Daily Archives: March 24, 2017
Finally…The USA Wins A World Baseball Classic, But Does Anyone Care?
It’s taken four World Baseball Classics, but the US has finally won and did so in convincing fashion last night, with an 8-0 victory over runner-up from the 2013 Classic, Puerto Rico. Marcus Stroman was dominant, Ian Kinsler was clutch in starting the scoring for the US with a two-run homer, and the defense and relief pitching held up nicely!
That said, outside of my baseball friends, no one is talking about the Classic what-so-ever. Yes, the WBC is growing with over 1 million fans attending games this season (previous best was 800k in 2009), but are we really seeing favorability towards the tournament in this country? When you boil it down, it still seems like the major issue here in the US is two-fold. First, the lack of star player participation I think is the biggest issue which leads to second, overall performance. Maybe with the US winning, that changes things. The one thing I don’t want to hear from people is that the players just don’t care with it being an exhibition. Check the video out of the US not caring about winning…
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – March 24, 2017
I lost a podcast and ALL my Text Messages today.
Maybe that is a lesson… maybe I need to shed things and move on.
Live for today on this episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
Troy Tulowitzki, Russell Martin Really Need to Have Strong Starts
Fresh off two consecutive postseason appearances, the Toronto Blue Jays are primed to compete for a spot in October once again in 2017. They’ll be doing it with some fresh faces, though.
Edwin Encarnacion and his powerful bat were a huge part of those two playoffs runs, but he plays for the Cleveland Indians now. The Blue Jays re-signed Jose Bautista, but have also brought in Kendrys Morales and Steve Pearce to make up for the void Edwing has left in the lineup.
His absence will put some pressure on other parts of the offense, like Troy Tulowitzki and Russell Martin, who Roster Resource projects to hit fifth and sixth in the order, respectively.
While the starting rotation was surprisingly great last year, the offense collectively struggled over the first two months, posting a 90 wRC+ in April and 97 wRC+ in May before finishing with a mark of 102 for the entire season. The offense has to get off on the right foot this year to prevent another slow start (12-14 record on May 1 last year, 29-26 on June 1).
Tulowitzki and Martin will need to be a big part of that.
MLB Reports 
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