Baseball Isn’t Boring
BIB on the Go: What It's Like For A Pitcher To Prepare For The WBC?
28 Nov 2025
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: How did Daniel Bard prepare for the World Baseball Classic?
think mlb still doesn't do a good enough job promoting it i think uh and i said this to our guy this guy sean spradling who does stuff for us they announced like the team usa guys on mlb network but that's pretty much it like yeah there's a lot of other countries there anyway What do you remember? When did you find out that you were playing on Team USA last WBC?
Well, I think it was like in December. So right around this time. I think it was like, yeah, early, mid-December. I had to push hard to, I guess, get considered. I know I had my agent working on it. I'd gotten, tried to get, I think I... ran into somebody that was worked for the network and I knew DeRosa was, was coaching.
He got, you know, he was managing and I'm somebody that I talked to that worked over at MLB network. I was like, tell, tell him I want to play for him. Tell him I want to pitch. And I think I just said it to enough people. And, and, uh, Mike, my agent did a good job of making the right phone calls and I was coming off a really good year. So that helped. Um, I felt like I deserved to be on it.
So we pushed hard and made some calls. And I think by mid-December, they let me know.
Chapter 2: What challenges do pitchers face when preparing for early March games?
What was that?
Did DeRosa let you know? I don't know. I can't remember if it was him or a guy named Eric Campbell who kind of runs USA Baseball. I think they both called me in a short period.
But still, that must have been a good – I mean, you had a lot of great calls, a lot of great times through that run. But that must have been pretty cool to get that.
Yeah, I mean, I never made an all-star team, so I felt like I maybe deserved a couple, but it's tough as a reliever. So that was really my all-star moment. That was my, hey, you belong on the select group with the big boys. And it took me until I was 37 years old to do it, but... Yeah, I mean, I still have one of the jerseys that we wore. I think it was the white jersey I got signed by.
So the USA on the chest is just filled with 35 signatures. That's pretty cool. It's an impressive lineup. I mean, it's probably 15 Hall of Famers on there.
mookie trout goldschmidt wainwright you know i think some of the coaches are on there which is like griffey and andy pettit and everybody's on there and i'm on there so that's that's a cool thing and you know i didn't perform well that's we've gone into that plenty of times but i don't care it was Like you said, the moment of being added to that roster. Perfect.
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Chapter 3: What was the significance of being selected for Team USA?
Perfect. Circle of life.
I mean, that's exactly what we're talking about, right? That's what I'm saying. It went horrible for me personally. Didn't contribute to any of the wins, but I got to experience it. I got to wear that, have my name on the back of a USA jersey and be in a clubhouse with the best in the game for a month, you know, leading up to it. So, um, wouldn't trade it for the world.
Um, what it wished I wished I would have pitched better to contribute. But, um, again, it was, it was a cool experience. And again, it's a, it's a great tournament. Um, I don't know how they can promote it better. I'm not, I'm not a marketing guy.
I'm nitpicking, but I'm just like, I just think it's like the off of what it was last time. Um, I think that people right now are sort of consumed with free agency and the hot stove stuff and everything else. And they're like, oh, by the way, oh, this awesome tournament's coming up. And I didn't always call it an awesome tournament.
It's taking time.
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Chapter 4: How does the timeline for WBC preparation differ from regular season?
Yeah, I was like, you're blowing out pitchers and this and that. But that leads me to my other wonky question. I remember talking to David Robertson about after it was done, about that dynamic, about guys getting ready. Because I remember back in, I think it was 09, Pedroia and Euclid left, and they both got hurt.
And it was like this dynamic of go play nine innings on artificial turf in early March, right? and obviously you have the pitcher dynamic, and what Robertson was saying, that guys are better prepared. They understand what it takes more. So you went through it, and you also witnessed it.
Do you think that they are, it is still like a, I don't know, something that's a little bit risky, or do you think that they got a much better handle at getting ready for it?
