The World Baseball Classic Review

Now that the World Baseball Classic is over, I want to recap the major takeaways from

this year's tournament. For those of you who did not watch The Classic, it was jam-packed with

fun. Teams like the Dominican, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela have massive celebrations anytime

they score a run. That made the games so enjoyable to watch, even if it was a blowout. My first

takeaway was the playoffs, where high energy. We had the four-headed monster of Team US,

Japan, the Dominican, and Venezuela. We had middle ground Teams in Canada,

Mexico and Korea put up solid fights in the first round. The last contending tier was the

surprises. I did not expect Italy to win a playoff game, let alone beat the Americans in pool play.

They were able to shock the WBC with dominant performances from Aaron Nola and Michael

Lorenzen. Vinnie Pasquantino, Jac Caglianone, and Dante Nori put on a show for Team Italy

with some incredible power that led Italy to the semi-finals. The other Team that shocked me

was Puerto Rico. With the WBC insurance not allowing stars like Francisco Lindor, Javier Baez,

and Carlos Correa to play for them, they were able to make it out of the pool and lose a close

game to Team Italy.

My second takeaway was how balanced the tournament felt. The teams that finished at

the bottom of the pool still played really well. Cuba was a really competitive team when the

insurance bug had still hit them. I did not expect Australia to win 2 games, but they did, and their

two losses were really close and competitive. The very bottom teams, like Nicaragua, Brazil,

and Panama, that went 0-4 still had MLB talent that was able to make the games entertaining.

This kind of competitiveness was something that the last WBC was missing. I think that this just

goes to show how much better MLB teams have gotten at developing talent. You can see this

with the call-up percent, which has gone up over the past 10 years. The young kids are ready to

play, and they're taking over the game.

This leads me to my third segment of the young talent that we saw in the WBC. First, for

America, we have Roman Anthony. He had a massive home run against Mexico in pool play to

help beat them 5-3. He then hit a go-ahead homer in the 4th inning against Team DR. That

dinger will be one of the most remembered ones in his young career. Another young stud that

made his name known was Junior Caminero for Team DR. Caminero is a real threat to be an

MVP in a couple of years if he keeps up the way he plays. He showed that he has some real

power that is game-altering. Lastly, Travis Bazzana looked like the next big young star. His team

did not go far, but he looked really impressive. Bazzana shows off great plate discipline by

drawing walks and being selective. He has a great power bat, hitting a home run against

Chinese Taipei.

Lastly, there has been trouble in paradise, as we saw with Team US. The manager, Mark

DeRosa, had a critical slip-up in their game against Italy. He believed before the game that the

US had already made pool play, so he rested some of the starters and managed his bullpen

without desperation. This caused the US to lose and could have not made the playoffs if Italy

had lost to Mexico. Luckily for DeRosa, Italy won out, and the US advanced. The Americans

scratched and clawed to the final, which is not what we expected. Almost all the people

watching the WBC thought that America had the best team all around, but once pool play came

around, they looked sluggish. Their pitching was decent, and the hitting looked a tad off. This

kind of chill demeanor that Team US had ended up hurting them in the final against Venezuela.

Bryce Harper had the only homer and RBI's of the game for Team US, and notable players tohave 0 hits or runs, where Aaron Judge, Kyle Schwarber, and Will Smith did not. Team

Venezuela also just looked like they had more of a will to win the game. This result just reminds

all of us baseball fans why we love baseball: Anything can happen.