The people who don’t like the World Baseball Classic generally fall into two buckets: general managers, who are paid to worry, and those who don’t truly love baseball.
If you did happen to watch Team USA in the WBC here Wednesday night, you got to see Mike Trout fly into third base with a triple after he scorched a line drive with that famously tight, vicious swing of his; Mookie Betts take the extra base twice with brilliant baserunning decisions; and, on back-to-back defensive plays, Nolan Arenado pirouette at third base while turning a sure hit into an out and Betts gracefully run down a fly ball within steps of the fence in the right field corner; and you saw seven pitchers from Colombia with a combined total of nine major league games of experience gallantly hold the USA’s Dream Team in spikes to a lousy three spot.
Team USA won, 3–2, to advance to a quarterfinal game Saturday in Miami against Venezuela. Team USA manager Mark DeRosa indicated he will talk to his staff Thursday about whether to give the ball to Adam Wainwright, with his diminished velocity, or skip him and start Lance Lynn. You might see seven or more future Hall of Famers playing hard and for national pride in that win-or-go-home game. If you don’t dig that as a middle-of-March gift, don’t tell me you love baseball.
