***2026 World Baseball Classic***

[BigJCy]

USA bats better wake up or coming in 2nd Place once again. Hitting surprisingly has been an issue most of this tournament.

 

[JM4CY]

They look lost at the plate

 

[FLYINGCYCLONE]

Time to pinch hit for the Billion $ line up.

 

[JM4CY]

Time to pinch hit for the Billion $ line up.

Honestly what r these guys getting paid

 

[FLYINGCYCLONE]

Big bucks. After that I have no idea.

 

[CycloneVet]

Damn

 

[FLYINGCYCLONE]

Nice.

 

[BigJCy]

He's been bad at the plate this tournament but came up big in a huge spot.

 

[AuH2O]

Gutsy steal there. Venezuela playing like they know they are about out of arms.

Clutch hit there by Harper followed by Suarez.

 

[3TrueFans]

Atmosphere is incredible, 1 more out!

 

[ClonesTwenty1]

As a Cubs fan would be kinda cool to see Palencia get the save here

 

[shadow]

Bummer.

 

[CyGuy5]

DeRosa shouldn’t be allowed to manage a little league team. Baseball terrorist

 

[BigJCy]

"Superteam" scored 4 runs over 18 innings and got 3 hit in a final.

 

[AuH2O]

I really like the WBC. Atmospheres have been insane, and the balance among the teams is pretty awesome.

 

[xboxfever]

"Superteam" scored 4 runs over 18 innings and got 3 hit in a final.

I mean Kyle Schwarber bats .240 in the regular season. You can’t expect a guy like that who would bat 7th in a lineup 20 years ago, and be looking to be replaced, batting 4th in your lineup to be good. Hitting a baseball is a lost art. People claim pitching is better, but it’s really not much better. The problem is everyone, everywhere tries teaching everyone to bat the exact same way. It’s all about how pretty your swing looks. The way your swing looked never mattered until the last 15-20 years. Some of the greatest of all time had ugly swings.

 

[cydsho]

As a Royals fan, I can't feel bad since 3 players were on Venezuela's team. I would also pay big money to watch the flexing Salvy will do to Bobby Witt Jr. That will be epic.

 

[BigJCy]

 

[AuH2O]

I mean Kyle Schwarber bats .240 in the regular season. You can’t expect a guy like that who would bat 7th in a lineup 20 years ago, and be looking to be replaced, batting 4th in your lineup to be good. Hitting a baseball is a lost art. People claim pitching is better, but it’s really not much better. The problem is everyone, everywhere tries teaching everyone to bat the exact same way. It’s all about how pretty your swing looks. The way your swing looked never mattered until the last 15-20 years. Some of the greatest of all time had ugly swings.

I disagree about the pitching. Guys have nastier stuff and they’ll throw 5 guys a game, so hitting is a real *****.

But this has been a challenge for teams. While the rules changes have made contact more valuable, with all these small parks it’s still going to favor home runs a ton.
The challenge is the high K/high HR approach works in a regular season when you’re seeing mid pitchers. In the post season teams with high contact rates tend to perform well. The rotations tighten up, and the pitching is too good to trot a bunch of high whiff guys out there. Some teams are just great at everything like the current Dodgers. But generally if you can get into the post season with a high contact team that doesn’t hit a ton of HR you have a good chance.

I do like the rule changes. Bringing some athletes and running back into the game is way more exciting.

 

[Clonefan32]

It's almost like an entire roster of guys trying to hit the ball to the moon every AB is a bad plan...