WBC en finito.

Bobby Valentine was quoted at some point, saying that Japanese baseball was so much better than American baseball, that the average every day American starter could not play on a Japanese team. see Joe McEwing.

Then, in the inaugural WBC, the American team bowed out much earlier than expected (they did beat the Japanese team, but also lost to Canada and Mexico). Then, last night, in the Championship game, the Japanese beat Cuba to prove their "world dominance" in a sport that is considered the American past-time.

There were two players who played on Major Leage teams on the Japanese roster. One was perennial all star and hits leader Ichiro, and the other little used relief pitcher Otsuka. This made the Japanese victory extraordinarily demoralizing to me and I presume American baseball fans.

If the Dominican team, or even the Venezuelan team won (both of which were riddled with MLBers) I would have felt some consolation from the simple fact that those players play in our league. However, even more demoralizing was that the Championship game featured not only a Japanese squad which contained two Major Leaguers, but their foe was a Cuban team that has none.

Perhaps, in this light it would have been more humbling had the Cuban team won, but there is something - I feel - that is a sort of rivalry between Japan and America. The rivalry is not about whose players are better, I think it is more of a proving grounds for which league is really the top of the food chain. This idea was fueled by Valentine (who used to manage in the MLB with the Mets) who, years ago, boldly predicted that this outcome would occur (if ever there were a matchup). It seems, that for right now, no matter how much I believe that this was a fluke; I, along with all other avid American baseball fans have to live with the acknowledgement that our beloved players, our beloved league is second fiddle to the Japanese Baseball League.