The World Baseball Classic is a treasure

 America, the greatest country in the world. Living in this privileged land has made us, perhaps a little bit unequipped to fully appreciate certain things. Despite all of our many, many flaws, our vast size, wealth and population have given us many things. A thriving economy, political omnipresence on a global scale and absolute and utter athletic dominance.

Maybe that's one of the reasons that Americans aren't as enamored with the World Baseball Classic as many of the players competing in the event are. The US might win it, they are still alive in the competition, but they aren't crushing all comers. That's not even the point, though. The Dream Team was very popular. Americans enjoy dominating.

I think the issue is more that Americans are so good at so many things that the World Baseball Classic doesn't carry any added significance. Americans come together and win things all the time, so this relatively newish competition, to our jaded eyes, is an interruption to Spring Training, a marketing stunt. The real deal is the Major League Season, so let's focus on that, right?

But that's not the case for, say, Venezuela, Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic. They don't have the extensive Olympic history that the US does. Those national teams are, however, pretty good at baseball. The Dominican Republic has been eliminated, but Venezuela and Puerto Rico are still playing. PR actually eliminated the DR, which is kind of what brings us to this point.

Celebrating that victory, Edwin Diaz tore his patellar tendon. Many fans (particularly Mets fans) roared about how Diaz was hurt in a meaningless game. Never mind that Diaz was celebrating a game that he won, suggesting it wasn't meaningless to him, but just days later, center Brandon Nimmo sustained an injury at spring training. 

For some fans, Nimmo's injury was more acceptable because it was in service to their team. I'm guessing there are many Mets fans in Puerto Rico who are upset about Diaz's injury, but are more disappointed that he won't be playing for the Island, despite Mets fandom. A lack of international domination lends a different kind of perspective.

The World Baseball Classic is fantastic. It's fun to see such a singular passion for the game even before it starts. This is many nations in Latin America's one chance to do well for themselves on an international stage. Nobody wants to see injuries, but I think Diaz is happier to be injured celebrating a WBC win than he would have been getting injured doing back field drills for spring training.