{"id":524924,"date":"2026-03-15T11:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T11:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/524924\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T11:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T11:53:11","slug":"get-all-beaned-up-and-enjoy-the-profound-world-baseball-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/524924\/","title":{"rendered":"Get all beaned up and enjoy the profound World Baseball Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It started with a Shohei<\/a> shot.<\/p>\n

Ohtani began the World Baseball Classic in Tokyo for Team Japan with a double on the first pitch he saw and then, one inning later, a grand slam<\/a> \u2026 of course he did.<\/p>\n

It continued with an espresso shot …<\/p>\n

The hitters of lovable Team Italy celebrated home runs with shots of Italian espresso in a dugout dripping with cheek kisses and caffeine.<\/p>\n

After hitting three homers against Mexico, Italy\u2019s Vinnie Pasquantino told Fox that he was, \u201cbeaned up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Truly, this blip of a tournament has been beaned up, a glorious 10 days of deafening cheers and eye-blacked tears, fans dressed like discount popes and bald eagles, TV ratings through the roof, baseball at its October best \u2026 in the middle of spring training?<\/p>\n

\"Italy's <\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s Jac Caglianone takes a shot of espresso as he celebrates with teammate Vinnie Pasquantino after hitting a solo home run against the U.S. during the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday in Houston.<\/p>\n

(Kenneth Richmond \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

What a thing! What a treat!<\/p>\n

All hail the WBC, 20 years old and all grown up, its sixth incarnation stealing the stage in a sweet spot during NBA doldrums and before March Madness.<\/p>\n

Have you watched any of it? Have you been energized by all of it? It\u2019s been like two weeks of All-Star games, only the players are serious. It\u2019s been like when baseball was part of the Olympics, only the players are all truly the best in the world.<\/p>\n

In the middle of the most boring part of the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues, it\u2019s like a Superhero League. Two weeks before opening day, it\u2019s like the final week of a pennant race.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s competitive, and it\u2019s crazy, and Friday\u2019s quarterfinals were filled with both.<\/p>\n

There was giant Vladimir Guerrero Jr.<\/a> going airborne to score a run for the Dominican Republic against Korea, and then leaping up and pumping his fist as if he had just won the World Series.<\/p>\n

There was Juan Soto<\/a> flying home to score an inning later, his head-first dive celebrated by Soto doing a swim move in the dugout.<\/p>\n

Then there was Team USA\u2019s David Bednar, screaming along with the chanting crowd as he worked out of a seventh-inning jam in a win over Canada.<\/p>\n

In a tournament filled with equal parts emotion and edginess, Team USA now plays the Dominican Republic Sunday in Miami in a semifinal that could be the most-watched game of this season before the season starts.<\/p>\n

Paul Skenes versus a lineup so deep Julio Rodriguez bats seventh? A team led by Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper versus a team featuring Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr?<\/p>\n

\"Dominican <\/p>\n

Dominican Republic\u2019s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. dives past South Korea catcher Park Dong-won to score on a double by Junior Caminero during the World Baseball Classic on Friday in Miami.<\/p>\n

(Lynne Sladky \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect it to be one of the best games of all time,\u201d said Team USA Manager Mark DeRosa.<\/p>\n

No, the WBC isn\u2019t as big as the World Series. One notable player said it\u2019s even bigger.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Classic kind of feels above the World Series,\u201d Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> told reporters earlier this spring. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s because of what we have on the chest,\u201d<\/p>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez, who didn\u2019t play for his home country Puerto Rico because he is recovering from elbow surgery, nonetheless showed up in San Juan for the pool-play games.<\/p>\n

He was so excited when Puerto Rico beat Panama on a walk-off home run, he texted Dodgers baseball president Andrew Friedman<\/a> and asked if he could accompany the team to Houston for the knockout round. Friedman of course said yes.<\/p>\n

Yes, yes, yes, more, more, more.<\/p>\n

Before this spring, I had watched exactly one WBC at-bat. The entire deal felt cheesy and contrived. American players didn\u2019t appear to care. American players would rather lounge through the final days of spring training in occasional games and on countless golf courses<\/p>\n

Other countries loved it. Other countries caused a ruckus. The fan experience was highlighted by a memorable and deafening 2009 final at Dodger Stadium featured a Japan victory over South Korea in a game that many observers said was the loudest they ever attended.<\/p>\n

