Adrian Gonzalez is still fuming about the World Baseball Classic
A few days later, Adrian Gonzalez obviously has not gotten over his anger at the way Mexico was eliminated from the World Baseball Classic — via a tiebreaker scenario based on runs allowed per defensive inning.
[Sign up for Yahoo Fantasy Baseball: Get in the game and join a league today]
Nobody likes getting sent home via tiebreaker, but as he returned to Los Angeles Dodgers spring training camp Wednesday, Gonzalez made it clear he was still angry about his country’s WBC fate.
Gonzalez was the biggest MLB star on Mexico’s WBC roster, and has played in every edition of baseball’s global tournament. He said Wednesday that’s over; he’s done with the World Baseball Classic. Per Andy McCullough, the Dodgers beat writer for the Los Angeles Times:
Adrian Gonzalez has returned to camp. He says he will never play in the WBC again: "It's good to be the hell out of that tournament."
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) March 15, 2017
But wait, there’s more:
Adrian Gonzalez on the WBC: "They're trying to be the World Cup. But they're not even the Little League World Series."
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) March 15, 2017
Gonzalez said he harangued MLB brass. He said he told them, "You have no integrity. Everything you guys are doing is a bunch of BS."
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) March 15, 2017
Now, Gonzalez has a little bit of reputation among some fanbases as being a complainer, so his comments might be getting misconstrued a bit. But, according to Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A., Gonzalez appears to have at least one legit gripe as it relates to the tiebreaker rules.
Gonzalez said Mexico's GM asked WBC officials for clarification of the tiebreaker by email/phone 7 times before Venezuela game. No response
— Eric Stephen (@truebluela) March 15, 2017
One necessary point: If there’s another World Baseball Classic in 2021, Gonzalez would be 38 years old. So who’s to say he’d be playing anyway?
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:
– – – – – –
Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
