With the exception of ESPN delaying coverage of the start of the Finals for the World Baseball Classic (the second round NIT game between Notre Dame and Michigan went into double overtime), causing the viewers to show up just over 6 mins. into the game with Japan already leading 2-0 over Cuba, last night’s game was about as good as it gets, well… short of the MLB playoffs and the World Series, but I digress.

The World Baseball Classic was in just under 3 weeks in 7 venues over 39 games.

Total attendance last night at Petco Park: 42,696

Total attendance for the WBC: Nearly 740,000

So, the WBC was a success in its first year, even with the US being eliminated before reaching the finals. Surely, Bud, Bob, Donald and Gene all have an spring in their step this morning.

There will be more talk on the scheduling of the event. Many (e.g. George Steinbrenner) saw the games in March a recipe for injury disaster. Good thing that the only key player really injured (Luis Ayala) plays for a team currently owned by MLB (the Nationals). Hard for a collective ownership to say, “I told you so.”

Whether it is better during an extended All-Star break or after the World Series seems debatable. From a marketing perspective, and the NCAA Tournament the exception, the WBC did fairly well.

Looking back, the event went smoothly… No Cuban defectors… a great game… not bad given the fact that when last night’s game kicked off 177 MLB players were sitting on sidelines watching.

See you again in 2009.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 21st, 2006 at 8:09 am and is filed under Baseball Insight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.