The 2016 Summer Olympics are over. Baseball is an Olympic sport again.
Left out of the Games in London and Rio, baseball (along with its pal softball) is set to return again in Tokyo in 2020. There is no commitment to the sport beyond Tokyo, however, which means the sport can’t afford to blow its opportunity on the international stage. As big as the “World” Series claims to be, baseball’s only truly global showcase comes when it’s allowed to be seen every four years along with the rest of the big-time Olympic sports: track and field, swimming, dressage and the like.
The sport needs to put on a show in Tokyo or it might not get another chance – and doing so will require participation from the best players in the game. Think about the excitement surrounding the 1992 Dream Team, only imagine Michael Jordan as a baseball player. OK, bad idea. But you get my point.
Mike Trout, Kris Bryant, Mookie Betts, Clayton Kershaw, all in red, white and blue and taking on the best of the best from the other top baseball nations. Bat flips from around the world, chanting, brushback pitches, baseball’s unwritten rules unwritten in every language. Host nation Tokyo might even feature a 46-year old, .300-hitting Olympian Ichiro. Everything about it sounds amazing.
A star-studded tournament would get attention both in the US and around the world and the huge, enthusiastic crowds that would undoubtedly show up to the games in Tokyo would make the sport one of the Games’ big stories. This would be far from the contrived World Baseball Classic, an event with no history. This new form of Olympic baseball would feature the best baseball players in the world playing in the ultimate global sports tournament, with hundreds of millions watching around the world (give or take a few tens of millions of millennials, right NBC?)
The only problem is that Major League Baseball doesn’t want to send its stars to the Olympics because the Summer Games happen just as the pennant chase heats up. The 2020 Games will run from 24 July to 9 August, holy summer days for those who worship baseball as it has always been. But this is old thinking that new commissioner Rob Manfred hopefully won’t adopt. Manfred has already said he is open to reducing the regular season to 154 games. So cut eight games off the regular season in 2020, ditch the All-Star Game along with it – the wildly unpopular event earned record low ratings in July – and, abracadabra, we’ve instantly found the two weeks we need to sell baseball to the world.
There is no downside. The players who don’t make an Olympic team get time to nurse injuries and rest up for the pennant chase, MLB can make the 31 July trade deadline into a multi-day, mega-hyped event, the game’s best players will get to battle it out for their countries – while staying fresh for their U.S. teams – and maybe just win a few million fans the world over will fall in love with the sport. It’s a win, win, win, etc.
The safe bet is that baseball goes its regular route and fills the US Olympic roster with the usual retreads and nobodies. For who, outside of everyone, can forget the fearsome 2008 Team USA lineup with Nate Schierholtz, Jayson Nix and Taylor Teagarden? Or it can do something very un-baseball-like, go bold and try to sell the game to a new generation.
The NHL has allowed its season to be interrupted for the Olympics since 1998 and ice hockey has been a huge part of the Games ever since. And this during the tenure of Gary Bettman. Gary Bettman. Does Manfred want his legacy to be that he was a worse commissioner than Gary Bettman? That’s his choice. And there’s only one good option for him and the sport: baseball must go all-in on the 2020 Olympics.
Video of the Week
Oregon Little League coach Joel Jensen called timeout on Tuesday at the LLWS to tell his son that he loves him. It’s easy to be a little cynical about ultra-competitive youth sports, but this is undoubtedly a nice, tender and sincere moment. Although, if you are very cynical about youth sports, you could say he feels this way about his talented son because the kid has major league potential. Who doesn’t love a meal ticket?
Quote of the Week
“It’s boring out there.” - Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez, explaining why infielders often go to the mound when the pitching coach comes out to speak to the pitcher.
Keith Hernandez on why infielders go to the mound when the pitching coach comes out: "It's boring out there."
— David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield) August 24, 2016
Be honest, Keith. Infielders go to the mound because they hope their coach will tell them that he loves them.
Who’s closer to victory: Donald Trump of the Cubs?
Donald Trump continues to trail in most every national poll and is down big in several key swing states, while the Cubs became the first MLB team to 80 wins this week and remain the favorite to win their first World Series. Of course, things could change if Trump follows trough on his old threat and drops an October surprise on the Cubs.
I hear the Rickets family, who own the Chicago Cubs, are secretly spending $'s against me. They better be careful, they have a lot to hide!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2016
Although, history has proven that an October surprise related to the Cubs would be ... the Cubs winning the World Series. Feels like a lose-lose for Trump.
How did the kids piss off Goose Gossage this week?
While there is no particular Goose Gossage connection to this week’s lesson in baseball’s code, it does harken back to the fight the former Yankees reliever got into with teammate Cliff Johnson in 1979. That brawl left Gossage with a broken thumb, whereas this week’s baseball punching left A’s DH Billy Butler with a head injury thanks to team-mate Danny Valencia.
The Butler-Valencia bout reportedly started when Butler told a shoe brand representative that Valencia was wearing a pair of off-brand cleats in breach of his contract. For this bit of teammate snitching, Butler received a punch to the face from Valencia. Sometimes baseball’s code is confusing. Not in this case. Go out of your way to tell on a coworker and get punched in the face. That’s common sense and karma.
