By Tyler Park, Staff Writer, ’14

Baseball is not only America’s national pastime, but also a worldwide sport that is gaining an increasing following across the globe. The World Baseball Classic reflects this growing international influence.  It pits baseball teams from sixteen nations against each other in a one-of-a-kind tournament.  The 2013 installment of the tournament will be the third edition of the Classic, and it includes teams from five continents.  The top players from all around the world will get a chance to represent their countries and promote baseball internationally.

Major League Baseball teams, however, are sometimes reluctant to let their players play in the games because injuries could potentially ruin the team’s season before it even gets started. Thus, the talent in the WBC is not always first-rate, and the enthusiasm for the tournament within the baseball community has not reached the levels of soccer’s World Cup or tennis’ Grand Slams.  Because of these flaws, the WBC is a subject of considerable debate.

Baseball was removed from the Olympics in 2005, mainly because the Summer Olympics fell right in the middle of the MLB season.  Thus, MLB players, who are under contract with their teams, could not participate.  This led to a low level of competition as a few major powerhouses dominated the event. The WBC solved some of Olympic baseball’s problems by taking place in March, before the MLB season starts.  As avid baseball fan Zach Persing ’15 put it, “The World Baseball Classic provides the same international competition that the Olympics did while also enabling the stars of the game to participate.”  Newark Academy’s star baseball player Matt Ratner ’14 said, “the WBC promotes diversity within baseball and encourages national pride.  It also gives spectators worldwide an opportunity to see players that they might not normally see.”

Indeed, key players such as Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols, and Pedro Martinez have taken part in previous editions of the WBC.  Japan emerged as the winner in both 2006 and 2009, with former Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka being named as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player both times.

However, many players still skip out on the tournament to better prepare for the pro season. For example, New York Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli, one of Italy’s best players, elected to skip this year’s tournament in order to participate in the Yankees’ Spring Training, where he is competing to win the team’s starting catcher position. And Cervelli is not alone. This year, stars such as Felix Hernandez and Ichiro Suzuki have already said they are not playing in order to focus on their pro seasons.

Teams and their fans also have to deal with the possibility that their top players could sustain injuries during the tournament.  This is a very real possibility, and one that has precedent. This year, the Cincinnati Reds have blocked ace pitcher Johnny Cueto from participating, due to the fact that Cueto was injured in the 2009 tournament.

Ratner, however, believes that fear of injury is overstated. “As a Red Sox fan, I would support the Red Sox’ players if they wanted to play in the WBC, as it gives them the opportunity to play in competitive games in order to prepare for the MLB season.”  Persing agrees.  “Players are just as likely to get hurt participating in spring training.  Competitive games are no more dangerous than Spring Training exhibitions.”

However, the talent still isn’t on the same level as that of the MLB. Chewy Baumel ’13 is disappointed in the baseball players’ lack of commitment.  “Personally, I love the idea of the best players in the USA representing our nation and beating other countries, like basketball’s “Dream Team” did. But clearly there exists a glaring problem with big time players holding themselves out of the event.”

The large gaps between the quality of the teams of world powers such as the USA and Japan and other, less baseball-enthused nations such as Italy and Australia also have persisted.  To this day, the tournament is simply not a level playing field for nations where baseball is not as popular.

Clearly, the tournament is far from perfect. As Soven Bery ’15 says, “It’s a great event to promote baseball as a world activity. It’ll never be as prestigious as the FIFA World Cup but it is still a nice tournament that promotes global competition.” While the WBC will never compare with Major League Baseball, it is certainly a boon to baseball’s international presence.  At the very least, it offers the MLB’s fans an opportunity to see competitive baseball before the traditional season starts.  And, any true fan will tell you, more baseball is never a bad thing.