The US baseball team was badly beaten by the Japanese in the recent World Baseball Classic. Japan will now meet another new Asian baseball powerhouse Korea for the final. Korea thrashed Venezuela in another semifinal earlier. How can this be? I thought the US invented baseball and dominates the game completely. We now have these young newcomers who never heard about baseball until the marines came to Japan and S. Korea after WWII.
Isn't the same happened to soccer (England), tennis (France), badminton (England), and even basketball now?
Baseball is much older in Japan than WOII, from around the time "The Last Samurai" takes place . And just like in basketball fundamentals matter as the US have found out.
how?? same reason as tv, vcr, cars, refrigerator, washing machines, cellphone, etc.... i thot u were smarter than that.
Japan teaches US lesson about details of baseball: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/tom_verducci/03/23/wbc.usa.japan/index.html?eref=T1
yeah. it is funny how people still call the winner of the so-called "world series" the world champion. they think winning a domestic league is equivalent to being the best in the world. ZZZZzz.....
No big surprise really. For starters, many of the top US players begged off, leaving 3rd rate players to represent the country. Secondly, the US isn't where it used to be in baseball. Look at the amount of foreign players in the game... tons! Thirdly, baseball is one US sport that you don't have to be the size of offensive linemen in which to do well. You can win on technique, speed and strategy. Power helps of course and I'm sure there must be one or two muscled chaps each Asian country can uncover.
No big surprises, too.. ..the same thing they dub the NBA Finals winners the World Champions. ..all those plus the major reason that the U.S. team didn't prepare much at all, if any, prior to this event. I heard Korea, Japan and even Cuba prepared for this event since last year to early this yr. The U.S. didn't really care?? Didn't put up so much importance to it?? Too much on their plate with their respective MLB teams??.. I think the influx of those foreign players has been a positive thing and it helps improve those foreign players play at a level near or equal to their American counterparts.. Btw, congrats to Japan for winning it all..
Yes, congrats to Japan. Thanks to Ichiro, one of my fave players, for his clutch hitting in extra innings
Well, if the US fielded only 3rd rate players, then Japan and Korea are World and Olympic champions of 3rd rate players. Maybe they should classify domestic baseball in the US as Super Series and home of the real world champions, and Japan and Korea as champions in a lower league like Gold Series. Then why have the World Baseball Classic?
I only saw.. ..the tail end of the 9th inning, when Yu Darvish nearly blew his team's lead, after allowing the tying run to cross the plate...i bet the Nippon fans' heart were pounding like crazy.....After that, i bailed out..not really a baseball fanatic... A couple of friends, though, were giggling when they saw one of the KOR players' name as Bum Ho Lee... Anyway, the "real" baseball season won't start in about 2 weeks time. ..the U.S. didn't really field "3rd rate players" in their squad. They have some of the top players representing the U.S. team. However, some of them even had to go back to their respective teams to prepare for the upcoming MLB season. As for the main reason why they have the World Baseball Classic, well, it was created (not too long ago in 2005) in order to further promote the game around the globe. And yeah, like madbad wrote below, partly it's for $$$ as well..
