Friday, March 17: Chicago Cubs vs Los Angeles Dodgers; Sloan Park, Mesa, AZ
A beautiful St Patrick’s Day in the land of actual snakes, and the Cubs’ split-squad couldn’t manage a win between them, with the traveling half tying the White Sox 4-4 at Camelback Ranch.
The Dodgers arrived at Sloan Park without Mookie Betts, who’s still on WBC duty, but they did have Great Britain’s man of the moment Trayce Thompson, fresh off his homer against Team USA. And it was Hayden Wesneski’s walk to Thompson that kick-started the Dodgers’ avalanche in the fourth inning.
Up until that point, Wesneski had looked pretty solid and an Ian Happ double had given the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third. But the Dodgers – including beloved former Cub Jason Hayward – batted around in the fourth and left the shellshocked Cubs looking up at an 8-1 deficit.
To their credit they tried to battle back behind a sprinkling of big hits from Cody Bellinger, Matt Mervis and Jacob Wetzel – and Dansby Swanson notched a rare double – but the Dodgers held on to win 9-7.
Long-time Cub fan Joe Mantegna was on first-pitch duties – interesting trivia tidbit I never knew: Mantegna sang the seventh-inning stretch on the day of Kerry Wood’s 20-strikeout game.
And of course, with it being St Patrick’s Day, Clark the Cub found some green stuff to wear, to the general bemusement of onlookers.
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Thursday, March 16: Chicago Cubs vs Arizona Diamondbacks; Sloan Park, Mesa, AZ
It still feels odd to me to see Madison Bumgarner in any other uniform than the Giants. But thanks to last night’s rainout it’s always good to see the three-time World Series winner pitching at all, even if I had to look up a few of the players lining up with him today for the Diamondbacks. Maybe he did too.
In his second Spring start, Madbum – who turns 34 this year – put up three scoreless innings to help the Dbacks to a 3-1 win (although he returned to the game after reliever Zach McAllister got him out of a second-inning jam – the first time I’ve ever seen that quirky Spring Training rule in operation).
When I was last at Sloan Park a week or so ago, Drew Smyly – incidentally the same age as Bumgarner – became the first Cubs pitcher to go four innings this Spring. Today he became the first to go five and looked pretty solid, giving up two runs on three hits, with four Ks. The Cubs’ only run came on a homer by Cody Bellinger, in what will probably be close to the opening day line-up two weeks from now.
On a beautiful day for a ballgame it was another 16,000-plus sell-out, and you never know who you might run into over by the nacho stand…
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I started this season in Phoenix, watching qualifying games in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, including the USA and – making their WBC debut – Great Britain.
Follow highlights from the tournament here and read my Conversation with baseball writer Danny Knobler here.
Read also an encounter that didn’t go the way i was expecting here…
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Wednesday, March 15: USA vs Colombia; Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ
The final game of this week’s pool play and as the heavens opened with an intense southwestern thunderstorm outside, even with Chase Field’s famous retractable roof closed, there was something of a pool developing inside.
Strange as it might sound, the stadium is now the fourth-oldest in the National League and after issues with the roof throughout last season, the Diamondbacks’ ownership is weighing its options for when the current lease runs out in 2027.
Going into tonight’s last qualifying game, the USA knew a win would take them to the qualifying stages; but they also knew that even if Colombia came out on top, prompting a three-team tiebreaker for the second spot, Mark DeRosa’s team had an advantage in run differential.
In the end, such mathematical projections were academic after Mike Trout powered the USA to a 3-2 comeback win in a tight contest. Like most of the US team’s games this week, it wasn’t pretty, and a similar standard of play in a win-or-go-home situation might not be enough, but Team USA will play Venezuela in the quarter-final in Miami on Saturday, guaranteeing the WBC and Fox Sports at least one more reasonably-rated broadcast opportunity. (The highest-rated game not involving the US so far was Colombia-Mexico on Saturday afternoon, which drew just 758,000 US viewers).
Tonight’s outcome also had positive implications for Great Britain, who by virtue of Colombia’s loss, gain an automatic spot in the next tournament, set for 2026. Colombia will now have to qualify.
