Yelich happy to be playing for U.S.
JUPITER — Christian Yelich was admiring one of his cust o m- des i g ned L oui s v i l l e Slugger bats with the red, white and blue Team USA logo etched into the trademark when the topic turned to money.
When it was mentioned to Yelich that players in the World Baseball Classic are paid to play, his response was: “We are?”
It was news to Yelich, a Marlins outfielder who was selected to represent the United States in the international baseball tournament.
“I’d play for free, are you kidding?” Yelich said.
Yelich, Marlins teammate Giancarlo Stanton and a large ensemble of All-Stars from throughout the majors will converge on Marlins Park to take part in the WBC, an international baseball tournament that is growing in popularity.
S a t u rd ay ’s s h owdown bet ween the U.S. and the Dominican Republic — two baseball powers — sold out in no time. Marlins Park has been sold out for baseball five times since opening in 2012.
“I think it’s the fastest sell- out at Marlins Park for any event,” Marlins president David Samson said. “Maybe (televangelist) Joel Osteen sold out faster. It’s the first domestic sellout of a non-finals game in the WBC.”
Teams from Colombia and Canada also will be playing at Marlins Park, one of f our f i r s t - rou nd ve nues, during the tournament that stretches from today to Sunday. If necessary, a tiebreaker game will be played Monday. Other first-round games are being played in Japan, Mexico and South Korea.
“WBC and Miami, they have to be together,” Samson said. “It’s perfect.”
It’s the fourth time the WBC has been staged and the third time Miami has hosted a round. Sixteen countries are taking part, with the final four teams advancing to the championship round March 20-22 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
Samson said more than 135,000 tickets already have been sold to the six games being played at Marlins Park and expects the final count to reach 160,000. When the event was last held in Miami in 2013, 113,000 total tickets were sold.
“It shows the global reach of Miami and baseball,”he said.
New Marlins pitcher Edinson Volquez, playing for the Dominican Republic, is scheduled to start against Team USA on Saturday. That means he could end up facing Yelich and Stanton, his Marlins teammates.
Dominican fans are fired u p a b o u t t h e WB C a n d Volquez expects a large turnout from them Saturday. The Dominican team won the last WBC in 2013.
“They’re kind of crazy a little bit,” Volquez said with a laugh. “We enjoy the game a different way. It’s going to be craz y down in Miami. Everybody’s coming in from different places — from New York and everywhere.”
While baseball is known as the “national pastime” in the United States, the country has yet to win the tournament. Japan won the first two tournaments. It explains why players such as Stanton and Yelich are determined to end the drought.
“We’re not just showing up to show up,” said Stanton, who also played in the 2013 WBC. “At the end of the day, it’s to win.”
Yelich has been looking forward to the tournament since October when he was invited to play.
“When they called me, I was like, ‘Hell yeah I’m in!’ “Yelich said. “Wearing a Team USA jersey for the first time is going to be awesome.”
Yelich said there will be pressure to win.
“I think every team has pressure,” he said. “Everyone’s re pre s e nt i ng t hei r country. But, at the same time, there’s pressure every time we play baseball, just a different kind.”
During the Marlins’ Grapefruit League game on Monday, Yelich’s bat slipped from his grasp and went flying into the seats. He didn’t bother to retrieve it, letting the fan keep it as a souvenir.
It was a run-of-the-mill bat he normally swings, not one of his precious Team USA bats for the WBC.
“If I threw one of those,” he said, “I would have gotten it back.”