1 Happy St

The second round of the inaugural World Baseball Classic wraps up tonight, with a game between the United States (1-1) and Mexico (0-2). A win puts the US in the semi-final round against unbeaten South Korea.

Opinions of the WBC were mixed going into it. Many people thought it was unneeded and potentially dangerous to put Major Leaguers in an exhibition tournament. But so far, those skeptics have been silenced by decent attendance and virtually injury free games. Plus, the chance for injury is no greater than the regualarly scheduled spring training games that most of these guys would be playing in now anyway. Others just thought that the name "World Baseball Classic" was bad. They're probably right about that.

Really, I think most of the criticism came from people who thought that an international event wouldn't play to the casual baseball fan in the United States. But we're probably talking about the same people who think national pride is a dirty thing. "How can we unite behind this baseball team of spoiled millionairs when our evil industrial military complex is busy imposing our capitalistic beliefs on harmless dictatorships? Ok, I'll watch... but can I root for Hugo Chavez' Venezuela? I hear he's good friends with Cindy Shehan." But I digress...

If the US wins tonight, that sets up a final four of Cuba, Korea and the Domincan Republic. Japan (1-2) would advance with an American loss tonight because of a better run differential. Of those, only Korea would have been a surprise, but the way they've rolled over the competition so far, they're now the odd-on favorites.

As much as it pains me to say this, the WBC has been a success for baseball commissioner, Bud Selig. But what's good for Bud is good for baseball and that's good. For his sake, let's hope that the final game doesn't go into extra innings.