WBC Recap

The WBC wrapped up last night with an exciting championship game between arch-rivals Japan and Korea. The game came down to extra innings and saw Japan win it in 10 innings lead by the brilliant Ichiro who capped a 4 hit night in the 10th inning driving in what turned out to be the game winning run. Boston's Dice-K once again came away with the WBC MVP award as Japan has now won both WBC championships. Overall the WBC was I thought very exciting and fun, there was some surprises along the way and some good baseball played. Obviously the biggest surprise of the tournament was the unbelievably embarrassing loss by the Dominican team not once but twice to the Netherlands which kept the Dominicans from getting out of the first round. Much like in 2006 the WBC was greeted very well in Latin America and Asia but with apathy in the USA but the USA making it to the final 4 and knocking off Puerto Rico in the bottom of the 9th of a must win helped the event garner some more attention in the States. I'm going to break down what I think team USA and Dominican need to do to rebound in 2013 and then what changes I think the WBC can make. So lets start with the two teams, Team USA and Team Dominican. Both teams came in with heavy star power, the Dominicans were looking to build on there 3rd place finish in '06 and the Americans looking to redeem themselves from there 2nd round exit last time around. We know how it ended for both teams, the Dominicans not able to get out of the first round and the Americans losing in the semi's to team Japan. Both of these teams seem to be built on name power with what it seems like no real thought put into as to what makes a successful team in a short tournament like this. The biggest parallels that struck me is that both teams came into this with two starting shortstops. The Dominicans with Ramirez and Reyes and USA with Jeter and Rollins and with guys playing out of position, Adam Dunn playing 1st for USA and Fernando Tatis and Aybar playing 1st for the Dominicans. To me the biggest thing for both of these countries to do in 2013 is to put together a real team and not just the biggest names that are willing to play. They have to take a page out of USA Basketball's book and get the right players that will fit into what this tournament is and forgo name recognition. If I'm running Team USA or Dominican in 2013 this is how I go about all of this;

• Start early - Start putting together the team after the 2011 season, get the commitments that you need from your players.
• This tournament is once every 4 years so getting the players to come in a couple of weeks early to training camp is not going to hurt anyone.
• Recognize what you want your team to be. Yes, this is all an exhibition but its obvious that the rest of the world doesn't treat it that way. Everyone else is in it to win it so you should be also. Its not an all-star game so don't treat it like one.
• Have a core of 8-10 guys that will be your everyday players and bring in role players and have the foresight to have back ups in your provisional roster so in case of injuries you're not left without any back up plans. We saw this happen to USA this year when Youkilis went down, they didn't have anyone else to play 1st base and the only other option was Derek Lee who was injured in spring training.
  
• Bring in a manager who won't be afraid to hurt someones feelings. This was a big problem for USA this year, Davey Johnson kept treating this like an all-star game and tried to get everyone playing time while teams like Japan, Cuba and Korea ran out there starters and let it roll. You know how highly I think of Derek Jeter but you can't have him out at shortstop in a must win game and have Jimmy Rollins DH'ing. You just can't do that and expect to win.
  

I think if they make these changes you'll see a better showing from these teams or they can decide to keep playing the same way they have been and just keep on losing to other teams. You won't win playing the way they have been for these last 2 tournaments.

As for the WBC itself, I would love to see it in November but Bud Selig has gone on record and said that it will be in March 2013 but one of the early changes that I've heard is that they will try and condense the tournament so it won't stretch out over 3 weeks. I think that will help because some of the teams seem to lose steam by playing one day and then not playing until 3 days later.
Another change that I think would benefit it is to have the 2nd round and championship rounds in the same city, it will cut down on travel and overall time of the tournament. The last 2 things that I would do is get rid of the seeding game, those games are anti-climatic and with both teams already advancing I don't feel is necessary. I'm sure they can come up with a way to have the 1 and 2 seed. My last change would be not to cross up the semi's. Set up 2 brackets and keep them that way, this year Japan and Korea played each other 5 times, that's way too much for a tournament like this.

Well, there you have it. Overall, I really enjoyed this WBC and already looking forward to 2013.

Stay tuned for my MLB Season preview coming soon.