Rant #3,093: No

I have written many Rants about baseball, because it is my favorite sport, and it remains our National Pastime no matter what anyone says … not an obsession, like football is, but a game where one can take it all in and not worry about point spreads and the like—even with legal betting in many areas in the country.

And I have spoken little about the World Baseball Classic, a tournament that was set up about 20 years ago to promote interest in the sport in countries beyond baseball strongholds like the United States, Japan, South Korea and the Dominican Republic.

I have spoken little about it because trying to make baseball like soccer—where local and national fervor has often led to death and destruction--really isn’t what baseball is about.

And the period that this tournament is held—every three-to-four years right in the middle of spring training—makes it even more ridiculous, because so few of the participants are ready for the type of fervor that this tournament brings, and they are not ready in their minds, and, perhaps most importantly, in their bodies.

That is why you have spring training, to prepare players for the grueling 162 games in 180 days mentality that baseball brings to the table.

The worst nightmare of Major League Baseball teams is that they will have players go to play in the WBC, and that during the tournament, these players will become injured and not ready for the coming baseball season.

It has happened many times before this year’s tournament. New York Yankees first baseman Mark Texeira injured his thumb during the tournament while simply swinging a bat, and he lost pretty much a season from that.

And there have been many other players who have not come back whole after playing in these games.

The latest one—and now a poster boy for why this tournament must be moved to another time of year, if it even continues to exist at all—is New York Mets’ closer Edwin Diaz, who is lost to the Mets for the entire season—a team he just signed a record-setting multi-million-dollar contract with—due to an injury that was easily avoidable.

He played for the team from Puerto Rico—I still want to know why the island, which is part of the United States, has its own team in both the WBC and the Olympics—and after a win which he saved by striking out three batters, a celebration on the mound took place, and he was pummeled in the joyous celebration to the point that he couldn’t stand up or walk afterwards.

Due to this unnecessary celebration, he is done for at least eight months, which means the entire baseball season … and the Mets won’t know until spring training 2024 whether Diaz is whole again.

Look, I know that he could have hurt himself at regular spring training, he could have hurt himself brushing his teeth, tying his shoelaces, or eating breakfast, but that didn’t happen; he hurt himself during a celebration—not even during the game—and this player, who the Mets just gave a very generous contract to, is done, at least for this season.

And this sets a domino effect in place for the team, which must now find a pitcher who can finish out games for them, moving players up in the pecking order and putting questions into everyone’s mind whether this guy can do the job with Diaz gone.

The whole thing is ridiculous, but of course, the Mets and everyone else in baseball is almost forced to say the “right” thing while describing how hellacious this situation really is.

During the early days of the talk about setting up a tournament like the this, the Yankees—and owner George Steinbrenner in particular—forbid his players to participate in what became the WBC because of the risk of injury, and with the Diaz injury now in the books, I will bet that many teams will now have the documentation written right into the players’ contracts that they cannot play in this tournament.

Why would a player object to this wording? Do they want to win a World Series or a WBC championship?

Funny, a recent poll of major league players found that a majority of them would rather win a WBC championship, which is absolutely absurd when you take into account that the players are being paid millions by their teams to perform at the height of their capabilities, yet the WBC is more of a prestige thing than anything else.

Without the auspices of MLB, these players wouldn’t even be in this tournament, and the tournament would not exist … and like any other profession, your main work allegiance must be with your employer, the one who pays you enough money so you can put food on the table.

I also understand the intricacies of the WBC, which is national pride, much like the Olympics are supposed to be about, but political agendas do take hold here too.

If you must have a WBC tournament, then shift it to November, after the regular season is all played out, or even into December.

Players will really be at the top of their games right after the season, and their minds and bodies will be ready for such an experience—certainly better than having it during spring training, where they are just getting back into the swing of things.

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.