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The World Baseball Classic as we generally know it isn’t happening in 2016 — you have to wait until the spring of 2017 for the next iteration of that tournament. However, we’re not bereft of WBC action this year, as the qualifiers for the fourth World Baseball Classic are beginning on Wednesday night. Or, on Thursday, assuming you’re reading this in Australia, where the first of four qualifiers are being hosted. That’s right: baseball that counts is going to be played just hours from now, and you will even be able to watch it!
Australia is not only the host, but also the favorite, thanks to a roster made up of players with minor-league experience and those from their own professional baseball league. New Zealand, the Philippines and South Africa make up the rest of this qualifying tournament, and there will be six games played in total. You can watch four of the six on MLB Network, and all six will be available to stream live on World Baseball Classic’s site.
The first game is between South Africa and New Zealand at 9 p.m. on Wednesday. You’ll need to open up the WBC site to view it or watch live on MLB.com unless you have access to ESPN Pac-Rim. That will be much easier to watch than Thursday’s game between the Philippines and Australia, which will be played at 3:30 a.m. on the East Coast, so don’t delay if you’re looking for a pre-spring training baseball fix.
- New Red Sox ace David Price donated $300,000 to help fund a baseball facility for disabled children in his hometown.
- The rules on takeout slides are finally going to change, and while you’ll hear some complaining about it, like with the home plate rules, it’s for the best.
- All 162 Oakland A’s games will be televised in 2016, which doesn’t sound like a big deal until you realize it’s the first time that this has ever happened.
- Did you know Logan Morrison was a pinch runner for the Mariners not once, but six times in the last two months of 2015? Yes, the same Morrison whose knees and size have made him the kind of guy who should be pinch-run for. Get it together, Mariners.
- Thanks to international signing penalties, the Red Sox — and a whole mess of other teams — can’t sign the recently defected Lourdes Gurriel Jr. thanks to bonus restrictions. Well, not yet anyway — things change in October, when he turns 23.
- The fact that there are a pair of Gurriel brothers to sign also makes for some intriguing possibilities for teams around the league, who might have a space for both.
- The Royals are the defending American League and World Series champions, so it’s only right that Royals Review is ranking the challengers to their throne.
- Evan Gattis will have his spring training interrupted for four to six weeks after undergoing hernia surgery.
- Mat Latos signed with the White Sox, which means he’s with one of the two pitching coaches who has the best chance of reviving his career.
- With Latos signed in Chicago, the Orioles are basically down to Yovani Gallardo as far as pitching options go.
- The Diamondbacks are a better team than they were when the offseason began, but they still have questions that need answering.
- The Padres were in that position last winter, and now we’re wondering what they’d look like if they went full-rebuild.
