In 2006, the last time the Winter Olympics were held, was also the first time the World Baseball Classic was held (which meant that was held in an incredibly busy sports year as World Cup was also played during that time). That was also the time it was becoming more clear that Baseball would not be an Olympic sport in later Olympic games. So baseball would be losing its international stage (which was also hard to claim it had one since that its the only sport where the professionals really do not play during the Olympics thanks to the MLB).
This is where the actual appeal of the WBC comes into play. At some level, international competition is fun to watch. There is a certain pride in rooting for one's native country. However it is here where the problems of the WBC come into light. For an international competition, there are not a lot of countries involved yet. In terms of athletes being ready for the games, the question of when to play the international tournament arises, and that is a very complicated question to answer.
I guess the point of this article is that Internationa Competition is great and I hope in the future the WBC can have a real international prescence.
