The WBC was first played in ’06, then again in ’09 for some reason, to continue every four years thereafter, so 2013 would be the next one, if it sticks around.

So take the lead from the NHL and take a 2 week break in the middle of the season, youd then either have to start the season earlier or end it later, or go back to 154 games.

The only problem I would see would be the weather in late march/early april or late september early/october. But perhaps they could start one week earlier and end one week later than they do now.

Teams are scared when players play in just one game, as in the All-star game. Make it a week of meaningless games in the middle of the season then there will be Hell to pay from the owners.

At first glance, I don’t see a break in July like the MLB.

Are we so arrogant that everything revolves around American baseball and our schedules?

is more top tier pitchers would elect out for a break in the middle of the season to rest their arm, and it would become a HR Derby of MLB hitters vs. AA pitchers

I think the games of the WBC are going to be good, however the amount of players dropping out is embarassing. I think it would be the same no matter when it was held. A player isn’t going to risk injury when they are making the kind of money these guys make.

Baseball just missed the boat by not creating this about 30 years earlier. The World Cup in soccer is someting kids dream about playing in, the WBC is going to have to be around a lot longer to get that kind of credibility.

They make money by being selected to the ASG. I like your idea a lot, Al, but there are many ticky-tack things like this to consider, and I doubt the Players’ Union would go along with it.

Football is only Sat/Sun and let’s face it, this isn’t an America-is-the-center-of-the-universe event. We should take a good hard look at this thinking that way.

Yes there are tired players all over the place, but only 2 teams are in the WS and 8 in the playoffs to boot. That means there’s players from 22 teams that haven’t played since end of Sept or so. Then there’s all kinds of other players on the other teams that don’t even play in MLB.

An event that runs 2+ weeks (covering 3 weekends) ending shortly before the US Thanksgiving holiday could work, and they could start doing this in November, 2011 and do it every 2 years instead of 3.

The next tournament after this is a 32-month interval and then it goes to a 24-month interval. Each country can recruit their players, knowing now it won’t interfere with getting ready for MLB’s season. And to boot there will be even more interest by other countries since it is so much important to them than the US and even more of their players would be inclined to play.

The only draw-back to this time of year versus mid-MLB season is the number of cities that can host these games. The Mid-West could only see Miller Park game for instance.

….that it be played instead of All-Star game. I love watching the All-Star game and HR derby. It’s fun to see the players relax and have fun and goof around with each other. I don’t like the WBC much. I understand it would only be once every 3 or 4 years, but alot of the stars of today’s game bypass the WBC. If all the stars played, like they do in the ASG, then I’d be all for it, but until then, I would much rather have ASG than WBC.

vs. a two week hiatus in the middle of the season thus extending play deeper into November. Absurd!

Either like a complete jerk or a cynic - Just let it die. It was a poorly executed concept for a sport that has a hell of a long season (and a well established training period) already. Sometimes you just can’t have it all. Thats why we have Football and Basketball in the offseason. I don’t have a problem with the idea of replacing the ASG with some shadow of the WBC, but that too presents issues ie; pitchers reluctant to play, risk of injury to position players, etc. IMO, the WBC would be a far different scenario from the ASG, which is akin to a celebrity pro-am. Certain key players for the season play in a glorified minor league game for a couple innings-make thier appearance and then split. The WBC would likely be far more competative — and could very well make everyone realize how boring and dull the ASG is.

Until they cut down spring training and the regular season there will be issues with scheduling, it is that simple.

I will not try and come up with a solution because I don’t think there is one; before, during, or after the season.

…it can slow down momentum, it can be harder on the guys who aren’t on the WBC teams to come back..IMO, it’s just not a good idea, just my opinion though.

As I suspect many baseball fans are, I’m struggling to come to terms with the WBC. I pretty much ignored it the first time around. I’m paying more attention now, but I’m conflicted. I don’t want to dismiss the idea outright because I think it does raise baseball’s visibility worldwide and, clearly, many players (such as Carlos Marmol) feel a strong pull to represent their home countries.

But, as you and many others point out, the tournament is a huge disruption and distraction during spring training. And, at the risk of contradicting myself, many players clearly don’t relish the chance to represent their respective countries enough to risk their well-being playing in full-on competition in March.

Another advantage to moving the WBC to midseason might be to draw more U.S. interest. I’m guessing there are a lot of baseball fans in this country who, unlike most of us, aren’t paying attention to the game during spring training, much less year-round. Yet, by the All-Star Break, more of America may be in “baseball mode” and willing to check out the WBC.

Meanwhile, the All-Star Game has become a bit of a farce, with its questionable rosters and lame “home field advantage” booby prize. Perhaps we’d all appreciate the All-Star Game a little more if we got a break from it every few years.

So, yeah, sign me up.

