There's No Shame In Bowing Out Of The World Baseball Classic To Get Ready For The Regular Season, But Switching Countries Like Marcus Stroman Is Doing Is Egregious

Jayne Kamin-Oncea. Getty Images.

There's an emotional strife a baseball player encounters with the World Baseball Classic. On one hand it's an awesome fucking honor to represent your country on the world stage as you battle rival countries for the title. Sure there's the Olympics, but when it comes to baseball this is the one that everyone cares about. On the other hand these games are played in March while every team in Major League Baseball is down in Spring Training ramping themselves up for the long haul of the season. If you're a star what do you do? 

I'm sure there's going to be fans wondering where guys like Aaron Judge, Austin Riley, Adley Rutschman, or frankly any of our stud starting pitchers are. Could be simply those players not wanting to mess with their routines in prep for the season or their respective teams not wanting them to risk injury. Either reason I understand. Call it soft, but these guys getting thrown into the fire in March where every pitch, every play, and every swing has immense stress put on it is a whole lot different than playing a few innings in Florida or Arizona here and there. I'm kinda shocked there are as many stars getting the green light to play as there is. 

Something I don't get? Marcus Stroman winning the World Baseball Classic for Team USA in 2017 as he basically carried our pitching staff and now deciding to go play for Puerto Rico. We've got ourselves a regular day Benedict Arnold! 

I fell in love with Stroman during the 2017 WBC. He became our horse. You wanted him having the ball to get the most important outs. Stro was nothing short of electric, posting a 2.35 ERA in 15 1/3 innings while pitching with all the passion in the world. 

Since that moment he's blocked half the internet on Twitter and said a lot of stupid shit that has soured the love he generated back then. Now he's switching countries and hopping over to Team Puerto Rico? His mom is of Puerto Rican descent, but what about this quote from the last WBC? 

"I hope kids watching the WBC can watch the way we play the game and appreciate the way we play the game as opposed to the way Puerto Rico plays or the Dominican plays,"

There was also all the hate his family got from Puerto Rico fans when he opted to play for Team USA in the first place. 

“I know a lot of people have been saying bad things to her, going through the process, on social media,” Stroman said after Team USA’s 2-1 victory over Japan in Tuesday’s semifinal.

“That’s my mother. I stand by her always. She supports me through everything. I don’t respect some of the comments that were made toward my mother.” (CBS Sports)

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Seems loyalty is something Stroman values greatly, huh? Now there's no way to tell if this is because Team USA didn't entertain a spot for him this time around or if he just outright chose to switch countries. Either way, pretty weird move to go to play for the country who harassed your family when you turned them down last time. 

It certainly generates some potential fireworks if USA once again happens to get matched up with them down the road. Stro pitching in an elimination game against us? Gonna need a lot of popcorn for that one.