The WBC did it again
MIAMI - It was a great time to remind everyone all that is great about baseball.
That was undeniably the mission for the World Baseball Classic. Mission accomplished. That was the feeling, anyway, as LoanDepot Park was filled with waves of chants and cheers from Venezuelan fans, while their team celebrated its 3-2 win over Team USA, Tuesday night.
It might be March. And sure, it was an exhibition a week before the regular season rolls around. All of that shouldn't matter. Much like the iconic moment and time that showdown between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout offered three years before, this version of the WBC manage to embed itself in our sports-loving psychie.
This time around, it was so much about the moments, although there were plenty. Another clutch home run from Wilyer Abreu. Bryce Harper's eighth-inning, game-tying, two-run homer. And, finally, Eugenio Suarez's game-winning RBI double in the ninth.
This was about the message.
This was the mid-March reminder of how good it can be.
The best baseball talent in the world, finding ways to forget this was the portion of the calendar where mistakes were usually acceptable. The greatest players are presenting their best versions of themselves. That was the first bucket of cold water for those intent on not snapping out of the preseason doldrums until the final week of March.
But it was so much more than fantastic plays and marquee names.
It was uncovering the impetus for all the emotion and passion, both on the field and off. Why did everyone care so much? How did they come to live and die with each and every pitch and play? The more the game was played, the more it became evident that baseball could be held in the same regard as any sport on the planet. That has become a fact.
This wasn't manufactured enthusiasm or intent. The World Baseball Classic flat-out made people care. Some more than others, but, regardless, they cared. And hasn't this been the goal for baseball all along? Make sports fans not be able to look away. Make this where the cool kids are hanging out.
Tuesday night, there was no cooler place to be than this WBC championship game. That's a fact. Premier League soccer. Final Four. Super Bowl. You name it. In its own way, this thing some want to keep defining as a meaningless exhibition, held its own with all of them. Ask anyone in attendance and they will tell you.
It was impossible to turn your head away. And that reality, in a nutshell, has become Major League Baseball's best accomplishment. It has managed to bring the game to its highest level of interest one week before a meaningful pitch is thrown.
So, where do we go from here? That's a great question.
The hope for those riding out the wave of excellence from such Red Sox participants as Abreu and Roman Anthony is that this will be the elevator taking them to the kind of level in 2026 that will be a difference-maker for their club. Both players made a mark on the baseball world, not we find out if it will translate to Cincinnati.
And then there is the game itself.
The challenge will be to maintain the luster of this product while returning to the world of less-intense games in the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues. It's only a week before Opening Day, but baseball is the one sport that doesn't carry much of the benefit of the doubt. It is constantly having to prove itself, certainly more than most sports.
Fortunately, this week has offered the kind of proof that might stick around for a while. At least it should.
The World Baseball Classic did its part. Now it's time for baseball and its fans to do theirs.