http://tinyurl.com/atjxr7b
They held a World Golf Championship event in Miami this weekend. Donald
Trump hosted it, at the Trump Doral Trump National Trump Course he recently
purchased and plans to redesign by moving some tees back, replacing the sand
traps with diamonds and remodeling all the greens so they are shaped like his
head.
Anyway, Tiger Woods won this World Golf Championship. But nobody thinks this
makes him the world golf champion. A few weeks ago, Matt Kuchar won another
World Golf Championship event, the match play. But nobody calls Kuchar the
world's match-play golf champion. He is just the golfer who won an event with
that name. I assume he makes this distinction at dinner parties.
And this is the problem with the World Baseball Classic. It decides nothing.
I'm sure it's a fun event. I'm sure it means a lot to the players. I believe
my colleagues who say the atmosphere is electric. I'll take their word for
it, because I'm not watching.
An international event needs to have the best players on every team, or most
of them, and it has to matter intensely to those players. Otherwise it's not
a championship. It's an exhibition. It's a marketing opportunity.
I have nothing against exhibitions. Or marketing opportunities. If I ran
Major League Baseball, I'd stage the World Baseball Classic too, though first
I would cut the regular season to 154 games, make both leagues play under one
set of rules and do something stupid that I could blame on Bobby Valentine.
The World Baseball Classic is a way to "grow the game," so hey, keep growing
it.
But this is the USA pitching staff in the World Baseball Classic:
Jeremy Affeldt
Heath Bell
Mitchell Boggs
Steve Cishek
Tim Collins
Ross Detwiler
R.A. Dickey
Gio Gonzalez
Luke Gregorson
David Hernandez
Derek Holland
Craig Kimbrel
Glen Perkins
Vinnie Pestano
Ryan Vogelsong
There are some very good pitchers on that list