Not me. Didn\u2019t care. I pretty much ignored the whole thing until stumbling upon that one at-bat, the final out in the 2023 title game, that stunning dramatic strikeout of Mike Trout by then-Angel teammate Ohtani<\/a> to give Japan the title.<\/p>\n

Ohtani threw his cap and glove in a rare show of emotion, setting off a wild and sincere celebration as my ignorant self finally realized, \u201cHey, this is a thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three years later, the American players have agreed, stacking the roster with stars like Judge and Harper, kids like Pete Crow-Armstrong, vets like Kyle Schwarber and Big Dumpers named Cal Raleigh, all transforming this occasional baseball oddity into must-see TV.<\/p>\n

You know how one can tell it\u2019s real American baseball? The team spent its first week mired in social media drama and a second-guessing controversy.<\/p>\n

\"American <\/p>\n

American right fielder Aaron Judge celebrates his team\u2019s win over Canada during a World Baseball Classic quarterfinal game on Friday in Houston.<\/p>\n

(David J. Phillip \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Tarik Skubal, the game\u2019s best pitcher, found himself defending his patriotism after leaving the tournament early to better prepare for his opening day start with the Detroit Tigers.<\/p>\n

First, he admitted he was surprised at how bad he felt about abandoning Team USA. That seemed to be a theme in a clubhouse that has been stunned at how much this matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI totally misread how I would feel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Then, he seemed genuinely hurt that people think he is turning his back on the flag.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just not fair,\u201d he told the Athletic<\/a>, later adding, \u201cIf they know me, though, and they know me on a personal level and they know what my peers think of me, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair to say those things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also finding himself in hot water was USA manager Mark DeRosa, who nearly allowed his team to be eliminated in pool play because he didn\u2019t know the rules.<\/p>\n

When Team USA played Italy on Tuesday night, DeRosa rested most of his starters, nearly used retired Clayton Kershaw<\/a> and basically managed the game as if he thought they didn\u2019t need to win to guarantee advancement to the next round.<\/p>\n

Guess what? They needed to win. But they didn\u2019t win, losing 8-6 in a shocking upset. So they were forced to sweat out the Italy-Mexico game on Wednesday, where another Italian upset allowed them to back into the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

DeRosa claimed he knew the rules all along, which he clearly did not.<\/p>\n

Before the game against Italy, in an interview on the MLB Network, he said, \u201cOur ticket\u2019s punched to the quarterfinals.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the game, DeRosa claimed he just, \u201cmisspoke\u201d<\/p>\n

And then Thursday he told the media, \u201cI was well aware that we had to win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 16-year journeyman clearly messed up, and then tried to cover up, and here\u2019s guessing even if Team USA wins this tournament, he won\u2019t be managing them in the 2028 Olympics or in any future WBC events.<\/p>\n

Seems like the perfect job for Dave Roberts<\/a>, no?<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, one American player had a dissenting view about the status of this tournament, Harper offering a tired argument.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, the WBC has been great, but it\u2019s not the Olympics, right?\u201d he told reporters. \u201cThat\u2019s no disrespect to the WBC or anything, but everybody knows that when the Olympics are on, everybody\u2019s watching. It doesn\u2019t matter what sport it is; it could be the most random sport, and it\u2019s got all the fans watching it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wrong. Here\u2019s guessing more fans will be watching Sunday night in a matchup for the ages. Then, imagine if Team USA wins and plays Japan on Tuesday night for the championship?<\/p>\n

With the sport headed toward a seemingly inevitable work stoppage this winter, this could be the sweet beginnings of a long farewell. Soak it in. Enjoy the buzz. Get all beaned up. March madness indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It started with a Shohei shot. Ohtani began the World Baseball Classic in Tokyo for Team Japan with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[12939,7845,275,6801,236469,363,1082,15553,236470,99,63077,42270,16153,2099,226972,1975,4477],"class_list":["post-524924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-all-star-game","tag-bryce-harper","tag-day","tag-italy","tag-japan-victory","tag-mlb","tag-olympics","tag-player","tag-profound-world-baseball-classic","tag-sports","tag-spring-training","tag-team-usa","tag-thing","tag-tournament","tag-wbc","tag-week","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}