Should Major League Baseball players be allowed to play in the World Baseball Classic or should college baseball players play instead? I believe that major league baseball players should play in the World Baseball Classic because some of the best players in the MLB want to play for their country because they have a lot of national pride. “In my country, the Dominican Republic, people are very excited about the World Baseball Classic.” – David Ortiz. On the other hand however, these are players that are getting paid, in some cases, 20 million dollars a year and if they get hurt during what are just exhibition games then whoever is paying him won’t be very happy. Some people would argue that the World Baseball Classic is more than just meaningless exhibition games and one great example from this year’s WBC was when Mexico and Canada got into a brawl. It happened when the Mexican pitcher hit the Canadian batter and he took exception and if you saw the fight then you cannot tell me that the teams and players that play don’t care. Some people think that they should just play the WBC at a different time because as it is currently constituted, they play it during spring training and some people believe that if it was played at a different time then more of the stars in the MLB would play because if it is later in the year then the players would be more ready and willing to play. A perfect example of this is Yankees all-star pitcher CC Sabathia “Although I would love to pitch in the inaugural World Baseball Classic and am proud to represent my country, I will not be ready to pitch in a competitive-game environment when play begins on March 7.” This shows that if it were played later in the year, then more great players who might be injured and want to play in the WBC could.

Some reasons why teams would be willing to allow their expensive employees to play in the WBC are because they are essentially getting the same reps or more reps then what they would get if they were with their respective teams during Spring Training. Pitching in a game or facing live pitching is exactly the same whether you are with your MLB club in Spring Training or with your country in the WBC so that shouldn’t be a reason why players aren’t allowed to participate. Another reason why teams should continue to allow major league players to play is because they might only play three games during the WBC if their team isn’t good, so that lessens the potential chance of injury. The third reason is because there is just as much of a chance of injury playing Spring Training games which mean even less than the WBC because in Spring Training it is just to get ready for the regular season whereas in the WBC you are playing for national pride. Players should continue to be allowed to play in the WBC because it might be a once in a life time opportunity and Marco Scutaro says it well “The notion of a World Baseball Classic is a tremendous idea. This isn't two U.S teams, but a true world championship. It's an opportunity to play against guys you've never faced in your life.”
There is also another side to it because some teams and players don’t want to deal with the risk of injury so they don’t go to the World Baseball Classic. However, during the WBC there have not been many injuries so teams should be just as worried about their star player getting hurt in a Spring Training game. Some people believe that the pitchers should be able to ease into the number of pitches or innings and they think that the better option for that. But in fact, the pitchers actually have a pitch count limit which is 65 pitches in the 1st round of the tournament, 80 pitches in the second round, and 95 pitches in the finals. Pitchers are also required a minimum of 4 days rest, if when they last pitched, they threw 50 or more pitches. So, MLB organizations shouldn’t be too worried about their pitchers being over worked. Some people feel like it is useless to even have the WBC because it takes time away from players and their teams and they aren’t really playing for anything. It is true that if a player joins a new team that they will miss some time but they will be in the beginning of Spring training and at the end so it really isn’t as big of a deal as it may seem to be.

For all of the negatives that I mentioned about the World Baseball Classic, there was always something that made it seem more positive than at first. I think the problem of star players not playing in the WBC is mostly just for the US because players like Robinson Cano and Jose Reyes are playing for the Dominican Republic and reigning AL triple crown and MVP winner Miguel Cabrera is playing for Venezuela. An example of the best players for the US playing in something that is essentially an exhibition tournament is the best players in the NBA playing in the summer Olympics including LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant. While the US certainly has some great MLB players, including Ryan Braun, David Wright and RA Dickey, and overall have a very good team could be much better then they are with players like Justin Verlander, Mike Trout, and Clayton Kershaw. But it is still fun to see the lesser known players get a chance to shine while representing their country with pride so they shouldn’t change anything about it because it is fine just the way it is.