I wanted to see more new countries given a chance to compete internationally. I had no idea that places like Sweden and Uganda even had baseball programs. I think they either should have had pre-qualifiers or more pools. I agree, it is hard to build a program if there is nothing to build toward.
Why not give those smaller countries a chance with Pre-Qualifiers? Especially when the whole point of the WBC is to grow Baseball around the world, and with how fragile a minor sport’s popularity can be in these countries it could kill any interest in the sport. Very shortsighted.
@@mr.anderson2241 ye probably, but it just sucks to not see countries where baseball is actually thriving and growing faster than South Africa like the Philippines, Pakistan and Argentina. Having them in this qualifier could’ve boosted their public image, which will help in boosting growth and interest in baseball in their respective countries.
Colombia hasn't hosted likely beacuse of monetary reasons, the Colombian league for some reason is running low in cash and was even not competing in Caribbean series in last few years due that
5:22 I think France's non-participation in the qualifiers has more to do with financial issues. Given that baseball is a very niche sport in France, going to the US or Taiwan would cost a lot, compared to the last qualifier, hosted in Germany.
I don’t understand snubbing. Why can’t they just let everybody always have a chance to qualify and yes why can’t they choose proper host venues. Tucson really? Highly disappointing. The Curaçao news always pisses me off. Sheesh. But back to the snubbing why couldn’t South Africa and Argentina be selected. Why does there ever have to be snubbing ??? I don’t understand. They clearly don’t prioritize growing the game
Yeah it should’ve been in Colombia for the qualifier tournament. The Colombian team would get an advantage sure but that’s if anything for the best in order to grow the sport in Colombia. I was neutral on the splitting of curaçao from the Netherlands team but frankly I think it’s for the best considering it would have crippled the Netherlands national team which could benefit from having a competitive team on an international stage. Plus, the ABC islands are legally part of the kingdom of the Netherlands which is a political entity that is basically a union between the 3 island and the Netherlands. Overall I think these decisions are kind of shortsighted by snubbing potential places like the Philippines, Argentina, uganda, and Pakistan, especially when places like Uganda and Pakistan have great potential when it comes to baseball.
