Piggybacking on to the thoughts about how the Braves suck and how I now hate them, I remembered something over the weekend that drew a little bit of ire and angst that felt like it could ignite some words to be blurted out onto the ‘ol brog.
Long story short, a team consisting of 90% B-team Major League Baseball scrubs got no-hit in a game against a team of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball all-stars.
Let me rephrase this: MLB All-Star team gets no-hit by NPB All-Star team.
Now let me rephrase it again to be more accurate: MLB scrub team gets no-hit by NPB All-Star team.
Suffice to say, this is something that should be perceived as absolutely embarrassing. If I were the NPB All-Stars, I wouldn’t even take joy in this beyond the fact that they pitched a combined no-hitter, because even they had to realize that they were playing against MLB’s B-squad.
I can’t say that I’ve been a real follower of the MLB vs. NPB series that occurs every two years, but I can’t imagine that there’s much debate that this is something that MLB excel in, given the fact that baseball was invented in America, despite Japan’s general dedication and advancement in the game, throughout history. The numbers back up this claim too, as MLB has gone 15-6 against NPB over the last ten years, excluding this iteration of the series.
Basically, for all intents and purposes, MLB should be winning these series with regularity; provided they don’t get so arrogant and send a roster full of B-scrubs, and take it with a modicum of seriousness and nationalistic pride.
Unfortunately, MLB didn’t get that memo, and sent a squad full of B-scrubs, and the inevitable happened. At the time I’m writing this, MLB finally won one of the five scheduled games, but sits at an embarrassing 1-3 against the NPB All-Stars, including the one game in which they got you know, no-hit.
This is basically the 2004 US Olympic Basketball team all over again, where they cobbled together a group of random NBA players and told them to go bring home the gold medal, but completely didn’t account for the fact that around the world, national teams have been practicing and working together, and were growing less and less afraid of the big bad American basketball juggernaut, and completely embarrassed themselves on a global stage.
The MLB “All-Stars” completely figured they could throw whatever MLB scrubs they could find onto a 25-man roster, and compete against NPB’s All-Stars, who actually take this shit seriously, since it’s the perfect stage for them to try and upset the big bad Americans.
And not only did they succeed this time, they also had a giant fuck-you moment, when they no-hit the MLB B-squad.
Man, MLB sucks. There’s a reason why I’ve grown to like the minor leagues more than the major leagues, and it’s shit like this that sure as hell doesn’t help the cause for MLB’s supposed superiority in the Great American Game that the Japanese are determined to become better at than us.
