2017 WBC: The Greatest Baseball Tournament Ever

In 2006 the inaugural World Baseball Classic took place and it became clear that the international

baseball

tournament

was long overdue as an official Olympic sport from 1992 to 2008, but was n

ever

going to reach its full potential as the Games Olympics are held during the regular MLB

tournament

. season, although even with the WBC taking place before the MLB season, many players have declined invitations to participate not only due to injury concerns but also the tournament's lack of prestige. Reli

ever

Pat Neshek said that in 2006 he thought it was all a little ridiculous like this garbage is. But as time went on, he started to see the potential and after the

2017

tournament he said everyone will want to be a part of this.

One of the players who will join the US team in 2023 for the first time is Mike Trout in the past. He turned down their invitations, but said it's a decision he regrets after seeing how much fun everyone was having with the 2023 US team, considered their most star-studded roster and still not the favorites to win the 2023 WBC. It has the potential. to be the best tournament to date, although it will be difficult to top what happened in

2017

. The United States was considered a favorite to win the 2017 tournament, but with the quality and quantity of internationally born players on MLB rosters increasing, many teams could win.

The US, specifically, every country with more than 10 players on MLB rosters had some of the highest odds of winning the tournament, although this ignores countries like Japan and South Korea, which have

baseball

leagues most competitive outside the US, npb and kbo, in fact, in the world. The Baseball and Softball Confederation or wbsc ranked the national teams of Japan and Korea as the first and third best teams respectively with the US and each other, although the wbsc uses a point system based on multiple tournaments to find the most successful national teams, including under-12, under-15 and under-18 tournaments.

That's why Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic were outside the top 10. Still, I mentioned these rankings to highlight one team in particular. Israel, they ranked 41st out of a total of 70 teams, by far the lowest in the tournament, while they had many MLB-affiliated players. like Jason Marquis, Sam Fold and Ike Davis, were not expected to get out of the first round, although they attracted attention in their first game against South Korea, the team with the second-best record in WBC history in the second inning. Tyler Krieger drew a full-count walk for the first run of the game, giving starting pitcher Jason Marquis something to work with.

Keep in mind, Marquee was 38 years old, hadn't pitched an MLB finish in nearly two years, and hadn't paid. He hasn't finished a season with a 100-plus era since 2009. However, he shut down Korean hitters before being eliminated to avoid the 50-pitch threshold. Basically, if a pitcher throws 50 pitches or more, he must wait at least four days to pitch again. This is just one of the many unorthodox rules this tournament has that I'm sure we won't talk about later. Korea tied the game in the fifth, but after this neither team was able to push runners into scoring position.

Scott Burcham broke the streak. in the 10th inning with an infield single, then made a big diving play in the bottom of the inning and finally the game ended with Josh Zied striking out Dae-ho Lee on Zid's 49th pitch of the game, no It was a great offensive effort. but the Israeli team did the job against the favorite to win the group. However, the next day they took it to the next level and now Fryman makes one to land on the field that disappeared with his 15-run scoring vest against Chinese Taipei and then a victory against the kingdom of the Netherlands Israel had done the unthinkable by sweeping their group to join the Dutch in the next round, which meant that one of the tournament favourites, South Korea, had been eliminated in the first round for the second tournament in a row after reaching the final in 2009.

Before moving on to Group B, I would be remiss if I didn't show you one more thing. This is Young Q Li and this might be the craziest leg kick I've ever seen. To be fair, he has worked out well for him in the kbo. but I can imagine someone like Nestor Cortez making a bunch of fake deliveries to mess with Lee's timing. Unfortunately, this matchup will never happen as Lee will not be playing at WBC 2023. Anyway, moving on, in contrast to group a, group b played out as expected. Japan dominated and Cuba advanced to the next round, while Australia and China were sent packing.

Then there is Group C with a country that is making its WBC debut, another country that is finally trying to get out of the first round and two favorites to win it all: Dominican Republic and United States as both teams won their first games of the first round , the stage was set for a Monumental confrontation, the scoring began in the third inning after a miscommunication by outfielder Starling Marte and Nelson Cruz, followed by Christian Yelich. double to make the score two to none one inning later, Brandon Crawford hit an RBI single that caused Edinson Vólquez to be taken out of the game, however, Marcus Strowman continued to battle and held the Dr. scoreless for four and two-thirds innings with two further. runs added later, the US was firmly in control of the game until Manny Machado did this, oh look at it, look at it.

