Praise, suggestions for inaugural Baseball Classic
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-03-17 06:12

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico: Players and managers in the inaugural World Baseball Classic have awarded the tournament high marks even though some have faced tough losses on the field.

The 16-team tournament, which opened in Tokyo on March 3, has brought together some of Major League Baseball's (MLB) biggest stars - Ichiro Suzuki of Japan, David Ortiz of the Dominican Republic, Miguel Cabrera of Venezuela and Roger Clemens of the United States, among others - to play for their countries.

But amid national pride and competitive fire, some players, managers and organizers have suggested tweaking the format and timing to make the event better for players and more attractive to fans, perhaps even to propel baseball back into the Olympics.

The early March start means the players are far from their peak in terms of conditioning, leading Dominican Republic manager Manny Acta to suggest starting Major League spring training a week earlier.

"That way these guys would have five games under their belt before this tournament starts," Acta said.

"It's really hard when these guys haven't had any games to have them anywhere close to top shape when you have to take them out of spring training by March 2."

Stellar pitching performances - such as a no-hitter by 18-year-old Shairon Martis of the Netherlands on Friday - have proved that starting pitchers can still dominate a game in this tournament despite limited pitch counts.

But fielding errors by sure-handed players and tournament-long slumps by some of the game's best hitters fuel questions over whether performances can reach the calibre of a World Series after a 162-game season.

"It's hard for players to get on a roll at this time of the year," said Venezuelan outfielder Endy Chavez.

Tournament study

MLB president Bob DuPuy believes the classic is being played at the right time, but the tournament will be studied with other organizers, such as Korean Professional Baseball, the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and the MLB Players Association.

"Personally, I'd like to see a semi-final that matches the winner (of one pool) versus the runner-up in the other pool and the other winner versus the runner-up in the first pool so that the two best teams coming out of the same pool wouldn't meet again until the finals," DuPuy said.

Under the current format, the top two in each pool play each other in the semi-finals, which start on Saturday in San Diego.

IBAF president Aldo Notari said unifying the World Baseball Classic (WBC) and his group's Baseball World Cup - a biennial tournament dominated in recent years by Cuba - could land baseball back in the Olympics.

After the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, baseball was dropped from the 2012 Olympics in London, although it will appear at the Beijing Games in 2008 and can apply for reinstatement for 2016.

The participation of Asia, Europe and Australia in the WBC was a big first step in that direction, said Notari, but to make the game truly global, other countries besides the Netherlands, Italy, Australia, Japan and Korea have to be invited as well.

"There's not one country in Europe that cares when the New York Yankees and New York Mets play," said Notari. "They only care when their country plays."

(China Daily 03/17/2006 page16)