World Baseball Classic

I was glad the second World Baseball Classic semifinals and finals were held at Dodger Stadium. For those who are love baseball and an awesome World Cup-like atmosphere, I recommend everyone make it out for the next WBC in 2013. This time around, I made it to the Korea vs. e Venezuela semifinals, and the Korea vs. Japan finals. The finals was absolute pandemonium. It was more like World Cup Soccer match than an exhibition baseball game. Both sides were playing for national pride, and the sellout crowd didn't stop cheering until the game was over.

I really hoped the United States baseball team would take the WBC more seriously. It seemed they refused to send their best out there because a lot of Major League teams didn't want to subject their star players to injury. I felt countries like Cuba, Japan, Korea, and even Puerto Rico took this tournament more seriously than the Americans. I was disappointed with American pros in baseball. I felt like the US Mens basketball team had something to prove and went into the Beijing Olympics on a mission to restore their supremacy in the basketball world.

Despite having the US being crushed and eliminated in the semis by Japan, the Final was an epic game. Japan won on a late rally and base hit by Ichiro. Therefore, Japan have won the first two WBC championships. I still think that the first WBC was stolen by the Japanese baseball team, as they got into the elimination rounds on a technicality. I still think that Korea has nothing to be ashamed of. Japan only lost twice in the tournament, both times to Korea. They still hold a 4 to 3 advantage over the Japanese.