Carlos Santana followed with an RBI single, but USA stopped the momentum before he got too crazy, at least that's what it seemed. like 2-2 the drive to left field that could be a problem yelich's back is off the base of the wall Here comes Mars it's a two run game and here's Cruz and the slider is so good he could throw three of those in three different places where Nelson Cruz will hit left field, you have a chance and it's good Nelson Cruz, the man with 16 postseason home runs at that time, called this home run the biggest of his life because he knew that everyone in the Dominican Republic were seeing this as a tough loss for the USA and with Colombia winning their match against Canada, the odds of a first round elimination were notable;

However, to eliminate the USA, Colombia needed to beat the Dominican Republic, both teams scored a run in the first inning, but it could have been much more. for Colombia when the bases were loaded after a fantastic play by Manny Machado, later Machado showed his bat with an RBI double even scoring later in the inning in a surprising way, a couple of innings later he took extra bases with a dive which led to a double. In the game, he was making an early case for tournament MVP, but Team Colombia wasn't sitting still as their pitchers kept the Dominican bats quiet, allowing their hitters to facilitate a comeback with Mauricio's RBI double.

Ramos and a home run by Jorge that tied the game. Alfaro, with the Dominicans being shut out again in the ninth inning, Colombia had a real chance to win, but they needed to take advantage of this opportunity, five pitches into the bottom of the ninth. Columbia had two runners on base after a single and hit by the pitch Donovan Solano nearly grounded into a double play, but a bad throw by Jonathan VR meant only one out was made, so a sacrifice fly was still possible . Reynaldo Rodríguez just hit a short fly ball to left fielder José Bautista in a position he didn't have.

He hasn't played since 2009 because his strong arm made him a prototypical right fielder. Unfortunately, a shoulder injury in 2015 destroyed much of his arm strength, as seen with a drop in assists in the outfield, regardless of the fact that he needed to throw out Oscar Mercado while he had not made it to the MLB. However, when he did it in 2019, his sprint speed was in the 98th percentile. In short, we had a very fast player at third base facing an aging outfielder with declining arm strength, so who win this battle? This ball was thrown at 88.4 miles per hour. a speed Bautista reached only twice in 2016.

With the Dominican team scoring seven runs in the top of the 11th and the United States beating Canada eight to none, this play remains one of the biggest what-ifs in WBC history and will become more evident as we progress through the tournament, now let's take a look at Group D. The theme of this group was high scoring, as four different games had teams scoring at least 10 runs. The first of these high-scoring games was between Mexico and Italy, where Mexico had a five-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth, but the combination of aggressive bases, some unfortunate defensive errors and clutch hits led to Italy scoring five runs without recording a single out.

This victory completely altered the paths of these two teams. Puerto Rico dominated Venezuela with an 11-nil victory, but Venezuela bounced back the next day and scored 11 runs of their own against Italy in an extra bout. This game actually almost ended with another Italian exit after a failed relief throw. but the runner was thrown out at the plate. Italy lost the next day to Puerto Rico, meaning all eyes were on Mexico and Venezuela. If Venezuela wins, they will advance to the next round, but if Mexico specifically wins by at least two runs. to the tiebreaker rules they face Italy in a good tiebreaker game with an 11-9 victory everything was said that Mexico was going to face Italy for a place in the second round at least that's what everyone thought it meant Mexico's victory the trio of Mexico, Venezuela and Italy had a victory, so to break the tie they used something called runs out loud per defensive inning played, which calculated the average of how many runs a team allows, so the team who averaged the most runs allowed excluding games against Puerto Rico.

They were out of the tournament Mexican star Adrián González said the team was told they needed to win by at least two runs to beat Venezuela, which they did, so Mexico allowed fewer runs on average than Venezuela, however, these calculations were wrong , remember how Italy had done it. a five-run comeback against Mexico without recording a single out, this was initially considered a partial inning for Mexico, but because they did not record an out, this was overturned, so Mexico now has 17 defensive ends instead of 18 , and they stayed behind Venezuela. By the slightest margin, the Mexican team was outraged.

Manager Edgar González, Adrián's brother, said that the rule does not specify innings, it specifies partial innings and if you go to a judge, this is a partial inning in the rule book there was no clear definition. for a partial inning, does a partial end become official when the defense takes the field or do they need to record an out first? Finally, the answer was the latter, which is fine, but the fact that the Mexican team was tricked into believing they only needed two runs to advance was a big problem if they knew they needed three runs, maybe they bunted in. the ninth inning when they had two runners on base with no outs, the next batter even hit a fly ball deep enough for a sacrifice fly, it was an unfortunate situation that should have been avoided, however, Venezuela faced Italy in the game of tiebreaker and ended up winning in combat, finally the second round was established in group E.

Israel continued the remarkable streak with a surprise victory over Cuba, but the streak came to an end with defeats. to Japan and the kingdom of the Netherlands in general, both teams dominated the rest of the group and earned their ticket to the semifinals. Now it's time for the tight group F, which features four of the best teams in the entire tournament and from the first match. Being between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, everyone knew we were in for something special, a flash in right field that will hang for Rosario, he will catch it marking the G6 of him.

