I understand Selig is trying to take a page out of David Stern’s international revenue book but this thing is turning into a disaster. The WBC today announced rules for the tournament that only served to make it more laughable in the minds of American baseball fans. The pitch count rule is designed for one reason only and that is to make sure that the cash cow of MLB will not be compromised by WBC play.
As set forth by World Baseball Classic, Inc. (WBCI), pitchers will be limited to 65 pitches in Round One games, and be ineligible to pitch for four days following any outing of 50-plus pitches. Pitchers will have to lay off one day after throwing 30-plus pitches, obviously meant as a safeguard for long relievers. And, to prevent closers from being over-used, pitchers won’t be allowed to work more than two consecutive days.
The WBC also acknowledged the huge disparity in talent between teams with their mercy rule, which stops the game if a team is up by 15 runs after 5 innings or 10 runs after 7 innings. I guess when you have to round out the tournament participants with teams from Italy and the Netherlands, you don’t want anyone to be embarassed. Like the mercy rule isn’t embarassing enough. By the way, check out the shameless propaganda on the last link below.
[Talking Baseball]: WBC now resembles Little League
[MLB.com]: WBC announces rules for event
[MLB.com]: Reasons aplenty to buy WBC tickets
