US Team With No International Experience Loses Again In WBC
Written by Godfrey Logan, Tuesday March 24 2009 playerpress.com
The US team for the second time fails to win or reach finals in World Baseball Classic because most guys on US roster have never played international competition.
It's been said for years that the the world is catching up to the US in international competition. USA Baseball is the only American sport that competes against other countries that does not use its professional athletes. Which is why with all of the power the Americans have on their roster thay cannot win in a sport they are credited with having started. Unless they change this policy they will continue to lose. Granted they got further this time than they did in 2006. Not to mention the fact that MLB has longer seasons than the leagues in other countries. It is not to say that the players from other countries are better than American MLB players it is hard to see former CY Young winner Jake Peavy and All Star pitcher Roy Oswalt get rocked. It can be said that there are a number of things that work agains the US. First there is the fact as I have mentioned they play longer seasons. Perhaps they should shorten the season. Also there is the fact that while the WBC is going on MLB players are going through spring training and it's possible that the players on the US team are treating this as a warm up to the season rather than a serious competition. They are more concerned with staying healthy and going back to their teams healthy. There is the fact that just before the WBC the seasons in Latin America is just ending and they had just finished playing the Caribbean World Series a tournament much like the format of the WBC. Those players are in great shape and ready for the tournament. In my opinion this is the true world series. And for a country that calls their champioship series the world series they cannot compete. As much as fans here love their baseball, it is king in other countries like Asia and Cuba which has ruled international competition for years. In a tournament where MLB players fill much of the rosters on these teams it doesn't help that these guys are going to play for their home countries leaving a roster with no international experience and no idea what they're getting into. US baseball should learn from the US basketball team and send their best. I mean they are only representing their country. What could be more important than that?