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World Baseball Classic should be held in the summer
By Danielle
With the United States losing to Puerto Rico on Friday, Mitchell Boggs returned to the Cardinals spring training camp. Yadier Molina and Carlos Beltran remain with the Puerto Rico team as they are in the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic.
Feb 19, 2013; Jupiter, FL, USA; St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Mitchell Boggs (41) poses for a picture during photo day at Roger Dean Stadium. Image Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
But it brings to point a great question. When is the right time to hold the World Baseball Classic? Pitchers are trying to build up their arm strength in the early weeks of spring training. Plus, with college basketball tournaments going on, baseball does not have the month to itself.
By holding the games in March, baseball has to compete with ESPN and the other sports networks for the ratings on television.
Look at this afternoon. St. Louis University is on CBS playing for the Atlantic 10 conference championship while the St. Louis Cardinals are playing in a spring training exhibition game on the MLB Network and Fox Sports Midwest. I would expect that CBS gets the higher ratings in the St. Louis market but then again, one never truly knows.
In all honesty, it would really be better for baseball to hold the World Baseball Classic in July after the All-Star break. It would take a two or two and a half week period to hold the games but instead of pushing the schedule into mid-October, all teams would have to do is hold several double headers during the season. In the month of July, there is no real competition on television with baseball like there is in March.
It would be better for the Cardinals if Yadier Molina was behind the plate this spring. Molina’s catching would be very instrumental for the development of pitchers such as Joe Kelly and Shelby Miller.
In minor league action yesterday, Carson Kelly is the Redbird Rants Minor League Player of the Day. Kelly went 1-for-2 at the plate yesterday with a 3-run home run for the Palm Beach Cardinals.