By Henry Hansen
With the World Baseball Classic over, the United States is disappointed to come in second place for the second straight time. It is not as if the country lacks talent; the U.S. has the most Major League players out of any country and has more superstar players than any other country. Out of the top 50 ranked players in the MLB, 28 are American. However, of these 28 players, only 12 played for the national team, and Tarik Skubal declined to pitch in the final, fearing injury. On the biggest stage in Baseball, one of the best pitchers in the MLB declined to pitch for his country. This kind of attitude is why Team USA is losing to teams like Italy and Venezuela.
If we look at sports like basketball, this sentiment is shared. LeBron James had to recruit players across the league to play for Team USA during the 2024 Olympic Games. The young stars showed no passion for playing for Team USA and representing their country on the biggest stage. It took the greatest basketball player of our generation to convince them to play and join the team. This loss of passion is a widespread issue among athletes, and it needs to be fixed to preserve the integrity of the game.
One way to fix this problem is by having a culture shift on the national team. The United States Men’s Soccer Team had its culture revitalized by a series of coaches, which led to American soccer players fighting tooth and nail to be included in the team. This has led to more success for the team than they would have seen if they had the same culture as the basketball and baseball teams do. It can also be started by the players themselves.
The US Men’s hockey team recently beat the Canadians in the Olympics. This was because the American players felt that they had a duty to help secure their country’s gold in the tournament. The players who participated in this participated for their country, not for a paycheck. Their fighting spirit was what propelled them to defeat Canada in a close game. This passion is what is needed for Team USA to flourish; this passion is what the fans deserve, not this phoned-in performance given by the players. The loss of passion to play for Team USA is a terrible plague that has infected many American athletes, and it hinders the strength of Team USA in sports. This problem needs to be addressed; the country needs to have a sports program to unite under, and if the National Team can’t be that, what can?