If you have been a baseball fan for any amount of time, you have probably heard of the world series. In fact, even if you aren't a baseball fan, you have likely heard of this game. The funny thing is, can you really call it "The World Series" when all but one or two of the teams that play in it are from the US? Sure, the players themselves are from all over the globe, but the teams are all MLB teams happily housed in America.
That's why I consider the World Baseball Classic the real world series. Like the olympic games where athletes head back to their home countries to represent their culture and heritage, the same thing happens with the World Baseball Classic. It's basically an all star team for each country facing off against each other to see who can take home the title.
As a proud American you might think I don't like the prospect of the All American Sport being dominated by some other country, but nothing could be further from the truth. I think it's awesome to watch countries like Mexico, Japan, and Panama come to our cities and lay some smack down on the good old U S of A. Call me Un-American if you want. I love this event and I plan on watching as much of it as I can.
It's actually pretty rare that I watch baseball anymore since YouTube TV removed the regional Fox Sports channels from it's lineup, but for the world baseball classic I will make an exception.
Things get started on March 3rd with exhibition games happening all over the United States. The cool thing about the Exhibition games is that during these games the teams from different countries face off against MLB teams that are doing their spring training down in Florida, Arizona, and other warmer climates.
Things get started with the Colombian team taking on the Pittsburgh Pirates, Netherlands face the Baltimore Oriels, Panama takes on the New York Yankees, and Canada goes head to head with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Israel is taking on the Miami Marlins, Nicaragua faces the New York Mets, Brazil goes up against the Oakland A's, and Cuba has to take on the Kansas City Royals.
Italy takes the field against the Chicago Cubs, The US team faces the San Francisco Giants, and Great Britain trades beers with the Milwaukee Brewers. Finally, Mexico has to deal with The Arizona Diamondbacks, The Detroit Tigers head down to Santo Domingo to face the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico takes on the Boston Red Sox, and the Venezuelan team battles with the Houston Astros.
Wednesday the 4th of March pool play starts with Taipei taking on the Australian team on Fox Sports 1 at 10 PM Eastern time in Tokyo at the Tokyo Dome. Meanwhile, the remaining teams that played in exhibition play have another set of games throughout the day.
March 5th the rest of pool play commences and then it is a fast dash through two great weeks of baseball.
I'll be giving you all the updates as the even progresses. Be sure to check back!
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