Team USA pretended the WBC mattered, but its actions told different story

Throughout the World Baseball Classic, there was an underlying debate as to how much this tournament mattered. Was it more important than the World Series? On equal footing? In any way comparable?

Or was it just a manufactured tournament thrown together in an effort to sell merchandise, tickets, advertising space and make money for TV executives and Major League Baseball? 

It's all a matter of perspective.

You probably have some opinion on it. It is probably valid, no matter what side of the fence you sit on with it. 

But the bottom line is tournaments like this only matter as much as everybody decides they matter.

That includes the teams, players and fans. 

United States did not seem to take World Baseball Classic as seriously as other teams

If the players care and take it seriously and play with passion, the fans will care about it. 

The same thing applies to events like the NHL's 4 Nation's Face-off, or Olympic participation with the NHL and NBA. The players involved in those tournaments took them seriously — not only played for pride, but also bragging rights. They cared. Deeply. That translated over to the fans. 

If players and fans both care, then that is important. 

For most of the countries participating in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, it mattered. 

All you had to do was watch the emotion from teams like Venezuela (the champion thanks to its 3-2 win over Team USA on Tuesday), the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Japan and even Italy. All you had to do was listen to the crowds and watch the passion and emotion that poured out of every game. 

The United States tried to deliver the same message. You had Aaron Judge talking about how the atmosphere is bigger and better than the World Series. They tried to manufacture some of the excitement that the other teams were providing. But it all felt forced. And it especially felt forced when almost none of the actions from the United States, from roster construction, to player usage, to the decision-making, matched the words.

Instead of hiring a qualified manager, USA went with Mark DeRosa who consistently exposed himself for being completely out of his element as a leader and decision-maker. 

How do you tell your fans you are taking this seriously when the man you put in charge of running the show did not even know the tie-breaking procedure and what his team needed to do to advance? Or who sat his best hitter in the tournament (Gunnar Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles) for the championship game, a game that his team ultimately lost due to a lack of offense?

How do you convince your fans you are taking it seriously when some of the best players did not fully buy in?

Yeah, Paul Skenes (Pittsburgh Pirates) was there, and he pitched ... but he pitched on a schedule that matched up with his preparation and schedule for the Major League Baseball season, with zero willingness to compromise on that. 

Tarik Skubal, the 1B to Skenes' 1A on the hierarchy of Major League Baseball starting pitchers, threw one game in the tournament and bowed out so he could fully prepare for the Detroit Tigers season. 

Garrett Crochet (Boston Red Sox) had zero interest in participating at all. 

How do you tell people you're taking it seriously when you have those three guys as potential pitching options, and you run out Nolan McLean for the championship game? That is not a knock on McLean, an outstanding young pitcher for the New York Mets with an extremely bright future ahead of him. But he is probably not the guy you envision starting that moment. 

That is not to say McLean is the reason they lost. Because he isn't. He pitched really well. But this is an optics thing. 

If this is bigger than the World Series, or close to it, that is a Skubal moment. A Crochet moment. But they were not there. Because they did not care to be there. Because it did not matter to them. That played a big role in why USA, as a team, got the result that they did.