How Will the World Baseball Classic Affect Your Favorite Teams

Whether or not you plan on following the World Baseball Classic, it is likely that your favorite team will be affected in Spring Training by this new baseball tournament. Depending on the amount of players from any given Major League team that plan on participating in the World Baseball Classic, this new competition that spans from March 3rd-March 20th could have both positive and negative effects on Spring Training as well as the entire Major League season.

First of all, many people, especially those that live in Florida or Arizona, take trips down to their favorite team's training camps during March to watch Spring Training. Since many of the largest baseball stars of the Major Leagues will be absent, instead participating in the World Baseball Classic, this may not be the best year to plan a trip to watch you favorite team get ready for the season. Major League stars such as Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter, Andruw Jones, David Ortiz, Ken Griffey Jr., Dontrelle Willis, Carlos Beltran, Moises Alou, and Johnny Damon are all slated to play in the World Baseball Classic for their native countries and thus will be absent from a large majority of Spring Training activities. (For a full list of the country rosters and those Major League players that will be playing in the WBC go to www.worldbaseballclassic.com).
However, Arizona and Florida as well as California will play host to a wide variety of WBC games between March 3rd and March 20th. Check out www.worldbaseballclassic.com for a full schedule and list of venues. Tickets are also on sale through the website. Catching a World Baseball Classic may allow you to watch your favorite players gear up for the Major League season in a more competitive way. Instead of training and exhibition games, players will be playing hard to represent their native countries to the best of their abilities.

Which, leads to one of the possible negative affects of the World Baseball Classic. While players participating in the World Baseball Classic will be in training of their own for the WBC, playing in 4 possible rounds of tough, competitive games is going to have an affect beyond just spring training. Many players begin to wear down in September of a normal season. Those that participate in the World Baseball Classic are adding 2-3 weeks of competitive play into their season. While this may not seem like a lot, it will definitely have an affect on some who lack stamina.

These 2-3 weeks of tough competitive games also holds a risk for all players to injure themselves just before the Major League season starts. The final game of the World Baseball Classic will be March 20th. This will give any player than injures himself about 2 weeks to get better before Opening Day. This may be especially problematic for those who suffer from chronic injuries or just seem injury prone, such as Ken Griffey Jr. Both of these issues will be double for older players such as Roger Clemens and Moises Alou.

Also, players who are participating in the WBC are missing time to connect with their Major League team, which may affect team chemistry. This won't be a problem for every player, especially players who have been with their team for a few years such as Albert Pujols or Derek Jeter. However players who have been traded or signed with other teams in the off-season may be missing valuable opportunities to connect with their teammates both on the field and off. Johnny Damon will be participating in the WBC despite the fact that he will be missing most of Spring Training with his new team, the New York Yankees. Damon will be able to play on the same team as new Yankee teammate Derek Jeter, but he will still be missing out on getting to know many of his new teammates and former rivals.

However, while these 2-3 weeks of tough, competitive play may be a bit of a detriment to the season, it could also be a positive aspect, especially for younger players and those without chronic injury problems. All players will be doing forms of training with their respective country's teams, so they won't be missing out on anything they could have gotten in Spring Training with their Major League Team. Also, the 2-3 weeks of competitive play may gear them up even more the season. Those without stamina problems may find the extra time allows them to get a possible slow start out of their system and gets them ready to start the Major League season already locked in.

In the end, how the World Baseball Classic affects your favorite team is going to depend on the amount of players participating, how far their respective country goes in the tournament, and what shape they are in going into the tournament. If you want to keep an eye on your team's players that are participating, go to the World Baseball Classic's website www.worldbaseballclassic.com to check out the TV schedule. Many games will be televised on ESPN 2, both live and in tape-delay. Also, keep an eye on your favorite team's MLB website which will likely update you on the status of your team's players.

Overall, the World Baseball Classic may put some teams at a disadvantage and it may even help some teams. There are too many variables involved to be able to predict exactly what will happen, all we can do is watch and hope our favorite players are affected positively by this opportunity to represent their native countries.