The third World Baseball Classic is now history, and congratulations to the Dominican Republic on the victory. The WBC has gotten better each time, I believe, and it has become an excellent showcase for the game on a worldwide basis, especially since baseball was removed as an Olympic event following the 2008 Games in Beijing.

Japan's J SPORTS broadcaster televised all 47 games of the 2013 WBC and it was just so much fun to watch many of them from the various venues including Taiwan, Fukuoka, Tokyo, Puerto Rico, Miami, Phoenix and San Francisco. Announcers Gary Thorne and Rick Sutcliffe, calling play-by-play on later-round WBC games from the U.S., commented about how the event has served to bring together the best talent from around the globe where baseball is played and present it to audiences at the ball parks and on television.

I have to admit I was glued to the TV for many of the games but especially the semifinal when Team Samurai Japan absorbed that heart-breaking loss to the eventual runnerup, Puerto Rico. If I had to leave the room or go out for a few minutes to run an errand, I made sure I had the game on the radio in the car or in my ear with a pocket radio, so as not to miss a play. That is something normally reserved only for the World Series, Japan Series or the Super Bowl.