I know, Al, your proposal has all the games occurring in one city over the week, but what about having preliminary rounds in nearby cities. For instance, if Chicago was the host, games could be played in Detroit, Milwaukee or even Minneapolis.

Also, if needed, some of today’s Minor League stadiums could be used as well. For instance, Indianapolis’ stadium can hold 14,000 fans. Sure, it’s not a lot when compared to Major League parks, but is an Italy-Netherlands game going to attract that many people?

which I think is a better one, is to hold for ten days in April and then simply have a few double headers that season and extend the season a few days. You could even make them day/night double headers so that the owners don’t lose much of the gate.

I do believe the start of the season is the proper time for it. But delaying the start of the regular season for ten days or so is probably the right time for it.

because it was on ESPN tape delay in the middle of the night, but one of the best baseball games I ever saw was the South Korea/Japan semi-final game at Angel Stadium in the last WBC.

The stadium was rocking as much as the Angels 2002 World Series win. (And the Japanese fans were greatly outnumbered, I might add.) When South Korea won, the players rushed the field and among the celebration, planted the South Korean flag on the pitcher’s mound, Iwo-Jima style.

Don’t tell me that baseball players don’t care about playing for their country.

Team USA will be playing the New York Yankees today. The game will be available to mlb.tv subscribers. It doesn’t appear MLB Network will carry it. I’m not sure about ESPN.

You’d still have the sixteen countries, with rosters established ahead of time, and players would know their roles even if they didn’t have a chance to practice together. The regular season would break, as it does now, after a July Sunday. After a day for travel, on days one and two (Tuesday & Wednesday), you’d play four games, two in each stadium (to allow for cleanup time and resetting for game two), with staggered start times for TV purposes.

The four winners of the games the first two days would play semifinals on Thursday, and the championship game on Friday night — a Friday night in July when virtually nothing else sports-related is on TV (it’s after Wimbledon and before NFL preseason), giving worldwide exposure.

Four first-round games = Eight teams.

Pool play is how they work things down in the first two rounds. I’m not sure how to fix that, unless maybe you use the first two days for pool play in several stadiums in some area (i.e., Atlanta and the two Florida stadiums one year; NE stadiums another year; MW stadiums another year; West stadiums another year), then take the winner of each pool and plug them into the semifinals.

Or just extend things by a round somehow. I’m not sure how.

Or go down to eight teams. I’m not really sure why Australia or South Africa need a team, other than to get to 16.

Its not as though I am dead-set against the WBC. I just cannot wrap my brain around how it can work, and also gain the support from the U.S that it needs to survive. My own flagging interest and that of other baseball fans I know, suggests to me that, as others have suggested, American fans are far more interested in watching MLB.

I for one, will be looking forward towards the WBC. Go Mexico!

I believe the appropriate comparison should be the FIBA World Championship.

Players who keep in shape (hopefully 99 percent of them) should be able to play at a decent level in January, in the Caribbean, Mexico or Japan—or domed stadiums in the U.S.

With a little bit of tinkering and time, the WBC should become an event players, managers, execs, and, more importantly, fans look forward to.

The group rounds are played during the first couple of months and then during the All Star break the elimination rounds are played. You could probably schedule a couple of games in March, April, May and June. It would mean that the players selected for these games miss one or two seasons games. Thats not too bad.

Al I really like this idea.

I’m in the camp of thinking the concept of the WBC is a great idea but just done badly.

It is scaring me that I have been agreeing with you on basically every issue :).

change the NLDS to best-of-seven, so the Cubs win at least one or two playoff games, instead of trying to fix the meaningless WBC

You can’t hold a good baseball tournament in one week. If they tried to do that, they’d probably have to reduce the teams — say, do a preliminary round towards the end of the spring to pare it down to four teams, and then do the finals in July.

I think the best solution would be to cut a few games out of the schedule, get some compensation to the owners out of that, and carve out two weeks in July for the WBC. If the players actually PLAY, there’s a lot of money in such a tournament. Yes, the season would start and end earlier and later respectively, but we’re only talking a handful of days on either end.

The tournament itself would function just fine as five four-team double elimination tournaments. Split sixteen teams into four groups — just like this year — and it will take 4/5 days to determine a champion for that group. Then, you run one more double elimination bracket with the remaining four teams, and you have a world baseball champion. Factor in a travel day between the preliminary rounds and the final rounds, and you’re talking a maximum of 11 days for the tournament.

Or if you wanted, you could even shorten it to a 8/9 day competition with a single bracket for all 16 teams, which may wind up working out better.

In either case, though, interrupting the middle of the season for the WBC makes perfect sense to me as a fan. I get to see my favorite sport holding a true “world” championship, with all their players in top form. In exchange, the owners give up less than two weeks of time once every four years.

If the powers that be want the WBC taken seriously, they’re going to have to move it to a time that’s encourages a higher level of play, even if it’s somewhat inconveniencing.