After losing 8-6 to Canada yesterday, Team USA actually put itself in the position to be bounced out of the World Baseball Classic in the first round. They are tied with Mexico for second place – Canada, which sports such legends as Matt Stairs and Stubby Clapp, is 2-0 – in a four-team division where only the top two teams advance. Yikes.
The easiest way for Team USA to get into the next round is for Canada to beat Mexico today, while Team USA beats South Africa tomorrow (which doesn’t seem to be a problem, since both Canada and Mexico have already done so). But if both Mexico and Team USA win, the team who allows the fewest runs will advance. At the moment, Mexico has allowed six runs. Team USA has allowed eight, which means no one loves Jason Bay right now more than Team USA’s pitching staff. If Mexico wins 1-0, Team USA is done.
Let’s think about this for a second: Team USA actually needs help to advance to the second round of the World Baseball Classic. Team freaking USA, the team that, despite the laundry list of defections and last minute replacements, still has a murderer’s row of hitters and ridiculous pitching. But even the Devil Rays beat the Yankees from time to time – actually, the Rays are Yankee killers, go figure – as evidenced by Derrek Lee and Alex Rodriguez getting schooled by a AA pitcher in the Orioles organization yesterday. If they, God help them, lose to South Africa tomorrow, it might go down as one of the biggest flops in American sports history.
Now, you would think that by saying this, it means that I think the whole WBC idea was a bad one, which couldn’t be further from the truth. That game between Venezuela and the Dominican Republic was one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen. The joint was jumping, like a soccer match during the World Cup. No American baseball game has ever looked like that, and it was fascinating to watch. Plus, even with the number of American players who are not contributing, the team is still stacked. They should be beating everyone in the first round, period. If they fail to advance to the next round, Bud Selig’s head just might explode like the weightlifter in “Final Destination 3.”
Shocking to think that the three games into the World Baseball Classic, Team USA could already have nothing to play for. Critics will surely jump in to say, “See, I told you it was a bad idea.” But it’s not a bad idea: it’s a great idea that’s taking place at a bad time. Do this in the fall, and see how many more players sign up to represent their country.
