Celebration vs. Duty

The US treated the WBC like Smoltz treats baseball. They got what they deserve.

I have this hunch that was the last World Baseball Classic that will take place in March. It becomes a bigger deal every edition, people really enjoy it, and if the Olympics in 2028 come off with MLB players (it's trending that way), the idea of pausing the season for longer than the All-Star break to do it becomes less taboo. Maybe the MLBPA would balk at shortening the season a touch, and the pay cut that would come with it, to allow for it. Maybe the owners would be even more salty about watching players put themselves at risk in the middle of a season rather than before it started. Just a hunch, though.

I think what attracts fans to the tournament, that will make it worth altering the MLB season for in the future, is not just the uniqueness of March baseball mattering in some way, though that's part of it. It's not even just the baseball looking, and more to the point, sounding different, though that's majorly alluring, too. I think the main draw of it is the celebration that it feels like, both of the sport and those getting to represent their country. At least for everyone other than the US, that is.

Baseball, normally, is hard. And it's a slog. That's kind of the point. Starting next Wednesday, it's there every day for us. Baseball is just there for six months. Part of the charm of it is the kind of relentless, slow march that it is. You're supposed to lose yourself in the trees and miss out on the forest.

No one begrudges players for the drudgery that a MLB season is. We know they grind through it. That games in July and August are sometimes just sludge, to just be survived. It's hot, it's humid, your pitcher can't find the plate, your back hurts, you've gone 0-for-3, and you'll have to do it all again tomorrow. Baseball, as a player, kind of makes you feel like shit most of the time. That's the point. A player has to survive all that to succeed in moments just enough to even hang on to an MLB career. But the routine of it is the comfort. It's always there.

The WBC is not routine, or a slog. It matters, but it's fun because it's not just there. Every game is a celebration, a time to enjoy baseball without the routine. Baseball through the summer can have the edges sanded off of it, and you can lose sight of what makes it special and fun by its ever-presence. The WBC makes you see what you love about the game in bright colors. The big hits, the nails closer, the great defense, because it's all shoved into a can and heightened. It's like compressing something in ProTools and everything gets louder.

Venezuela played like that. The Dominican played like that. Puerto Rico, Italy, Mexico, Japan, they all played like it was a party they didn't want to end.

But the US...oh man, the US. The US played and treated this tournament like it was the slog and struggle of a six-month season crammed into two weeks. These guys grimace and grunt through 162 games and want you to know how much they're grimacing and grunting through it because that's JUST HOW TOUGH THEY ARE, and then took that attitude into this. They played and acted like baseball is hard and should always be treated like it's a grueling process.

Instead of celebrating getting to play for a national team in a tournament that only comes around every three years, the US treated it like a duty. Look at the players on all the other teams, and they treated pulling on those jerseys like an honor as well, but something to be celebrated. It might not come around again, so it was best enjoyed.

Say what you want about the US hockey team, and boy there's a lot, but there's little argument that they celebrated being on the team even before the tournament began. Maybe so many of them being close to Johnny Gaudreau helped them realize the special nature of it, seeing as how Gaudreau couldn't be there, and how lucky they were. Obviously, we know where they went with it, but they had the right attitude about being on the team.

The baseball version treated it like service, like grim duty. And they couldn't even do that consistently. Apparently, only Cal Raleigh was aware of some team policy of not acknowledging MLB teammates during the tourney, because no one backed him up. This was the highest calling of service...except it didn't stop them from not knowing the rules about qualifying for the quarterfinals or about going out and getting loaded the night before their last group game, which they needed to win. They can't have it both ways, but wanted it.

The seriousness, the perseverance, the toil...that's for April-October. Getting to play for a national team is an honor, but an honor that should be celebrated. For the opportunity, for the tournament, for the chance to do what only the smallest percentage of players get a chance at. Even smaller than those who get a chance at a World Series. It's not the cross.

The US WBC team was so charmless because they saw it as duty, not opportunity. Venezuela saw it as the latter, and though I'm sure they would have been crushed had they lost last night, it wouldn't have lessened their appreciation of the opportunity they got. I'm sure the US felt none of that, or none of it today in the afterglow. Can't help but wonder if that didn't, by just a fraction, cause Venezuela to play with just a touch more freedom and looseness. Might have been all the difference.