When personalities clash, morale drops and everybody plays worse.

It’s the same in every team sport.

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As someone who is familiar with the rules of baseball but not a dedicated fan, what is the importance of team chemistry in baseball in general (it seems like baseball, more than most other team sports, is closer to the whole being exactly a sum of its parts because individual players don't interact a whole bunch) and how specifically are the Angels mismanaging their roster?

MLB is made up of the absolute top players from around the WORLD. Most of the players in the WBC are part of MLB, with the goal of winning the World Series.

Maybe not originally designed that way, it definitely reps a decent chunk of the world now.

I think players celebrate to a fair level in MLB. Showing up the other players should still be looked upon unkindly if you push it too far.

We don’t need shit like what Arozarena pulled with his amazing catch in the Mex vs Jap game. That’s still low class assholery. I think even he knew he went too far after he calmed down.

Coolest thing for me about this game was messaging with a Japanese friend during it and she was super excited watching this.

https://imgur.com/9WVuqdK

They don’t have to. For about 50 years the American League had the DH rule, which allows a different guy to bat in the pitcher’s spot. Technically this is an option but until Ohtani it was an option that was literally always taken, because until Ohtani there hasn’t been a player who is world class at both pitching and hitting in over 100 years. The National League required the pitcher to bat.

As of a few years ago both leagues have the DH now.

MLB also recently implemented an “Ohtani rule” which basically allows the pitcher to DH for himself, meaning he can remain in the game as the DH once he is no longer pitching. Previously if he batted for himself, that would mean the team had chosen for the pitcher to bat instead of using a DH, which is a choice you can’t go back on, so he would have to be removed from the batting lineup once a new pitcher replaced him.

It became such a huge deal in México, that the two prestigious soccer matches over the weekend took a back seat to the WBC. Despite the media giving soccer 90% of attention.

Unfortunately, It takes place right in the middle of March Madness, So that’s where most of the focus is. But it did get the attention of casual sports fans and I am sure this could give the sport a much needed boost.

It actually made more sense for him to sign with an American League team, for the same reason. Using a DH in a game has always been optional (an option that, until Ohtani, teams basically took 100% of the time), so he could hit when he pitches in either league regardless.

But in the AL he could also DH when he wasn’t pitching, which he could not have done in the NL, he would have had to play the outfield on his off days.

He is by all accounts a pretty good outfielder but the general consensus was that playing outfield full time AND pitching every 5th day would have been too much of an injury risk.

So between the DH rule working in his favor, and the general preference that many Japanese players have to be on the West coast that I assume went into it too, he landed on the Angels.

As someone else said, both leagues have the DH now, but he had no way of knowing that at the time.

MLB also added an “Ohtani rule” a couple years ago that allows the starting pitcher to remain in the game as a DH once they have stopped pitching. It basically just allows a pitcher to DH for himself.

Previously once you chose to not use a DH, the DH was lost for the game, so Ohtani would have to stop hitting once he was no longer pitching. It’s a rule that basically only affects one guy and is pretty much only in place just to let everyone get what they want, which is to see that guy play more.

World Series ratings keep dwindling over the years. Not to mention the MLB season drags on forever. They should just cut back on the season and maybe alter it during WBC years to have this in the summer and do away with the meaningless ASG

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They mostly used players who are children of UK citizens. Lots of players from independent leagues and a handful of minor league prospects and one major leaguer.

Also heard that the British baseball federation operates on an annual budget of $30,000, or something around that, so not all that surprising that it's extremely niche there. That said, qualifying for this and the next WBC comes with at least $600,000 over the next six years so maybe they'll expand at least a little bit

Ownership that spends blindly on the shiniest players on the market without any thought toward actual roster needs or team chemistry and completely squandering superstars as a result?

Yeah, I can see the comparison lol

Humans are stupid. "Let's hate on this woman who has nothing to do with any of this."

I’m a sports fan but not a baseball fan. I think it’s the most boring sport to watch. I can’t even bring myself to watch the World Series anymore.

However, for whatever reason, I turned on this tournament and it hooked me. I hadn’t watched baseball in years and LOVED this. I still can’t put my finger on why though. It was great. I wish baseball hit like this all the time.

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Japan -3. Philadelphia Phillies -2

If it keeps happening it will become to baseball like the world cup is to football, and most probably outshine the world series.

The only thing more movie-like than this game was yesterday's game vs Mexico. Amazing tournament.

I'm one of two Aussies I know that like baseball and I had coworkers ask me how the tournament was going for us. Just a shame our coverage was only for the Aussie games and nothing more

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