Recently, the World Baseball Classic tournament wrapped up when Team Venezuela defeated Team USA in narrow fashion in the final game of the bracket. Team USA wasn't able to get the bats going in this one, and ultimately, Team Venezuela got the win thanks to a dominant pitching performance.
Some have noted the somewhat awkward timing of the WBC, which takes place just two weeks before the MLB regular season is set to begin, and have floated the idea of moving it instead to the middle of the MLB season. However, recently, former MLB catcher AJ Pierzynski broke down why this would not be a good idea, saying, “it's not realistic.”
“There's so many things to think about with this and what the implications could be. I'll use Tarik Skubal as an example… you think he's more or less likely in July to pitch in a ten-game tournament when he's even closer to free agency than he is at the beginning of the season. There's no way… he's going to throw two starts and risk that not for the team that pays his salary?” wondered Pierzynski, per Foul Territory on X, formerly Twitter.
Indeed, many have pointed to player injury risk as a reason not to move the tournament into the middle of the MLB season, as player participation would likely decline severely from what it already is.
“It also kills the momentum for the All-Star game, which is a big deal for the MLB, as we all know,” he added.
While it may seem a bit strange to have the tournament as essentially a warm-up act for the MLB season, as Pierzynski noted, there really isn't a feasible way to move it to a different portion of the calendar without drastically altering other aspects of the schedule.
