Venezuela last night, three two final win over the U.S. in the world baseball classic. A lot of

drama in Miami during this thing. The intensity was incredible. Bryce Harper's two-run

Homer in the bottom of the eighth last night, unbelievably clutch for, I think one of the more clutched team sport athletes of the

last 15 years.

Here to discuss that.

And then the Nats, we are eight days away from opening day at Wrigley Field, is our good friend, Mark Zuckerman.

Of course, Mark now has his own substack.

You can get access to it. It's natchjournals.com,

but just follow Mark on X at Mark Zuckerman. Nobody's done a better job of following our baseball team over the last many years than Mark has, and he's back with us. So, let's start with

last night. First of all, just with

respect to the timing of this, I know I've read a lot about this is bad timing because the

utilization of certain players on the verge of, you know, the Major League Baseball season opening

was limiting for Mark DeRosa.

Explain that timing, the impact, and whether or not there's another time on the calendar

that would work better.

Yeah, this has always been, I think, the biggest issue with the WBC, and it's been around

for 20 years now, which is crazy to think and still feels like a new event.

Why did it only become a big deal recently?

The event?

I think it's having more of the star players have started to be in it the last few times.

I think the final last time around, 23, Japan and U.S., and you had the Otani versus

Trout head to head for the final out of the game.

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