World baseball classic

[mistermuhl]

Anybody pulling for any teams other than the USA?

I'm loving that Israel is as hot as they are. Not too many big players but they are winning games. Fun to see a team like that. 

 

[Golfingdad]

2 minutes ago, mistermuhl said:

Anybody pulling for any teams other than the USA?

I'm loving that Israel is as hot as they are. Not too many big players but they are winning games. Fun to see a team like that. 

 

Haha, yeah I was rooting for Israel too.

USA plays their first game tonight I believe.  I don't even know who's on our team yet. :)

[Groucho Valentine]

45 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

Haha, yeah I was rooting for Israel too.

USA plays their first game tonight I believe.  I don't even know who's on our team yet. :)

Likely starters for USA tonight agaist Columbia 

1B- Eric Hosmer

2B - Ian Kinsler

SS - Alex Bregman

3B - Daniel Murphy

CF- Andrew McCutchen

LF - Adam Jones

RF - Giancarlo Stanton

C - Buster Posey

P - Chris Archer

USA, Japan and the Dominican Republic are the only teams that really matter in this tournament. One of those three will win. Probably DR. They're loaded. 

[mistermuhl]

The DR doesn't have the pitching the USA does. Granted, it is baseball, and anyone can beat anyone. But as far as having quality and quantity, the USA beats them. American pitchers usually have an advantage over Kati ones because latins are taught to throw. Americans are taught to pitch. For the most part

 

[Groucho Valentine]

2 hours ago, mistermuhl said:

The DR doesn't have the pitching the USA does. Granted, it is baseball, and anyone can beat anyone. But as far as having quality and quantity, the USA beats them. American pitchers usually have an advantage over Kati ones because latins are taught to throw. Americans are taught to pitch. For the most part

 

Wut? 

Edison Volquez and Carlos Martinez are on that team...plus they have like 5 major league closers... 

[mistermuhl]

On 3/10/2017 at 2:35 PM, Groucho Valentine said:

Wut? 

Edison Volquez and Carlos Martinez are on that team...plus they have like 5 major league closers... 

This is my area of expertise. I can say with certainty that the USA has a better overall pitching staff than the dr. When you get to that level, the differences are minute. But if they played 100 games against each other, the USA should win 60 of them. 

[mistermuhl]

Looking good for us as of now. Knock on wood

 

[Wanzo]

Not a huge baseball fan but follow the royals a little. Saw sal Perez just got hurt in this. A reason why it will never be a true competition. Players and teams scared of getting hurt, for good reason, in an arguably meaningless exhibition

[mistermuhl]

Ironic that our pitching let us down. But Andrew Miller stilled made a nasty pitch and it just got hit. Oh well; on to Canada! 

12 hours ago, Wanzo said:

Not a huge baseball fan but follow the royals a little. Saw sal Perez just got hurt in this. A reason why it will never be a true competition. Players and teams scared of getting hurt, for good reason, in an arguably meaningless exhibition

I know a few of the players and honestly they take it pretty serious. It's definitely not the allstar game where it's somewhat less serious. The players get pretty into the patriotism of it all. If you look at the gear a lot of them wear, they are pretty damn prideful. You will never see a baseball player really dog it when competing. Not like in the NBA all star game or the NFL one. Especially when they are wearing the colors. 

[Wanzo]

37 minutes ago, mistermuhl said:

Ironic that our pitching let us down. But Andrew Miller stilled made a nasty pitch and it just got hit. Oh well; on to Canada! 

I know a few of the players and honestly they take it pretty serious. It's definitely not the allstar game where it's somewhat less serious. The players get pretty into the patriotism of it all. If you look at the gear a lot of them wear, they are pretty damn prideful. You will never see a baseball player really dog it when competing. Not like in the NBA all star game or the NFL one. Especially when they are wearing the colors. 

Yeah, that makes sense. i get they take it serious, especially the guys from other countries I would think. But the die hard  baseball fans I know care more about how this is negatively affecting their team by having their players participate than the outcome. 

[mistermuhl]

1 hour ago, Wanzo said:

Yeah, that makes sense. i get they take it serious, especially the guys from other countries I would think. But the die hard  baseball fans I know care more about how this is negatively affecting their team by having their players participate than the outcome. 

If these guys aren't in the WBC right now, they are still playing every day at spring training. It's almost the exact same thing. I know I'd rather play for something to get ready for the season than play for nothing other than getting ready at spring training. 

[mistermuhl]

USA in the championship game?!