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Sean McAdam: Time to acknowledge the obvious: U.S. doesn’t have a patent on baseball superiority
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- Sean McAdam: Time to acknowledge the obvious: U.S. doesn’t have a patent on baseball superiority
MIAMI — They have staged this hardball festival, this triennial tournament, this thing - the World Baseball Classic — six times now, dating back to 2006.
Team USA has won it once.
Japan has won it three times. Two teams from Latin America — the Dominican Republic in 2013 and Venezuela on Tuesday night — have claimed the two others.
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Perhaps America can no longer claim baseball as its intellectual property any more. The American pastime isn’t so American these days.
You need not remind Mark DeRosa of this fact. He managed Team USA in 2023 and lost the title game to Japan, 3-2. He managed the team again this year, and lost also, 3-2 again, this time to Venezuela.
Close, but no cigar. Close, but no celebrations, no parades, no gold medals for the Americans.
“Ultimately, it’s who gets hot at the right time, who gets the big swing,” said DeRosa. “It just seemed like we couldn’t get the offense going the entire tournament. We came out of Arizona (and exhibition play) absolutely smoking the ball and for whatever reason, we couldn’t get it rolling offensively.”
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That was not DeRosa’s imagination. On Sunday night, after Roman Anthony sent Team USA ahead of the Dominican Republic with a solo homer in the fourth inning, the team managed just one hit the rest of the way.
On Tuesday, with the championship at stake, Team USA was blanked on two hits for the first seven innings. Aaron Judge , who has struggled mightily in October in his day job with the Yankees, was no better in the WBC. Other big names were similarly silent.
In the quarterfinals, the U.S. needed help from Italy just to qualify for the next round. Did Team USA take things for granted? Or, as their manager suggested, did they just hit a cold spell with their bats at the worst possible time.
In the end, it didn’t matter.
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It’s been suggested that Team USA didn’t play with the same desperation that Venezuela showed. Nor did they display the same emotion.
But ultimately, it’s not about attitude or desire. It’s about execution and run-scoring, and with the latter, Team USA fell way shy.
“What are you going to do?” asked Bryce Harper rhetorically after his two-run shot in the eighth injected some life into Team USA before Venezuela quickly countered with the go-ahead run a half inning later. “It’s a part of the game. It’s kind of what happens.”
The single elimination format is particularly unforgiving and foreign to most competitive baseball. Usually, teams play a series and can rebound from a poor night. But not in the WBC. One slump can end your bid.
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DeRosa posited that perhaps the Americans might benefit from shifting the games to mid-season during the All-Star break, when players are already in a regular rhythm and pitchers have long ago built up sufficient arm strength. Maybe, too, it would seem safer for pitchers who are wary of throwing too hard, too early in the calendar year.
But the timing of the games doesn’t seem to bother other countries or cultures.
Here’s the irony: For the last few decades, baseball has sought to export the game to the rest of the world, drawing in teams from the Far East and Latin America.
As a marketing strategy, it’s worked wonders. Baseball is more popular worldwide than it’s ever been, and many (most?) of its best players now come from places like Japan and the Dominican and yes, Venezuela. In the rest of the world, the WBC is officially a Big Deal; in Japan in particular, it’s as popular as the World Cup is in Europe and South America.
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So, yes, the WBC is both big business and good for business. The game has expanded, its tentacles are everywhere.
But from a competitive standpoint, the U.S. has squandered its proprietary advantage. In growing the game, American baseball has given away its secrets and seen them co-opted by other countries.
And now, those countries can compete and defeat Americans. Put simply, Americans have done too good a job in selling the game elsewhere. As a marketing opportunity, the World Baseball Classic spread the gospel. But on the field, the students are now the masters.
One for six isn’t a good batting average, and it’s no better when it comes to trying to dominate the game that was invented here.
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This year, the enthusiasm — from both the perspective of the players involved and the fan base watching in person or at home – was better than its ever been. It’s no longer viewed as an occasional spring distraction.
But some success would help. Next time, maybe, Team USA can focus less on spreading the appeal of the game and more on winning it on the field.
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