Aaron Judge has been to the World Series. He has multiple MVPs. He is not known for big emotional outbursts. And he said the World Baseball Classic is bigger and better than the World Series.
Front Office Sports reporter Eric Fisher is on the ground at Loan Depot Park in Miami and what he is seeing in the stands and hearing from the people running this tournament tells a very specific story about where baseball is heading. The US nearly blew it. A coaching mistake, a complicated tiebreaker rule and a chaotic Italy game almost sent the Americans home early. Japan is out. The Dominican Republic is out. And yet somehow the business case for this tournament has never been stronger.
Eric breaks down exactly how all of that happened and what it means. Netflix had exclusive streaming rights in Japan for a country that does not have a streaming culture. The automated ball and strike system is coming to the WBC. And the Miami Marlins have spent years proving that this market loves baseball when it is given a reason to show up. Tonight it has a reason.
