I blame MLB for not getting its ass in gear and pushing for it and not figuring out some way to pause the season so the best in the world could compete.
People don't realize how much baseball not being in the Olympics HURTS the sport. Governments fund the Olympic teams. When a particular sport isn't played in the Olympics, the national team of that country gets no funding. When the team that plays a sport that is not very well known, that funding means everything, because what private sector organization is going to want to fund a niche sport? There's no profit in that!
European baseball was starting to make a name for itself. The European Cup will disappear and all of those leagues could disband. This directly affects the World Baseball Classic, too - where do you think the national teams come from?
Of course, whiners will rejoice at the death of international baseball, because they're pitchers "won't get hurt." (Despite there being no evidence of WBC hurting players.) But what it does is further push baseball into the oblivion of nostalgia and makes it become even more irrelevant than it already is these days. American children don't dream of being Major League Baseball players anymore. MLB needs players from other countries to sustain itself.
You watch. Twenty years from now, baseball is going to be screaming "What did we do wrong?"
Very, very disappointing news.
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1 comment:
I am pretty sure that Selig is the reason baseball was taken out of the Olympics in 2008. He wanted it out so that he could form the Baseball Classic, and MLB could make all the money himself...its a shame too because I dont think the classic is productive or healthy for young players.
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