There's Nothing Quite Like Watching A Player From Your Favorite Team Show Out At The WBC
Daniel Shirey. Getty Images.There's just something about international beisbol, man.
To see all these dudes get to go out there and represent their country on the biggest stage. All these guys who have massive contracts in the MLB, they almost forget what it's like to play for the love of the game. They get paid hundreds of millions of dollars to smack a ball around a field as a job. Once you attach that kind of money to the game, you cheapen it a bit. But the World Baseball Classic? That's where the men get to feel like boys again. The passion, the pride, the sense that maybe this game is bigger than 30 teams that can pay guys an exorbitant amount of dough to play. It's why every game at the WBC has an atmosphere that could rival game 7 of the World Series.
And when your guy is the dude to step up and deliver on that stage? Doesn't get better than that.
If I could, I would send every Philadelphia Phillie to go compete at the World Baseball Classic. Each and every single one of them. Heck, I'd do it every year if I could. Over half a billion dollar payroll be damned. Even if, let's just say for example, they get hurt whilst celebrating. Shit happens. It is what it is. But I'd never want to rob my guys of that experience. I'd never want to stop them from getting a chance to feel that boyish wonder again and remember why they play the game they love. You'd have to be a real curmudgeon to want to rob these guys from getting that experience just because of how much they make during the regular season.
Anyway, the Philadelphia Phillies are officially America's team from this point moving forward. The nation's original capital AND we have Captain America at shortstop. If you root against the Phillies this summer, you're no better than a commie piece of shit.