Is the World Baseball Classic Bad For MLB?
The World Baseball Classic is a tournament that showcases the best baseball players in the world. It puts each of the players on their home countries team, and they play a round robin tournament. This is wildly popular in recent years, but it is also harming Major League Baseball. Baseball players are payed huge sums of money by their respective teams to go out and perform for their team and their team alone. The potential risks to high profile players and even the role players on Major League Rosters is quite high during these tournaments as it would be in a Major League Game.
What is going to happen when an extremely high paid player is injured during these games? It is sure to end up being the difference in a team being successful or not simply to put on an exhibition. That is not good for baseball, the teams, or the players. I am all for showing support for your Country and representation, but this is a serious risk.
If I am paying a player 25 million dollars, and they go out and play in the WBC and get injured, what is my recourse? I can sit there and take it for the most part. That hardly seems fair. And what about the team’s season ticket holders that paid large sums of money to see their favorite stars play? They too would be cheated at that point of something that they rightfully paid for. If a player is injured during the course of an actual game in MLB, then that is to be expected. If it happens in an exhibition, then I am going to be rightfully upset.
Many people disagree with my position and that is certainly okay. I am far from being arrogant in saying that I simply have an opinion. But as far as the WBC goes, I think they should tank the idea, or leave it to the younger players that are not in MLB. That would give the younger guys a world stage to help them to get noticed, and also to showcase the baseball talent that is to come. Why risk the big dogs when you do not have to? The Olympics have proven that people will still come and see the amateurs in a given sport, and especially if they are representing their country.
Think it over…
