed managing director.

MLB’s participation in the Olympics has long been a hot topic. To date, MLB will not rest or allow players from each major league team’s 40-man roster to compete in this tournament. Because of this, baseball was dropped from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. As the host country in 2021, Japan received a request to reinstate baseball, eventually defeating a string of US minor leagues and retreads in the gold medal game.

The fact that the US finished with a silver medal at those games was a feather in the caps of both Seiler and Mike Scioscia, the veteran Los Angeles Angels manager he selected.

Scioscia, who was on the field ahead of Team USA’s show loss to the San Francisco Giants Wednesday night at Scottsdale Stadium, said Reagins asked him if he was interested in managing that WBC team, but he had rejected the offer.

He’s also not making an Olympic return. Baseball will not be played at the upcoming Paris Olympics and its future in Los Angeles in 2028 has yet to be determined, Seiler said.

The WBC is here to stay. Founded as an alternative to spring training, it is the only baseball tournament of its kind in the world that allows active MLB players to represent their respective home countries.

The attention the WBC is attracting in the US is growing, but the impact around the world has seen the sport grow exponentially.

Countries that qualify will receive a substantial stipend that increases based on how far the team advances in the tournament. Half of the proceeds go to the players, the other half goes to each baseball association to increase participation in the sport locally.

Throughout the 17 years of the World Baseball Classic, the tournament has helped baseball-poor countries including Israel, Great Britain, Colombia, Pakistan, Germany and the Czech Republic either play in or emerge from the qualifying rounds. Players from Italy, Australia and the Netherlands – to name just a few – have made it into the major leagues.

While there may be a glass ceiling to baseball’s financial expansion in North America, there is no limit in the rest of the world.

“You just look at the ethnic diversity of our sport and it’s incredible on every level,” said Seiler. “The expansion of the field from 16 to 20 teams only speaks to the global growth of the sport.”

(This story has been updated in the headline and third paragraph with information about early surprises in the tournament.)