Baseball high-fives its version of March Madness

WBC comes of age as top tier sports entertainment

The World Baseball Classic fully arrived as a must-see global event in the ninth inning of the Japan-Team USA final on Tuesday night in Miami. The memorable baseball drama (with no pitch clock) was both riveting and breathtaking.

Baseball’s long-anticipated, script-writer’s ideal finish unfolded in a dream sequence, with Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani, the most talked about athlete in baseball, coming into view through the bullpen gate, trotting in from right field to try and lock down a 3-2 Team Japan victory, fully aware that Angels’ teammate and the game’s other superstar Mike Trout was grabbing a bat, scheduled as the third hitter and potentially the final out of baseball’s, second to the World Series, crown jewel.    

The epic four pitch Trout at-bat – four Ohtani fastballs at 99+ mph and a swinging strike three on a sweeping slider – reminded us of other great power-on-power matchups through the MLB years -- like Reggie Jackson vs. Bob Welch in 1978, Kirk Gibson vs. Dennis Eckersley in 1989 and Joe Carter vs. Mitch Williams in 1993. All of those events occurred in World Series. Tuesday night felt like a World Series Game 7.   

“This is the best moment of my life,” enthused Ohtani to assembled media, after being named Classic MVP, receiving the tournament trophy in an awkward exchange with Commissioner Rob Manfred, then hoisitng it onstage out near second base for a photo opportunity and to share his “best moment” with teammates.  

Should the timing of the WBC be changed?

The dust had not settled on this energized, heart-pounding fifth edition, title-game of the WBC and, already, there was discussion among experts regarding the perceived need for changes to the timing of the event. Most critics of this current mid-March window are saying it would be a more meaningful show if baseball shut down in July every four years and subbed the WBC for the All-Star Game. Sorry!

Why change? Baseball has finally found a sweet spot for the Classic in what will always be a less-than-ideal sporting landscape, competing as it is with the NCAA in full March Madness mode and the NBA and NHL seasons in playoff-deciding final months. It took until its fifth iteration to find this niche of WBC success. Leave it alone and move forward in a positive way, trying to grow this mid-March timeslot in 2026, which is officially, the next scheduled WBC year.

Any expert that suggests a change in timing doesn’t understand the original purpose of the WBC event. For MLB, it’s always been seen as a global marketing tool to grow the game and sell merchandise. That’s why it’s called “Classic” not “Championship”. For players, the most important component, it’s viewed as a patriotic two weeks of smiles, joy and teaming with baseball talent, friends from their own homeland, wearing their country’s uniform, to be David to America and Japan’s Goliath.

Those that have already looked past this unbridled success and suggested a change in the timing are those that are likely convinced Team USA should have won all five events in 2006-09-13-17 and this one. Further, if that success has not happened then the format must be wrong. America’s only win in their own National Pastime event was 2017, with Marcus Stroman as MVP.

But those critics are clearly missing the point. The WBC is not about discovering which is the best baseball-playing country in the World. Everyone knows that in terms of baseball depth, that America has the deepest pool of player talent of any country in the world. But they don’t all play at once and that’s okay. The hurdle for the world powers to fielding the best team possible produces competitive balance and compelling, encouraging outcomes for some secondary baseball nations. Consider only Japan went undefeated and only Nicaragua and China were held winless in Pool play. Eight nations finished with 2-2 records.

Why is it not a World Championship?

The tournament was invented at the behest of key MLB players who were jealous of the NBA players that had been able to form Dream Teams and wear their country’s name across their chests, able to compete for Gold at the Olympics. That was the MLB dream. But even though basketball has a winter schedule, it was able to talk its way into the Summer Games. Hard to see baseball in the Winter Games.

Major league Olympic dreams officially came to an end in July 2005, as the IOC voted baseball and softball out of any future games, starting in 2012. So MLB and the players went to Plan B. Despite being unable to cooperate and agree on anything following the Great Strike of ’94, Donald Fehr and Gene Orza (MLBPA), with Bud Selig and Paul Beeston (MLB) combined to follow up on a specific request from the players to find a way for them to rep their respective countries, replicating in some small way the Olympic experience. Thus was born in 2006 the WBC.

Why not play WBC at the All-Star break or post-World Series?

An all-star slot for the WBC would force the tournament to be cut down from 20 teams in order to fit into a 10-day window. That clearly reduces the globalization aspect and appeal. It’s not only MLB that would have to shut down the schedule for two weeks in a sport that is played every day. The Asian leagues would be forced to fly about 11 time zones to play and then return to pick up their own schedules. If contested in mid-July, heading into a stretch drive, there are many organizations that would be reluctant to send their star players into a high-intensity exhibition series in which clubs do not control the workloads, while, in their minds, risking injuries like suffered by Edwin Diaz (Puerto Rico) and Jose Altuve (Venezuela). Besides, how do fans then willingly go from the high-drama of a WBC finish, like the one just supplied by USA and Japan, straight into the dog days of August? That’s a tough sell.

On the other suggestion, a post-World Series slot would have its own problems. Mid-November would cut into the shorter Winter League schedules of Caribbean nations and would also distract from the international attention directed towards the traditional crown jewel, the World Series, as fans might tend to shrug their shoulders towards what might be a pedestrian Fall Classic as it winds down and then have the game immediately shift to the high energy and national partisanship of the WBC.

Other post-season issues? November is the start of major-league free agency, with some big-name players likely unwilling to risk their health without a contract. Plus there is the daunting competition for attention of the NFL, college football/basketball and the opening of NBA and NHL seasons.

No, the answer is to simply leave the WBC where it seems to have found a successful home. If the performances of Randy Arozarena, Trea Turner, Trout and Ohtani have not fired up fans of the Rays, Phillies and Angels, then there is something wrong. But it’s become clear from the early reaction towards the just-completed 2023 World Baseball Classic that there is nothing wrong. Congratulations to a Japanese team that earned it and we look forward with anticipation to WBC 2026.