A couple months ago, it was announced that the final qualifying round for the World Baseball Classic would be in NYC, so I jumped at the opportunity and bought a ticket strip to every game. The games are held at MCU park which while its many hours from my house, happens to be within
walking distance from my school.

Since I bought the tickets so early, I was able to pick the best seats, right behind home plate, 4th row. So close that if I'm in my seat during the final game on Sunday, I'd be seen when they air it on TV. I missed the 1st 3 games because of either school or transportation issues but went to the last two and had a blast. I watched Great Britain destroy Pakistan 14-0 Friday night in a game that had to be ended after 7 innings. Saturday I left after 7 innings with Brazil beating Great Britain. Whoever wins that game will play Israel Sunday afternoon.

I was not expecting to have such an amazing time. I watched the first three innings from my seat but since I had some of the best tickets, and because of the way the stadium is ran, I had the freedom to go to any empty seat outside my section after the 3rd inning. I ended up going to the 3rd base side, and sitting in the very 1st row, practically on top of the Pakistan dugout.

Watching the game from there was a lot of fun and I was able to get a few cool pics. After the game I ran over to the Britain side to see if I could get autographs but missed the sessions. I was able to meet Trevor Hoffman before the game and a Mets prospect after the game though. The game was crazy. Pakistan was really bad, but no matter how bad they were, just playing there was a huge stepping stone that could lead to a lot of progress.

Some of the plays that happened, I doubt i will ever see again because of how bad or good some of the players were. There were so many triples, there were two errors on two different pitches in the same at bat, there was even a play where two runs scored on a perfectly fielded ground ball.

Saturday's game was even better. I wanted to get there early to try to get autos, but because of weekend train troubles, I didn't even get there until the start of the 3rd inning. I already knew I wasn't going to be able to stay long because the game started an hour later than Friday's game but the time I spent there was amazing.

I didn't even go to my seat. I went roughly back to where I sat in the other game but a few sections further to the left where the dugout doesn't reach because I was able to sit a few rows closer to the field. Because the tickets were all the same price, everyone tried to get as close to home as they could, so the spot I went to didn't have that many people and I was able to have an amazing conversation with some people. A guy and his son, and the ball girl. We talked about teams, players, cards, for a whole hour and the experience along with the game was amazing.

As for the games, I'm hoping that Israel wins on Sunday because they have some really good players on their team, including a few that I'm fans of, and if they win they get the final spot in the tournament in March. I'll try to post some of the pics that I took when I'm back in class on Monday, and talk about Sunday's game Sunday night.

Are you going to be paying attention to the Classic when Spring rolls around?

I will not. The WBC is a pox on baseball season, and it interferes with the beginning of the MLB season. Additionally it gets players to hit their peaks too early. One case in point is Daisuke Matsuzaka, the MVP of the 2009 classic. He hit his peak too early in 2009, and as a result, had the second worst season of his MLB career for the Red Sox (a year after the best year of his career).

Without the classic messing with Matsuzaka, he may go on to have a good 2009, which allows him to stay efficient for his time in Boston.

For 2009, the season most directly changed, the Red Sox have a chance to massively improve their standing. If it makes up a total of 8 wins, that's an entire season changed (forgetting the post-season for a minute, because it's always a crapshoot).

It might not make the Sox champions, but it significantly altered how good of a chance we did have.

And while all teams are effected to some degree, top level talents (like a Dice-K coming off a Cy Young worthy season) are more likely to affect their teams than others.

Basically, f*** the WBC. It's garbage, and shouldn't exist.

legacyme3 : That dark gray on black background is unreadable. I'm sure you had something interesting to say but I couldn't read it and I'm too lazy to highlight.

The World Baseball classic, to me, isn't fun because no one cares about international competition, especially with the onset of Major League Baseball. There are players who go out and get hurt or do something stupid or just don't play well and that can impact the massive contracts they sign with their MLB teams.

It's intriguing to see it exist but I'm not especially entertained by a majority of the players. I imagine I could watch some college baseball or even high school baseball and see players as talented as those Pakistani or Israeli ballplayers you watched, Zander.

I'm not against the World Baseball Classic but it's like a commercial break in the middle of an important event. It messes with the regular season.

Ghostbear1111 :

Literally no one else has had this issue, so it sounds like a personal problem. I've had this exact layout for 2 years, and not one other person has legitimately complained about it. Maybe the contrast on your display is off, or you are using a backwards browser like Internet Explorer. But the text is extremely close to being white.

legacyme3 : It's interesting you mention that. Today was the first time I saw any contrast difficulties and I haven't changed either the settings on my computer or anything else. I'll just have to highlight and make the effort.

I wonder if anyone else sees a difference now. This dropped today and maybe my eyesight is just going bad or something.

Ghostbear111: Actually aside for Pakistan, who has very little interest in the sport, but growing, many of the lower level teams have big talent. Israel has a few World Series winners and if they advance, will be joined by a few big MLB guys.


Pakistans defense is worthwhile though, they have some of the bet outfielders I have ever seen. A few mistakes here and there but great fielding and arms that can reach home on one hop.


I'm really hoping that today's game has some sort of a ceremony for Fernandez.