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Wednesday, March 15: Mexico vs Canada; Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ
Apart from rooting for the Great Britain team to do well (mission accomplished) my favourite team to watch during this past week has been Mexico.
Their fans bring a great party attitude to the park, but are also deeply serious about baseball; while their roster is full of entertaining, determined and outstandingly skilful players – there is, literally, always something exciting happening every time they’re up to bat.
They showed just how good they are in brushing aside Team USA on Sunday and put on a show again today, beating Canada 10-3 in what was effectively a play-in game for a place in the quarter-finals that start in Miami on Friday.
Mexico’s Cuban-born outfielder Randy Arozarena has proven to be one of WBC’s biggest assets this week, in terms of his interaction with fans and all-round on-field performances. He understands the value to the tournament of marrying the idea of a spring training feel with a genuine competitiveness.
For a concept like WBC to succeed and become embedded in the minds of fans (and indeed, players) along the lines of a ‘World Cup’, as MLB hopes, there has to be something at stake, but at the same time it has to be a fiesta. With Mexico and Arozarena this week, it has definitely been that.
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Tuesday, March 14: Great Britain vs Mexico; Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ
For a brief, insane moment it looked like Great Britain could be on the verge of exceeding the heights of their outstanding achievement in beating Colombia yesterday. Could they take one more step towards baseball glory?
Against the Phillies’ former All-Star pitcher Taijuan Walker (8 Ks and four scoreless innings) and an impressive Mexican team it looked like it might be a mountain too high to climb, but when the sixth inning began with Mexico leading just 1-0, Chavez Young ripped a double to put the lead-off man in scoring position, and anything might be possible.
The heavy underdogs in Pool C had – underdoggedly – refused to lie down since the second inning when Mexico’s backup catcher Alexis Wilson – himself the subject of a classic baseball cinderella story – had driven in the game’s opening run.
But despite two quick outs that threatened to leave Young stranded, he stole third (tying the WBC steals record) with Harry Ford at the plate. When Ford worked a walk to put men at the corners, Mexico’s manager Benji Gil went to his bullpen, bringing in JoJo Romero to pitch to BJ Murray, who lashed Romero’s first pitch to Mexico shortstop Alan Trejo and beat out Trejo’s throw at first, scoring Young. Cue mayhem!
In the bottom of the frame, relief pitcher Donovan Benoit steadied Britain’s ship and the team’s irrepressible confidence, built on a never-say-die collective attitude, was turning the underdog into a bulldog.
Alas, though, the next inning was destined to be Alexis Wilson’s moment. After fouling a Tahnaj Thomas pitch off against the umpire’s mask leaving him shaken, Wilson stunned the rest of Chase Field by lining a shot into left, scoring Alan Trejo from second. Daniel Cooper came on to pitch and struck out Randy Arozarena before Alex Verdugo rolled one to first and GB were out of the inning with the game thankfully still close.
When Arozarena pulled in pinch-hitter Alex Crosby’s pop fly to end the game, Britain’s dream was over, but Mexico knew they’d been in a scrap. It certainly felt like they were pushed harder than they had been by the USA the other night.
Mexico now go into their last – equally crucial – Pool C game on Thursday against Canada on a huge wave of confidence. The winner automatically advances to the quarter-finals and if the unpredictable USA beats Colombia in the late game, they’ll be the other qualifier.
Mexico are a really good, MLB-calibre team, and even though – no matter what happens – many fans will remember their emotional victory over the USA, this win tonight showed just how resilient they are when circumstances are in flux.
It was, in truth, a remarkable performance from Drew Spencer and his Great Britain team, but then, their whole tournament has been. They may be eliminated, but no-can say they didn’t deserve to be here. They’ll be back. (And if team USA beats Colombia tomorrow, GB will automatically qualify for the next tournament).
Great game!
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Tuesday, March 14: Canada vs Colombia; Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ
The Arizona qualifying pool is going to go down to the final day tomorrow after Canada’s decisive 5-0 win over Colombia behind a superb pitching performance by Noah Skirrow in his WBC debut.