Nine thoughts in order
1) It’s still too early to determine who truly “won” and “lost” last month’s non-waiver trade deadline, but there are definitely early contenders. Andrew Miller has been outstanding since going to Cleveland from the Yankees, posting a 1.69 ERA and 0.46 WHIP with two saves and 16 strikeouts in 10 and two-thirds innings. Watch him dominate the A’s here on Monday night with three straight Ks to pick up the save in a 1-0 win.
Schools back in. Here's How to Properly Pitch a Ninth Inning with Dr. Andrew Miller https://t.co/pON4aHnHKu
— Scott @ WFNY (@WFNYScott) August 23, 2016
Then there’s the case of Josh Reddick, late of the A’s, who the Dodgers picked up before the deadline. He’s hitting .149 under the careful watch of Magic Johnson in LA, including no home runs and no runs batted in more than 70 plate appearances. That’s pretty tough to do. Even tougher to do? Injure yourself while getting room service.
Josh Reddick hurt his finger when his hand got caught in a door last night while ordering room service. "This is rock bottom," he cracked.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) August 22, 2016
2) The Cardinals still have a hold on the last wildcard spot in the National League, but they’re not making it look easy. Despite having the Best Fans in Baseball™ St Louis somehow have the fourth-worst home record in all of baseball. That becomes a serious problem due to the fact that the Cardinals have a narrow lead over the Marlins and Pirates for that last wildcard spot and close out their season with six games at Busch Stadium – including Games 160, 161 and 162 versus Pittsburgh. Imagine a scenario in which the Cardinals go from a playoff position in the final week to missing the postseason completely thanks to gagging on that final homestand. Could they end their season by get booed off their home field by the Best Fans? This truly could be a dream season for Cubs fans.
3) Yankees COO Hank Steinbrenner told the New York Post that part of what convinced him to go all-in on the team rebuilding was because Yankee fans on social media supported a youth movement. They no doubt did. Because the general consensus on social media about sports, politics/movies/music/gardening/whatever issue is dominating the news cycle sucks big time. In fact, it might just be the worst ever and the complete opposite must be done straight away. So expect Yankees fans on social media to be pushing for some veteran additions upon completion of the first three-game losing streak.
4) The first place Dodgers currently have seven starters on the DL: Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Brandon McCarthy, Rich Hill, Alex Wood, Brett Anderson and Scott Kazmir. That is more than $79m in payroll on the disabled list, meaning the Dodgers have to battle on with barely $185m worth of healthy players. Please keep them in your thoughts during this difficult time.
5) The art of pitch framing has been around since the first catcher wanted to buy a call from the home plate ump, but it’s only in recent years – beginning around 2006 with the introduction of the PITCHf/x pitching tracking system – that teams were able to quantify the skill and then compensate catchers who do it well. Now we are beginning to see catchers who grew up in this era arrive on the big stage of the Little League World Series. Expect this kid to receive a large bubble gum bonus from management.
6) Blue Jays slugger Edwin Encarnacion is being sued for more than $11.5m by a woman who claims he gave her STDs. His agent has said that the charges are “completely inappropriate and meritless” and that the designated hitter will “take every legal measure to defend himself against this meritless claim.” The courts will decide that, but I think we can all agree that STD feels a bit outdated in modern baseball. Surely there is something like xSTD, STD+ or VORstD that can more accurately judge what Encarnacion did or did not give.
7) With Derek Jeter retiring from baseball two years ago, A-Rod going out two weeks ago and David Ortiz leaving the game two months from now, there may be a lot of fans without a favorite player in the sport. If you are such a fan, consider filling that hole with Royals third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert. He’s a 23-year old rookie batting .292 with 10 home runs. That covers the baseball part.
Now for the much more interesting off-the-field component: the Venezuela native used a chunk of the $1.9m signing bonus he received in 2009 to buy chickens and now has nearly 300 of them waiting for him back at home. “He gets photos and videos and makes calls to their caretaker everyday,” his sister told La Prensa. “He adores them.” How can you not root for a man with a phone full of pictures of his pet chickens? And, please, people of Kansas City, try to consider the man’s feelings. Don’t eat your massive platters of barbecue chicken right in front of him.
8) MLB released the postseason schedule this week. A few dates you’ll want to keep open:
– Tuesday 25 October: Game 1 of the World Series.
– Wednesday 2 November: Game 7 of the World Series, if necessary.
– Friday 7 October: four playoff games in one day with the NLDS Game 1s and the ALDS Game 2s.
– Tuesday 4 October: postseason opens with the AL wildcard game.
– Wednesday 5 October: Pittsburgh Pirates lose in the NL wildcard to team TBD.
9) After each of the last three Summer Olympics, the football world has pondered if Usain Bolt could play in the NFL. Just last week, former coach Tony Dungy said he’d use Bolt as a receiver to “clear out one side of the field” with his speed, while Falcons receiver Julio Jones said Bolt would struggle without the “burst” he’d need to get off the line of scrimmage.
But why are we always projecting Bolt into football? Why couldn’t he be a MLB pinch runner? And a late-inning defensive replacement to run down balls hit into the gap Billy Hamilton-style? Sure, it’s improbable, but it seems more likely to happen than a football career. That reminds me, there’s one more date coming up on the baseball calendar that you’ll want to remember: Tim Tebow’s baseball tryout is now set for 30 August in Los Angeles.
