Benefits of Canada's WBC run well beyond quarterfinal date with U.S.

HOUSTON – Different venue, same positive vibes for Canada at the World Baseball Classic as the national team acclimated from the cozy and rustic Hiram Bithorn Stadium to the imposing and polished Daikin Park. A few rounds of grounders for the infield, throwing in the outfield for the pitchers, several rounds of batting practice and the day was done, leaving only the wait to Friday’s quarterfinal against the powerhouse United States.

“Anything can happen in one game,” Michael Soroka said Thursday after being confirmed as Canada’s starter for the contest. “The roster gap isn't probably as big as it's been in previous years and we're very fortunate to have a lineup like this and a pitching staff that has some depth. We're going to give it everything we've got and let it fall as it will.”

There have been few games of consequence for Canada’s senior squad that compare, which is why winning Pool A with Wednesday’s 7-2 victory over Cuba and escaping the first round for the first time was so important. But beyond the good times, the happy social media posts and the long-sought achievement for so many people working at this for 20-plus years, this run’s impact will run far deeper.

“We've always talked about when the Jays do well, Baseball Canada does well,” said Jason Dickson, the former Los Angeles Angels all-star who is Baseball Canada’s chief executive officer. “The Jays have done their part in the sense of getting to a World Series and we're now doing our part. They built momentum. It helps us build momentum. We have a good run here as it leads into the Jays season and between the two of us, we get a lot of Canadian kids thinking about playing baseball.

“There's a lot of talk around baseball. It seems like it hasn't stopped since last year. Yes, we had the Olympics and yeah, we had our hockey jerseys on for a bit, but there's a lot of baseball talk a lot of months this year and it's good.”

No doubt, and baseball in Canada is definitely enjoying an extended moment. 

It will be months before there’s hard data, but anecdotally, interest in participation is already surging where it’s open, and being highly anticipated in communities where it’s yet to start.

“The cautionary part to this is we need to then develop capacity, not just in fields but coaching, volunteers, all those things come with it,” said Dickson. “But we set those discussions with the Jays and Jays Care around how we partner and do some of those things.”

Success at the Classic helps on that front, too, as the deeper Canada goes, the larger its share of the prize money. Each of the 20 national federations in the tournament gets an initial cut, with bonuses subsequently paid out for winning a pool, advancing to the quarterfinals and each win beyond that.

That money, pushing into seven figures rather than six at this point, is split evenly between the federation and its players, a boon that trickles down across the country.

“The portion that comes to our federation, it has multi-year significance. It's very impactful. It's huge,” said Dickson. “Sport Canada funding has been cut for us and many other sports. I'm not just saying it from a Baseball Canada perspective. I had the same conversation with my counterpart at USA Baseball and even for them, there's money that turns into grassroots dollars that helps build the game.”

Leveraged well, the full benefits of all that will show up a decade from now, just as several of the younger players on the current team point to the 2015-16 Blue Jays as key in their pathway.

First things first, there’s a quarterfinal game against the Americans, one that’s long awaited and highly anticipated, especially after gold-medal losses to the U.S. for the men’s and women’s Olympic hockey teams last month.

“It would be great to avenge it,” said manager Ernie Whitt.

Added Soroka: “We're not chasing results. We're not chasing a story. We're just going to go out there and play our brand of baseball and let everything fall as it may.”

OLYMPIC SPOILS

Final World Baseball Classic placement will decide the two Americas qualifiers for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics — the United States is already in as host — so Canada’s advancement to the quarterfinals helps on that front, as well.

The Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Puerto Rico are in the running with the Canadians as the non-U.S. Americas teams still standing, but how it lines up from there is complicated.

According to a March 3 letter sent from the World Baseball Softball Confederation to national federations, the final rankings will be based on how deep teams reach, grouped by the stage at which they’re eliminated. 

Rankings within each of the phases is determined by the following tiebreaking criteria, in order of priority: 

The best approach for the remaining contenders is to just keep winning so they can avoid doing math.

FAMILIAR FACES

Soroka allowed one run on four hits and a walk with two strikeouts against Colombia in Canada’s Classic opener and is ready for a much tougher assignment versus the Americans.

“It was a different game against Colombia because there were a lot of names in the lineup that I hadn't faced and a lot of names that we didn't have a ton of data on — and this is very much the opposite,” he said. “We'll have a good idea. And it will be a little bit more of a chess match than that was. 

“I'm looking forward to it,” he added. “I feel really good. We'll make the next step in a starting progression, obviously. I'm going to go out there with everything I've got for as long as I've got it.”