Canada may have been in too much of a Rush to get on the board. Freddie Freeman’s walk-up music in the first inning was ‘Sprit of Radio’. In the third, it was ‘Tom Sawyer’. If he had come up next time to the intro to ‘2112’ it would have been a clock violation…
Freeman left the game after the fourth inning with what was described as a “hamstring concern” and looks set to miss tomorrow’s crucial game against Mexico.
Best sign was the two Canadian dudes who held up a board with “Our Beer is Stronger, Eh?”
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Monday, March 13: USA vs Canada; Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ.
A crazy, chaotic first couple of innings as US fans finally got the breakout slugfest they were expecting, while Canada became just the third team in WBC history to win by the mercy rule one day and lose by the same rule the next. It was a tough night for Canada’s 19-year-old starter Mitch Bratt. As Joe Posnanski writes, the kid had no chance.
With pool play moving into its final stages and qualification still up for grabs, strategies will revolve around teams’ use of their pitching staffs, given the rules on pitch counts. The mercy rule is designed to protect pitchers’ arms, so sometimes taking the loss and moving on can work out to a team’s advantage.
A 12-1 drubbing to the United States wasn’t a total shock for Canada, nor a total disaster either.
In losing by mercy rule, the Canadians preserved bullpen arms for the upcoming games that really matter. (@ShiDavidi) https://t.co/nWnzdb3L6S— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 14, 2023
After two uninspiring showings to start the World Baseball Classic, Team USA finally resembled the juggernaut it was supposed to be …
More from @KyleAGlaser: https://t.co/c5SJIDOZ2r— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) March 14, 2023
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Monday March 13: Great Britain vs Colombia; Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ.
Picking themselves up after a demoralising mercy rule loss to Canada yesterday, the Great Britain team turned the page to produce nothing less than their greatest-ever baseball victory, coming back from a three-run first inning deficit to beat Colombia 7-5.
And their former colonists are celebrating along with them, since the result puts the USA’s progress to the quarter-finals back in their own hands.
Catcher Harry Ford went 2-4 with a solo home run, but it was an all-round team performance that showed bravery, self-belief and pride from exciting young players like Chavez Young and Jaden Rudd.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of this win. I spent some time a couple of nights ago with the folks behind the scenes at the British Baseball Federation and genuinely couldn’t be happier for them. After likely surprising themselves against the USA, it must have been deflating to fall to Canada the way they did; but I’m sure they feel that to perform the way they did in tonight’s game has made everything about their first WBC experience more than worthwhile.
Great Britain just did the United States its biggest favor since exporting The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
With their win over Colombia, the Brits cleared Team USA’s path to the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals in a big way.
Explainer here:https://t.co/7AltycGIx9 — Kyle Glaser (@KyleAGlaser) March 13, 2023
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Sunday March 12: USA vs Mexico; Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ
Team USA’s unconvincing victory over Great Britain yesterday spilled over into another lacklustre performance in a raucous, sold-out game against Mexico, themselves smarting from their late disappointment against Colombia.
But on Sunday Mexico dominated from start to finish and their 11-5 win was thoroughly deserved. It delighted their passionate fans – in what was, after all, a home game for them – just as much as it led inevitably to US fans questioning their team’s mentality to go all the way.
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Saturday March 11: Great Britain vs USA; Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ
The heavily-favoured US team, behind pitcher Adam Wainwright and laden with major league stars, took their opening game 6-2 against Great Britain, but that wasn’t the whole, predictable, story. The Brits gave a good showing of themselves in the early innings after jumping out to a 1-0 lead on a round-tripper by Trayce Thompson of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The shot may not have been heard around the world, but it at least temporarily silenced a crowd that had come expecting a slugfest on the other side of the scorecard. The crowd had also come to perform themselves, with a gathering of costumed minutemen, bald-bewigged Ben Franklins and almost as many tricorn hats as $49 USA baseball caps.
