Dan Gillmor
American baseball fans can't get their minds around a simple reality: The best baseball in the world now comes from Japan -- and MLB's "World Series" is a complete misnomer.
Mar 23, 2023 at 12:44amWeb
Show threadMarius Fortuna_3Mar 23, 2023
@dangillmor l am a Canadian devoted baseball fan. I have watched American network baseball coverage for decades.
But to this day I cringe when I hear an announcer describe a team winner of a World Series as "World Champions." #JoeBuck and #AlexRodriguez are awful repeat offenders. To an outsider the comment makes the announcers seem uninformed and provincial. Per: John Cleese, only the Americans would hold a world championship without inviting players from the rest of the world to participate.
Show thread@BegoniaArizonaMar 23, 2023
@dangillmor interesting that Japan also loves Jazz, America’s other great gift to the world.
Show threadMark PaulMar 23, 2023
@dangillmor Japan’s WBC team, comprising that country’s best players, was excellent. But in a 7-game series between that team and a U.S. squad to which Judge, Harper, Cole, DeGrom, Verlander, Scherzer, Hader, and Fried were added as replacements, where would you place your bet?
Show threadDan GillmorMar 23, 2023
@markpaul Japan.
Show threadEx_Jersey_BoyMar 23, 2023

@dangillmor I'm not saying you are wrong, but when one country puts their best pitchers on the mound, and the other country pitches mid-tier middle relievers, it made the WBC... not exactly a perfect measure of the abilities of the teams.

Japan's WBC team was incredibly impressive. But the pitching disparity between the US WBC team and any MLB team was obvious, and vast, to anyone paying attention.