A Weekend at the World Baseball Classic

First, a confession. Prior to last Friday night, I had never watched a full inning of a World Baseball Classic game. After going to two games over the weekend, I am looking forward to my next one.

Pre-Game

The experience, however, started off poorly. There is a list of 17 instruments that are allowed at the WBC and it includes bongos, tambourines, trumpets and trombones. There is also a list of banned instruments. Leave your bullhorns, kazoos and vuvuzelas at home.

A cowbell is permitted, and my friend Pat brought two. (I’m at the game with Pat and Mike, friends I made on my first day at SUNY Buffalo, which was the same year Bobby Bonilla debuted with the Mets.) Pat is from Ecuador and was torn about who to root for, so he had a blue cowbell to support the Dominican Republic and a yellow one to shake for Nicaragua. (What a joy it was going to be to sit next to him.)

But security at loanDepot park in Miami told Pat he couldn’t enter with the cowbells even though they were on the approved list. He pointed this out. This is when we learned that there are different types of cowbells. Cowbells that come with a stick are welcome. The ones with a little bell on the inside are not.

We enter, and the crowd of 35,127, in my estimation, is 70-30 for the DR. In introductions, Juan Soto received the second-biggest ovation. The loudest was for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Maybe he’s more popular or maybe he’s got a few more fans because us older folks have warm memories of watching his dad.)

The Games

I love a good first-round upset in March Madness and the DR vs. Nicaragua felt like, well, Duke vs. SUNY Buffalo. The DR has Soto, Guerrero Jr., Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Ketel Marte and batting sixth is Junior Caminero, who hit 45 home runs for Tampa Bay last year. Nicaragua has Mark Vientos and manager Dusty Baker.

The crowd is into it from the first pitch. Nicaragua already has a run in the top of the first when cleanup hitter Vientos (I wasn’t kidding, he’s the star) comes to bat with two on and nobody out. The WBC-approved cowbells are clanging. (Pat is jealous.)

Cristopher Sanchez treats Vientos like he’s prime Barry Bonds. He walks him on four pitches that weren’t close to load the bases. The Nicaraguans are loud. But Sanchez strikes out the next three batters to escape the jam, screams and fist pumps coming off the mound. It is the Dominican fans’ turn to use instruments. This is fun.

Vientos’ next at-bat comes an inning later, with two on and one out and Nicaragua ahead 3-2. Sanchez is pulled. Angels fans will always have Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout with the 2023 WBC championship on the line. Mets fans, we will always have Huascar Brazobán vs. Vientos in pool play. (Until it’s McLean vs. Soto in the final?) Brazobán struck out Vientos on four pitches.

The game was tied at 3-3 in the sixth when Caminero hit a two-run homer that sent (most of) loanDepot park into a frenzy. He pounded his chest as he circled the bases, danced at home plate and after the game said the hit was “a dream come true.” DR poured it on, scored six runs in the eighth and in the end this was the most entertaining 12-3 game I’ve ever seen.

We went to Venezuela vs. Israel on Saturday night and again the crowd (22,573) was into it from the start. We kept hearing drums (or some other instrument that must be on the approved list) but couldn’t locate them. I got to see Mets prospect Ben Simon make the start for Israel. If he never makes it to the majors, he can still say he struck out Maikel Garcia. He can also say he walked Ronald Acuña Jr., gave up a double to Luis Arraez and served up a home run to Eugenio Suarez. He recorded one out and gave up four runs.

Israel didn’t get a hit until the fifth inning, never made it a game and Venezuela won 11-3.

Final Thoughts/Suggestions

Part of what makes the WBC fun is seeing a pitcher like Nicaragua’s Stiven Cruz, 24 years old, who never pitched above Double-A, work a 1-2-3 inning where he retired three All-Stars. He got Marte to ground out, struck out Soto and Guerrero bounced to short.

Another great part is that every game is huge. A dozen of the 20 teams will be eliminated in pool play, which means they will only play four times. After that, it’s single elimination the rest of the way. A champion is crowned after playing seven games.

Seed the 20 teams. It would help us casuals know exactly how big of an upset we might be witnessing.

And lastly, be clearer about the cowbell rules!

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