For a nation that professes to revere its flag, the number of people wearing it as items of clothing of various degrees of appropriateness might have made Betsy Ross blush. But then again, she was married in a tavern so she probably would have got the vibe. There were many, many banners and shirts bearing 1776-related slogans and anytime a British incursion threatened, there was a healthy, deep-throated booing, before breaking into the inevitable mindless catchall of “USA USA!” (My own favourite t-shirt, though, was of a muscular Bald Eagle wearing RayBans with the slogan “Too Cool For British Rule”…)
This was always going to be a one-sided contest. Kind of like having a Single-A team play in the All-Star Game – you just hope it doesn’t turn into a Home Run Derby.
But it was unrestrained American power in the form of a typical Schwarbomb that sealed the plucky Brits’ fate and allowed the crowd to go home believing they’re the world’s greatest superpower, at least for one more night. It was a far from convincing show by what should have been an imperious Team USA, and that could come back to haunt them.
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Saturday March 11: Colombia vs Mexico; Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ
The Arizona leg of the WBC got under way with what turned out to be a really exciting game between Colombia and Mexico after a cagey start. With their fans heavily outnumbered in the Chase Field crowd of more than 28,000, Colombia grabbed a 5-4 victory in the tenth inning following a go-ahead run scored on a Mexican fielding error, then a fine performance by pitcher Guillermo Zuniga to close it out.
Mexico has now lost its opening game in all five WBC tournaments, but its fans will still be hyped for tomorrow’s game against the US.
Hearing people all around you talking baseball and reacting to the action on the field in a language you can’t understand is both refreshing and humbling. It shows the true global nature of the game – and helps remind us of our own shortcomings. On the big screen, the WBC event “hosts” – an unnaturally energetic couple – screamed at us (in English) to show how excited we were as the TV feed went live. There really was no need. This crowd was definitely in the mood.
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Friday March 10: Chicago Cubs vs Chicago White Sox; Sloan Park, Mesa, AZ.
A final-inning rally came up short as the Cubs snapped a nine-game winning streak to fall 4-3 in this year’s first meeting of the crosstown rivals in Mesa on Friday.
Drew Smyly became the first Cubs pitcher this spring to go four innings in what was a pretty tight game before the Sox jumped out to a 4-1 lead by the top of the ninth. While the Cubs had 11 hits, none went for extra bases, but there’s enough to be optimistic about for the rest of the spring on the day that a roster trim sent several prospects to the minors, including Brennen Davis and the highly-regarded Pete Crow-Armstrong. They’ll be back.
One thing I’ve always loved about Spring Training has been watching kids enjoy the casual proximity to star players and how they respond. Something as simple as tossing some BP balls to a group of kids and seeing the scamble for them will never get old.
Just as the games don’t really count, Spring Training should be about not worrying about anything and enjoying the experience.
That’s why it was more than a little jarring to see a guy wearing a t-shirt with an image of an AR-15 bearing the words “Come And Take It”. It was the only deliberately provocative and overtly political thing I saw all day, and of course it’s his right to wear whatever he wants – at least as far as society deems it’s not inciting, insulting or otherwise dangerous to the public peace. So I guess society has some work to do.
Now this is an altogether more wholesome choice of attire…
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Something I haven’t really written much about yet on the project is how I’ve wanted to test out public transit systems in the cities I visit and see how practical they are for getting to ballparks that aren’t always in the centre of downtown. It’s one of the marks of a civilized community to offer a real alternative to automobile use.
While going completely car-free in a place as spread out as this isn’t really possible, so far the Valley Metro system that serves the greater Phoenix area seems to be a pretty good model for how it can work – there seems to have been well thought-out investment in stops and rolling stock for a reliable integrated bus and light rail service. What it needs, though, is some better directional signage. It would be good to know the closest stop to the ballpark for anyone arriving on foot, and that should be marked on the route infographics, not left to the rider to figure out based on guessing from a map that’s not to scale. Today I went two stops past where I should have gotten off, and it took me 40 minutes to walk back.
But that’s a relatively small thing. Apart from the score, today was nothing but great, and genuinely felt like coming out of hibernation…
And there’s always the Sonoran Nachos…
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States of Play 