Congrats to Japan

Congratulations to Japan on the World Baseball Classic victory over Cuba in the final game. It's good to see - whoever won the game - that a different brand of baseball wins the day. Japan and Cuba play smart, fast, well-pitched, and eagle-eyed baseball.

US Major League Baseball is about the flashy moments - the homeruns, the diving catches, the hit batter. Old-timers and connoisseurs may like the one-run game, but television and American marketing do not. Even Joe Morgan, who does a good job of announcing games, went on and on about Cuba beating the Dominican Republic in the semi-finals as a huge upset, while also admitting that the Cuban team is a "mystery." The DR team is comprised of MLB homerun hitters. They were seen as perhaps the strongest team, apart from the US (also made up of homerun hitters). Homeruns, however, are relatively rare. If you put all the emphasis on that kind of hitter, a collection of solid singles and doubles hitters with speed on the bases can rip you apart, especially combined with good pitching. A homerun requires the right pitch and the right swing at that pitch, plus enough power (or steroids) behind the swing. A single requires much less of the pitch. It requires a good eye and precision to slap an outside curveball through the first and second base hole for a righty or a pull for a lefty.

Cuba vs. Japan wasn't a great game, but I only caught the latter error-strewn innings of it. Announcers and commentators have made much about the patriotism involved, and derided the US baseball team for not showing enough of it, as if patriotism is itself an intrinsic good. But the final was an immensely important game between two teams that play brilliant baseball on their own terms, not those of the MLB. I hope their success in reaching the final changes the face of the game.