MIAMI – Four years from now at the next World Baseball Classic, things should be much different for Canada.
The youngsters on the national team that got hammered 8-0 by the Americans on Sunday night to cap a miserable 0-3 run in boffo Pool C will be much more advanced by then, and in better position to compete against powerhouses like the Dominican Republic (3-0) and United States (2-1), and even an on-the-rise country like Colombia (1-2).
Dalton Pompey, Tyler O’Neill, Eric Wood, Nick Pivetta, Ryan Kellogg and Rowan Wick each acquitted themselves well, while Josh Naylor, Jesen Therrien, Shane Dawson and Daniel Pinero gained experience which should be invaluable down the road.
Add in up-and-comers not on the team like Kellin Deglan, Mike Soroka, Cal Quantrill, Andrew Yerzey and the 2017-draft-eligible Adam Hall, and there’s the potential for a core that can do some things.
Right now, though, not so much, with several longtime national team stalwarts like Justin Morneau, Pete Orr, Rene Tosoni, Jonathan Malo, Scott Mathieson and Scott Richmond either approaching the end of their careers, or right at the end.
In combination with the absence of key big-leaguers like Joey Votto, Russell Martin (who couldn’t play because of insurance issues), Michael Saunders, Brett Lawrie, James Paxton, Jameson Taillon and John Axford, who either were injured, declined for personal reasons or were pressured by their clubs not to go, the Canadians simply didn’t have enough weapons to match up in this transitional period.
Canada was outscored 21-3 and managed only 15 hits – only two for extra-bases – and four walks in the three games.
Major League Baseball officials took notice of the thinned-out roster and were disappointed that some players were discouraged by their teams from taking part. That, however, is a tournament-wide issue that must be addressed with big-league clubs.
Those that did suit up for Canada deserve props, since they entered this Classic like gladiators into the lion pit with steaks strapped to their backs. Now, based on the current format, the national team will need to re-qualify for the next one, like they did after getting bounced by Italy in 2009.
Giving Ryan Dempster, who hadn’t thrown a pitch of consequence since helping the Boston Red Sox win the 2013 World Series, starts in two of the three games underlined the disparity in talent. Baseball Canada hoped he could use smarts and guile to stickhandle through a few innings against both the Dominicans and Americans.
Dempster surrendered four runs in two innings against the defending tournament champions but the United States was all over him from the get-go Sunday, as the pitcher managed only one out and needed some clever relief work from Andrew Albers to keep the damage to only three runs.
Albers got the paddle in the second inning when Nolan Arenado ripped a three-run homer and Buster Posey added an RBI single before Richmond came in and settled things down with two scoreless frames.
The Americans didn’t score again until Buster Posey’s solo shot off Jim Henderson in the seventh made it 8-0.
Meanwhile, Danny Duffy wasn’t playing around, striking out the side in the first and seven over his four innings of two-hit work. Mychal Givens, Tyler Clippard, Jake McGee and Nate Jones locked things down as the Canadians struck out 15 times in total.
The Canadians have now failed to advance to the second round in each of the four World Baseball Classics so far. Their best chance to move on came in 2006, when they finished tied with the U.S. and Mexico at 2-1 but were eliminated in a tiebreaker. In 2009 in Toronto, they lost both their games, to the Americans and to Italy, to get bounced in stunning fashion while in 2013, the United States rallied in the eighth inning to beat Canada in a thrilling winner-moves-on game.
This time around, the Canadians, with a talent pool better than the results suggest diluted between those on their way out, those on their way in and those who didn’t show up at all, held the lead for only one full inning and were never in position to win a game.
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