Thanks to Italy beating Mexico on Wednesday, the US get another chance in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). What looked like a potentially disastrous early exit for US manager Mark DeRosa and his team turned out to be nothing more than substantial worry and significant embarrassment for about 24 hours.
It remains to be seen whether the US really want to win badly enough for the reprieve to matter, as if it is just a switch they can flick, but there is little reason for their fans to be optimistic.
The team’s attitude and behavior have been all over the place when it comes to their opinion of the WBC’s value. It is no Olympics, after all, as slugger Bryce Harper would prefer. How important is the WBC to the US? Less important than it is to the other teams in the tournament.
Photo: AFP
The US did not appear to compete with urgency against Italy on Tuesday, playing as if they had already qualified for the quarter-finals. And it was not just overconfidence. The players mimicked the leadership of DeRosa, who operated as though he were just trying to get through a mostly meaningless game.
Only, the US had not qualified yet. DeRosa seemed to get lost in the WBC’s tiebreaking procedures, which in itself is understandable if you do not know how to work an abacus and slide rule.
However, someone on his staff should have figured out that the Italy game mattered before DeRosa went on TV and said that his side had already punched their own ticket for the next round.
If Mexico had beaten Italy on Wednesday, or if Italy had not scored the right amount of runs, or if everything went sideways in extra innings, we would be talking about the US getting its ticket punched in a bad way.
DeRosa said later that he only “misspoke,” but it was more like he misunderstood completely. He assembled a questionable lineup and made questionable pitching decisions, leading a collective effort that appeared to gain clarity and urgency only in the final third of the game. Did someone finally figure out what the dugout had not?
The US next face Canada in Houston today, a game that the hosts should win — although that is what everyone said before the US scraped by Mexico and got stomped like a grape against Italy, but even if they reach the semis, then what? Italy, Puerto Rico, Japan, South Korea, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic are the other teams still alive in the knockout stage. All of them have something in common not shared with the US: They play with intensity and joy.
The US players can be intense. Earlier in the tournament against Mexico, US catcher Cal Raleigh refused a handshake overture from opponent Randy Arozarena. They are teammates on the Seattle Mariners, but Raleigh reacted as if Arozarena were asking for his computer passwords, replying as if to say: “Don’t bother me, Randy, this is a big game and I’m in the zone.”
It is probably too late to do anything this time, but what can the US do to give themselves a chance to win the next WBC?
The best way would be to move the tournament to mid-summer, during a break in MLB’s regular season that does not exist yet and likely will not soon. In June or July, all of the best pitchers are in midseason form, and the US would have a big talent advantage on the mound.
That is the only way for the US to show the world who is best, because they are not going to do it the way Japan and the Dominican Republic are playing.
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