‘Italy.’ A team with three Italians on it.
What a clusterfuck. Apparently, the manager thought they had clinched? How is that even possible? And then when McLean wasn’t cutting it, he brings in Ryan freaking Yarborough? I’m so glad I didn’t watch that game.
And even after all of that the US would probably be safe except for a botched double-play on a comebacker that allowed more runs to score.
This is a situation where the tiebreaker produces a strong incentive for collusion. You should never have a pool play game after all other games are over and the possible outcomes are known. This is why every other sport with this format makes sure the last matches are played at the same time.
I see no reason why Mexico and Italy wouldn’t play for a 1-0 Mexico win to make sure that both of them advance and a strong opponent is removed from the knockout rounds.
Apparently De Rosa wasn’t aware that runs allowed was the tiebreaker (in addition to apparently thinking the US had already clinched advancement). Hence the decision to use gopher-ball prone relievers.
It’s kinda funny, actually.
American hubris.
Here’s a quick Jomboy breakdown of the team USA screw-up:
IMHO, this is why pure run differential is the best tiebreaker. It gives teams the simplest incentive to play hard - score as many runs as possible, and allow as few runs as possible.
I don’t know why the WBC chose to use a tiebreaker format that mainly rewards defense but not offense - “you advance based off of fewest runs allowed.” Why is defense more worth rewarding than offense?
Because of the mercy rule in effect. Otherwise it’s an easy choice to go with run differential. You have to reward “we won 10-0 in 6 innings” over “we won 10-0 in 9 innings”.
I can only assume it’s to avoid the “running up the score” issue when you have severely mismatched teams. I haven’t sat down to see what the mercy rule would do to a pure run differential tiebreaker but I could see that playing into it as well.
I think I agree that RD is probably better as a tiebreaker.
It’s just an exhibition tournament, so it doesn’t really matter, but baseball doesn’t really lend itself to short formats. Way too much randomness and dependence on starting pitching.
Sure, but technically, a team could mercy-rule an opponent by winning 28-14 (a showing of bad defense by both teams) instead of 15-0.
Bobby Witt, Jr., playing on Team USA, faced two Royals teammates playing for Italy, Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone. Both of whom were born in the USA.
Nothing against Mark DeRosa, but why not get a real MLB manager for the tournament? There’s a bunch floating around who could most likely spare the time, like Joe Girardi, Buck Showalter and Bruce Bochy.
I can’t take an international baseball tournament seriously without the teams being able to go all in on pitching, among other issues. You’re never going to see Skubal and Yamamoto battling eachother for 8 innings in the WBC.
Well, USA shouldn’t worry. Italy is smacking Mexico 7-1 right now. There is no way USA can be eliminated, since there is no scenario where Mexico can win and score 4 or fewer runs in the process.
It got worse for Mexico before it was over. 9-1 Italy, who advances (and allows USA to advance as well).
Italy comes out of Pool B undefeated. Nice trick. USA at 3-1 is the Pool runner-up.
USA plays Canada on Friday, and Italy plays Puerto Rico on Saturday in the quarter-finals.
Korea and Venezuela also play on Friday, while Japan meets Dominican Republic on Saturday.
I hope the USA manager has been fully schooled on the advance / eliminate rules for the next round.
IMO it’s very hard to take the WBC seriously. It’s all off-season, it includes many countries w minimal baseball presence, etc. It’s a pretty exhibition that’s mostly in service of trying to colonize fans in non-traditional baseball countries.
In that environment, expecting all-in play or big star names is unrealistic. Especially since the series is played just before the real MLB season. If, like the NFL Pro Bowl, it was played at the end of the playoffs, where any injuries had an off-season to heal, folks might be inclined to try harder. Were I the management of any MLB club, I would not be pleased w any of my players going hard at the WBC.
There is no chance you would get buy-in to do it after the playoffs. No one wants their pitchers throwing more innings in November. March has its limitations, but unless you are willing to disrupt the regular season with an extended all star break, it is clearly the best option.
I find the WBC fun and it certainly means a lot to some of these players to be able to represent there countries. You get to see a style of play that is more reflective of other cultures. It is absolutely good for growing the game. While an individual team manager might not like it, you do have to balance what is good for the game vs what is good for an individual team.
Yes. I see now that my sentence about that aspect might have sounded dismissive. That wasn’t my intent. Growing the game worldwide is a fine idea. And WBC as constituted is a darn good way to do that.
My only negativity is directed at fans who might be expecting something more akin to balls-out there is no tomorrow MLB post-season play. That’s just not a realistic desire / expectation IMO.
I’m not sure I’ve seen too many commentators expecting that. A basic understanding of the rules by the manager might be expected…
It’s a fun tournament highlighted by matchups like Sohei v. Trout we got a few years ago. I’d love to see another Japan/US matchup, and Puerto Rico v. DR is always a good show.
In looking at the schedule, it appears to me that it’s a single-elimination tournament going forward. Two quarterfinals Friday, and two more on Saturday. Then two semifinal games, and one final.
Presumably the manager knows that a loss means elimination. If not, someone needs to tell him.
Huh? There are 20 teams in the WBC, the vast majority of which have a strong baseball tradition or exposure to baseball. Of the ones without, maybe Brazil, Australia, Italy, Czech Rep., Israel, and Great Britain. That’s 6 teams, some of which have several decades of international exposure and their own leagues. The Netherlands is a weird case because its roster is nearly all from Caribbean constituent countries.
I haven’t watched as much id have liked, but isn’t that what you’re seeing? I don’t like the pitch count limits (that Czech plumber should be allowed to pitch as long as he like - I say anyone who has a regular job should have different limitations), but I don’t see any element of half-assing it out there. Italy pulled off a sacrifice squeeze last night, Bobby Witt Jr. pulled off two amazingly athletic plays the other day, etc. What are you seeing?
The WBC, like any tournament, is as serious as its players take it. I personally enjoy the hell out of.