America's Pastime, Dominated by Asians

Congratulations to Japan, who won the World Baseball Classic in a 5-3 thriller over Korea. For the American baseball apologist, there are many ways to explain this alleged atrocity - the relative unpreparedness of the American players given the timing of the tournament, the fact that many of the United States' best players opted out of playing in the tournament in deference to their Major League teams, etc. There are plenty of reasons to believe that the Americans are still the best at the sport.

What is undeniable is that the rest of the world is getting better, and that's something that's good for American baseball. The global interest in the game is simply going to raise the bar in terms of the quality of play, with an increasing pool of talented players who will benefit from techniques and strategies that are explored and developed all over the world.

So I tend not to agree with former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda's jingoistic declarations earlier that the United States could not afford to let other countries win the tournament (which they did). I couldn't help but see shades of Wayne Gretzky choking back tears when the United States beat Canada in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and losing in the Olympics to the Czech Republic in Nagano saying things such as "It's a crushed locker room right now. It's probably a crushed country. It's a hard loss to swallow. It's devastating."

While I appreciate his zeal and love for his country, I tend to think that statements such as "baseball is America's game" and "hockey is Canada's game" aren't really intended to reflect a sentiment that either country has a God-given right to dominate it. Both countries had the honor of seeing the invention and the first steps of the sport - let them go and flourish wherever they might.