World Baseball Classic’s Team USA represented on All-Star ballot
The 2017 All-Star Game could have a few familiar faces on it looking for a repeat of their World Baseball Classic win, and it could be really interesting.
A quick glance at the 2017 All-Star ballot will yield the names of all the top position players across the American and National Leagues. Every year fans cast their votes for either the best players, their favorite players, or players from their favorite teams to make the final cut for the All-Star Game.
This year’s All-Star Game comes after the 2017 World Baseball Classic earlier this spring, where Team USA made history with an 8-0 victory over Team Puerto Rico. It’s possible that we could see several members of Team USA represented at the All-Star Game thus summer.
While some detractors argue that the World Baseball Classic doesn’t mean anything, it needs to be noted that every single position player who was on the championship team is nominated on the All-Star Ballot. Not only does this mean that these players continue to represent the best players on their teams for their respective positions, but it also makes it clear that the World Baseball Classic wasn’t just a throwaway exhibition series.
Sure, the event itself needs some work, but the players who represented their respective countries, especially Team USA, were hardly B-list players. Maybe, then the World Baseball Classic deserves another look.
If you manipulated the All-Star Ballot, you could have the exact same guys playing the All-Star Game who were part of the big Team USA victory at the World Baseball Classic. Naturally, they’d be divided up between the National League and American League, but that’s OK. It would be nice to see them playing together again.
I’ve made the argument before that Major League Baseball needs more of a World Baseball Classic atmosphere. The games were fun, entertaining, and competitive. The current structure of the World Baseball Classic, with games every four years, doesn’t work. If it’s going to be relevant, it needs to be no less than every two years.
Of course, managers won’t want to see their guys pulled away from Spring Training every year, but the fact that every member of Team USA is on the All-Star Ballot suggests that they are doing fine even though they were away from Spring Training. Maybe having that kind of competitive atmosphere that you see during the World Baseball Classic, instead of the monotony of Grapefruit or Cactus League play, would inspire greater competitive drives early on in the season.
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It’s good to see the entire Team USA championship lineup represented on the All-Star ballot. It’s a reminder that these guys are the ones who represented their country and won, and that means a lot as it is. Being at the All-Star Game would sweeten the pot, and a trip to the World Series would be the MLB trifecta.