This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Charles Curtis.
As you may have noticed last week, I was among the fans affected by a World Baseball Classic injury when Edwin Diaz hurt his knee celebrating Puerto Rico’s upset win. I wrote about how awful it was to see as a Mets fan now that he’ll miss the entire 2023 MLB season.
On Saturday, I happened to be at the Mets and Houston Astros’ spring training contest in West Palm Beach, when a buzz ran through the crowd: Star second baseman Jose Altuve was hit by a pitch in the United States’ quarterfinal win over Venezuela, and now he’ll need surgery for his fractured thumb. Astros fans weren’t happy.
I say all of that, and add this: That shouldn’t mean the WBC is a bad thing.
No, the World Baseball Classic is amazing, and although I want to see it, like, once every two years, it should be spaced out like soccer’s World Cup.
I promise I’m not just saying that because Team USA is making a run thanks to Trea Turner going off and thrilling us all with his heroics. It’s because I look at how much this means to the players, along with how fun it is for all the teams and their quirky celebrations. It’s baseball at its purest.
There’s no better time to do it. As Mike Trout pointed out last week, “You’re still playing baseball in spring training.” Exactly. And injuries could also happen in a meaningless spring training game (perhaps not Diaz’s but freak injuries do happen!).
Long live the WBC. Can’t wait to see the conclusion of this year’s and the next one in 2026.
Quick Hits: A horrible March Madness bad beat … Drew Timme dropping F-bombs … A near NFL double trade-down … and more.
— This bad beat in TCU’s loss to Gonzaga was AWFUL!
— Drew Timme is out here dropping F-bombs on TV.
— Oh no, we almost got a double trade-down in the NFL Draft but the Texans ruined it!