So it's a challenge. The time of year makes it a challenge. I think no matter how you slice it, especially for pitchers. I remember trying to get ready, you know, basically just kind of bump everything up about two weeks. You know, if you normally get off the mound, start getting off the mound early.
january 15th now you're looking at january 1st right so um for guys that pitch in the postseason the year before like that that makes a really short uh off season short rest time so i was coming off you know like i said it was a good i pitched well but i was my elbow was not feeling great at the end of that year so i'm i'm basically rehabbing my elbow
Not injured, but that tendon I ended up having surgery on was just not 100%. But at the same time, I'm getting ready for it. Not just the season, but then knowing that I've got what I felt like at that time was the biggest baseball tournament of my life. The biggest baseball stage that I was going to be on.
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Chapter 5: What strategies do pitchers use to ramp up training for the WBC?
So there was times where I was like, I don't feel 100%. I should probably be rehabbing, maybe even starting the season on the IL, trying to get this thing really strong so I can get through the last five months of the season. And instead, I'm like, nope, I got to be ready to be on my A game on March 10th. Not using spring training as a preparation. You're just like, I need to be full speed.
uh, playoff mode in, in March. And that's tough. Um, we had some guys throw really well, I'd say almost nobody was at least the veteran guys. You know, we had a pretty veteran bullpen out of, you know, uh, Brooks, Rayleigh guys like that. Not only anybody was at full velocity, you know, despite being in a huge, uh,
environment that should breed a lot of adrenaline just like the playoffs like everybody was down two or three it seemed like um so it's just hard to get up to full speed that early so um I don't know if I answered the whole question. No, you did. I mean, it's tough.
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Chapter 6: How do injuries impact pitchers during the WBC preparation?
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I don't know a better way to do it.
No, there's not a better way. No, you can't drop in the middle of the year. It is what it is. And I think that the best thing to happen is that I think that players and teams have been more cognizant about getting ready. Because I think that before, it just wasn't the case. And pitchers were paying the price. I mean, they just were.
At least my experience with the USA, the coaches they pick, they are very aware of what time of year it is. And I didn't feel like... Anybody got pushed beyond what they felt like they could do. No one was being pushed from a pitch count perspective. I think maybe one guy went back-to-back, one reliever. You'd have to look that up. They said, hey, first round, nobody's going back-to-back.
You pitch, the next day is off no matter what. So in that way, they're not treating it like the playoffs.
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Chapter 7: What insights does Bard share about the dynamics of international play?
They're smart about that. I can't speak for all the other teams, for the other countries. I think they might be a little more aggressive with that. But at least for USA, what they don't want, I don't think, is the reputation of... hey, you sign up to the WBC, we're going to grind you to win that tournament. I wish they could. Even as a competitor, we all wanted to pitch more.
Guys want to go back-to-back, but they're like, nope, we told your team you're not going back-to-back. Maybe in the championship game, we might have one or two guys available for back-to-back, but they're very cautious about using guys... you know, knowing what time of year it is and that you can't push guys.
Well, again, I think that inadvertently did the circle of life thing. Like to your point is that you had that memory and that's what we're talking about. Like you're clearly thankful that you have that Jersey on the wall. And, and it was just one of the many, many, many, many, many things here that you earn the right to be thankful for.
So, and you also have not had any Turkey, I mean, knock on wood, no Turkey cooking mishaps.
So that's right. That's right.
Yeah. I, by the way, I, and this is coming from someone who I got so much street cred and in first grade from having the last name Bradford in Thanksgiving.
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Chapter 8: How can the World Baseball Classic be better promoted?
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah. Which is, which is, uh, one thing that I came across another major leaguer who I had the exact same experience with Colby. Cool. Okay. Yeah. It was like, Oh, Hey, he's like, Oh yeah, I did that all the time. Are you kidding me? Like Thanksgiving rolled around Bradford. Yeah, let's go. So that's what I'm thankful for.
But I'm thankful for the most important that you came on the podcast once again. Thank you for all that you are and all that you do.
Happy to do it, man. Always good to talk.