Chapter 1: What excitement surrounds the upcoming World Baseball Classic?
Sammy's here. Pat's here. Gordo's here. Saturday morning drop. Talking all things Major League Baseball. The biggest storylines of the week. And the WBC is starting. So this week, this edition, we're doing a WBC team draft. The three of us are going to be drafting the teams, and we've got a whole point system ready to go. We'll explain it all.
Chapter 2: What are the rules for the WBC team draft discussed in this episode?
But, guys, how excited are you for the WBC to actually get going? Like, it's about time. Spring training feels like it's been here for a while. Excited to see some competitive games around the league. It'll be great.
I can't wait. I do the same thing every time the WBC comes around. I'm kind of lukewarm, excited. Then it gets a little bit closer and it starts to build a little bit. And now we're on the precipice of it.
Chapter 3: Which teams are the top picks in the WBC draft?
And I cannot wait. I'm going to stay up late. I'm going to wake up early. Whatever it takes. I'm watching all these games.
Yeah, it's so fun. It lined up perfectly this year where it's coming right off of the coattails of the Olympics. So everyone's already got the competitive spirits flowing, especially for those who are not necessarily football fans, basketball fans, hockey fans, just baseball fans. You got the Olympics, which everyone is all the way in on, and then it just parlays right into the WBC. I'm pumped.
Chapter 4: How do the hosts evaluate the strengths of Team USA and Team Dominican Republic?
Yeah. I know that I have... like a baseball mental illness because genuinely, and like, I don't dislike the Olympics. Like I like the Olympics, but I'm not super, super into it. In my heart of hearts, I'm genuinely more excited to watch two of the bottom teams in our draft. The 17th pick will face the 20th pick. I'd rather wake up for that than the Olympics.
I still like the Olympics, but nothing gets me going national versus country versus country like the WBC.
Oh, yeah. Same, same.
Chapter 5: What makes Team Venezuela a strong contender in the WBC?
I'm also a sick freak when it comes to baseball. I feel like this is, for me, way, way, way more exciting than the Olympics and not a knock on the Olympics. I just think the WBC has gone from kind of a niche event to a can't miss event.
Yeah, that's the thing is like for us baseball junkies, it's like baseball isn't in the Olympics. And the only time that it was, remember like Casas was in it, US won a silver medal. It was like, when even was that?
I honestly don't even remember because it didn't really feel... It felt so... It was so much less exciting than the WBC.
Yeah, because it's like the Major League Baseball didn't have players participating. NHL, they'll pause the season and the guys all go play. It wasn't like that in Major League Baseball.
Chapter 6: What strategies are discussed for selecting teams in the draft?
It was like minor leaguers went to play. But this time around, I feel like the WBC, since it started... I mean, at first... Fair amount of guys did it. Now it's like everyone's doing it. And the only reason guys are not doing it is because they're turned down for insurance purposes.
Unfortunately, Team Puerto Rico is probably going a little bit later in this draft than they would have had half their team. Honestly, looking at their roster today, more than half their team, talent-wise, it looked like. Not approved to play. Insurance denied. Couldn't go.
Chapter 7: What are the unique aspects of Team Mexico's roster?
Bad Bunny, I guess, was going to pay for their insurance. And then the players decided, eh, probably not a good idea. But yeah, a lot of guys not there because of that.
Yeah, Puerto Rico got it worse than any other team. It's not even close. That's a group that was in the top three, four, five teams every single time the WBC came around. And this year they feel kind of like... Mid-tier maybe, maybe mid-tier, maybe slightly below that. Either way, it sucks that they're not at full strength.
So here are the rules.
Chapter 8: How do the hosts predict the performance of underdog teams like Team Brazil?
We'll go over the rules real quick. Pool play, like basically it's teams are in pools of five. There's four pools, 20 total teams, and they play their own pool. And then the top two teams from each pool make it to the quarterfinals. So in pool play, if a team that you draft wins a game, you get a point. Did we change these? Yep, yep. So quarterfinal, the next round.
They should get a point for making it to the next round. Because a lot of teams make it to the next round off tiebreakers. Multiple teams will be 2-1, and then the tiebreaker goes in.
Good point. That's a fair point. I like that. Because it's going to be 2-2 or 2-1, whatever it is, tiebreaker.
I think you're just at the mercy of the tiebreaker. I think it's just if you win, you get a point. If you don't move on, you don't move on. It's part of the game.
Yeah, but think about it. If a team goes 2-1 and makes it to the next round and loses in the quarterfinals, that team deserves to get you more points than the team that went 2-1 but didn't even make it to the next round, to the quarterfinals. It's just an added point. It's just one point. Okay. All right. All right. We can do that. One point per win in pool play.
If you make it to the quarterfinals, that's another point. One point per win if you win the quarterfinals. You get two points if you win in the semifinals. And you get three points if you win the whole WBC.
Love it. Yeah. Okay. That does make sense, Gordo. That does make sense to have the extra because that first round you could get screwed. So I'm with you with that. It's simple enough. And I love stuff like this. This is just like an added element for us to enjoy this already awesome event.
And it's like you got to pick teams here based off of how good their roster is, how much – like you look at the rosters. I mean Team Japan's roster isn't as good as some of these other rosters, but it's like this team plays together. They know each other. You got to think about that. You got to look at the pools.
You got to look at, oh, does this team play in a weak pool, have a better chance to move on because they're playing like the Czech Republic or something? Like, yeah, then you pick them.
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