If there was anyone to avoid trying to score on him it was Eddie. Rosario between 2015 and 2016 only two outfielders had more outfield assists than Rosario in the bottom of the inning, the man who caught the assist Yadier Molina singled to drive in the first run of the game, although the Dominicans responded quickly when Nelson Cruz He hit a solo. home run to tie the game even though the fan probably went over the fence which is pretty funny, a couple innings later Eddie Rosario hit a ground rule double off the same fan and once again it looks like he went over over the fence, regardless of Molina adding to the lead. with a solo home run and the Puerto Rican pitchers shut down the Dominican hitters to handle their first loss of the tournament, this victory was thestart of a three-game winning streak for Puerto Rico that ended with a 13-2 victory over Venezuela, who finished the second round with zero wins, so this meant the US and the Dominican Republic were one and one facing a 10-way matchup to finish the second round, whoever wins moves on to the semi-finals abroad.

The third good night, you got it, okay. right center field Jones still moving running out of room to know the other way he shouts and he and he catches this ball Canoe Robinson goes deep and it's a one run play that will do some damage come on let's pass. Reyes to center field Jones makes the catch and the US is one out away from advancing to the semifinal on the ground for Crawford and champion. The Dominican team that won the 2013 tournament with a perfect 8-0 record had fallen to an American team looking for its first appearance in a finals with another baseball giant ahead of it in Japan, the road ahead was not going to be easy , but there is another game to talk about, first the kingdom of the Netherlands against Puerto Rico led by guys like Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor and Javi.

Báez Puerto Rico had the opportunity to finish the tournament undefeated, not to mention the team's true MVP catcher, Yadier Molina. Not only was he batting well but, as always, his defense was exceptional in the first innings alone. Molina caught Andrilton Simmons sleeping at second and then Jerksen. Profar at first in an absolute masterclass in defense and baseball IQ, however, sometimes you can do everything right only for something to go wrong anyway he wants to leave, that's his fourth Vladimir.Ballentine, the record holder of npb single-season home runs, he hit his tournament-leading fourth home run, although it didn't take long for the Puerto Ricans to come back as Carlos Correa and TJ Rivera homered to take the lead and then, in the fifth inning, Sean.

Zaraga hit an RBI double that nearly drove in two to take the lead, but a series of big pitches kept the game tied. This carried over into extra innings with Edwin Díaz striking out the team in the tenth, most notably in the at-bat. against Vladimir Ballentine, where emotions began to rise a bit between the two teams, however, Díaz continued his dominance by inducing a double play with Las Bases Cargadas in the 11th and then in the bottom half of the inning, Puerto Rico filled the bases and the opportunity existed. for an inning that ended the double play, but Eddie Rosario was able to hit a fly ball deep enough to score Carlos Correa and secure a spot in the final, so who was going to be his opponent the next day: the United States and Japan met.

They would face each other in In a matchup without a clear favorite, the USA decided to use Tanner Roark to start the game, while Japan used npb star pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano through a combination of pitcher dominance and timely defense Both pitchers had shutouts in three innings, however, due to an error by second baseman Rosuke. Kakuchi led Andrew McCutchen to break the tie with an RBI single. Despite this setback, Sugano remained in the game and pitched six innings allowing only three hits and striking out six; then in the next half of the inning, Kikuchi looked to redeem himself with a good hit and training at home.

The run caused pitcher Nate Jones to be replaced by Andrew Miller, who exited the inning entering the seventh. Japan brought in another star starting pitcher, Kodai Senga, and then struck out Eric Hosmer, Andrew McCutchen and Buster Posey. It continued into the eighth inning. he struck out Giancarlo Stanton, but Brandon Crawford broke the streak with a single and then Sanga went on to swing a pitch to Ian Kinsler, resulting in a double. Now the runners were in scoring position for Adam Jones Jones already had a memorable moment with his glove, but now he can. he came through with his bat, it wasn't a forfeit like Eddie Rosario's the night before, but it was enough for the US to take the lead and maintain the victory.

The stage was set for an intense WBC final when the USA and Puerto Rico were playing for their first WBC championship, however, as in the previous games, the USA were not exactly favorites according to 538, this Puerto Rican team were on the best streak ever seen in the WBC, their consistent dominance contrasted with the USA, aside from their eight run win against Canada, each of the USA's games ended with a three run difference runs or less with two hungry teams, this game had the potential to be a drama-filled showdown, but let's just say it was a little different.

Score Crawford's 3-2 towards the right center who is going to score at least seven matters nothing. USA's Strowman comes out with a 7-0 lead took a no-hitter into the seventh and leads to a Heroes Miss out of Robertson grounded to Arenado's Third Base He got it, it was a tough road, but the United States He finally won his first WBC title, of course, scoring eight runs was great, but Marcus Strowman's impressive six hitless innings are what ultimately led him to this victory, which is why he was named MVP of the tournament. It was just a win for the USA, it was a win for baseball.

This tournament produced record numbers in both attendance and ratings. In fact, 70 percent of the televisions in Puerto Rico tuned to the championship game overall, I think the world. The Baseball Classic has the opportunity to be one of the most important international tournaments in the world, this will take time, but as the history and prestige continues to grow, it will be difficult for anyone to turn down an invitation, it will be difficult to top the 2020 tournament 3 .2017, but if so, then we can safely say that the WBC is on its way to becoming a global event not to be missed.

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