The Dominican Republic beat Puerto Rico 3-0 last night, to become the first non-Japanese team to win the World Baseball Classic. That's great for them (these fans sure were pleased), but the regular season is 11 days away, and yet another MLB star could find himself on the shelf come the games that matter.

Italy's unlikely run at the World Baseball Classic is over. As against the Dominican Republic, Italy jumped out to an early lead on the Puerto Rico. And, as against the Dominican Republic, they gave it all back late. And though baseball is a team game, it's hard not to pin the blame on two shortstops, career minor…

I will admit to having been a WBC Doubting Thomas. Even as the first two editions produced their share of exciting moments, there was no lasting image, or huge shake-up of the baseball hierarchy. This year, though? I take back every use of the word "exhibition." Between the U.S.'s two stirring comeback wins, the iconic…

MLB Network has exclusive U.S. rights to broadcast the World Baseball Classic, but those rights begin and end with the English language. Lacking compelling content for a slow Sunday night, ESPN elected to use its loophole in owning Spanish-language rights to simulcast its ESPN Deportes feed of tonight's Dominican…

Cuba demolished Chinese Taipei on Saturday, eliminating Taiwan from the World Baseball Classic, by a score of 14-0. three Cuban pitchers held Chinese Taipei to just three hits. The game ended under the mercy rule in the seventh, following an eight-run sixth inning for Cuba. According to Google Translate, The China…

Baseball, am I right? The cause of yesterday's brawl between Mexico and Canada is being laid at the feet of the tournament's tie-breaking procedure, specifically run differential. Because of the rules, as Canada manager Ernie Whitt said, the game is always played as though it's 0-0. So when Canada was bunting with a…

So far, the World Baseball Classic has been everything the quadrennial tournament is expected to be: irrelevant, uninteresting, and disruptive to MLB teams' Spring Training plans.

Last night, the U.S. played its first game in this year's World Baseball Classic, and we learned a number of things: 1. America's official language is English, 2. The best the U.S. can do for an ace in an international competition is a kuckle-balling 38-year old, and 3. "With people on the pads, Luis Cruz drove the race …

The establishment of an official language has long been a political flashpoint. Though it was once a favored cause for Presidents of generally good repute, it's now mostly a topic invoked to effortlessly rile up nativists and a touchstone for people hell-bent on alienating furr-uh-nurrs. Ordinances have been passed and …

The World Baseball Classic is well underway, which means that the eyes of the international media are fixated upon the games. It also means that we have the opportunity to run game recaps from foreign media outlets through Google Translate for the sake of our own amusement.