Comments on: The Dominican Republic Just Got Embarrassed, Again

By: CajoleJuice

CajoleJuice — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:07:50 +0000

Number 1 other than the U.S., yea. Puerto Rico has no pitching whatsoever. Wikipedia, of course, has a breakdown of MLB players by nationality:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_Major_League_Baseball_players_by_nationality

By: domincainheart

domincainheart — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:14:54 +0000

I like how a puerto rican has to actually care about the classic. We are the number 1 baseball country in my eyes and if we were to grab all our best players in the league I would be surprised if we would ever loose a game plus shit happens that’s the game of baseball. And second of all why don’t puerto rico grab all their players from the league oooo wait most of them wouldn’t bother cuz their isn’t any good ones out cept pudge who is a beast with the bat and no this isn’t about disrespect to PR just stating facts

By: CajoleJuice

CajoleJuice — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:53:18 +0000

Cool, thanks for the personal insight.

It’s obvious now that the Netherlands being dismissed as any sort of contender wasn’t accurate, but I imagine it’s still surprising, right? I really had no idea of the state of professional baseball in any part of Europe, so it’s great to hear that there’s enough interest within your country for a league. I’m probably just a dumb American for not assuming that there was some sort of pro ball in a decently-populated Western European country, but you just don’t hear about any of that over here at all.

As little as I follow soccer, I understand the analogy, and it seems to fit perfectly. I still think if this tournament was held during say, the All-Star break, the Major League players on the DR would’ve played much better. Oh well, I take nothing away from the Netherlands’ accomplishment.

By: ACook

ACook — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:08:25 +0000

It was front page news on several papers over here, and will certainly be after tonights 2nd win.
Baseball isn’t well known, even though there is a core fanbase with a long tradition. Soccer, Cycling, Speedskating, Field Hockey, Volleyball, Swimming, Basketball and then maybe Baseball.
There is a good professional league here, and we usually beat Italy for the european championship. That’s without all the Americans in the Italy side though. Nor the islanders in the Majors and Minors. before the WBC06 didn’t even know there were any of them in the minors…

It’s like saying Mexico usually beats USA for the north-american soccer championship. Internationally that’s a much better comparison of the class difference though than what the american media has made of it pre-tournament. Sure, in the world cup, USA or Mexico won’t win it, but you can’t just dismiss them like the DR did NL.