For the last few weeks here in Phoenix, we’ve seen thousands of baseball fans descend on the greater metro area to watch spring training games. I know the eagerness of that kind of baseball fan well. I’ve been that baseball fan, both here and in Sarasota, Florida.
Not everyone understands the impulse to show up for what amounts to a series of scrimmages, where there’s nothing on the line other than a collective hope that your favorite player doesn’t get injured before the season even begins. Some would say the name for such a fan is “nerd.” I would maybe go with something like “connoisseur,” but either way, I can appreciate that it’s a little ridiculous to pay good money to watch games that don’t count.
But down in Tucson this week, there is very meaningful baseball being played — namely, the qualifying tournament for the 2026 World Baseball Classic, known as the WBC — baseball’s version of the World Cup. That means that the national teams from Brazil, China, Colombia and Germany have been battling it out all week long. The winners will advance to next summer’s WBC.
Michael Clair, a reporter for MLB.com, has been on the scene all week and joined The Show to recap.
Full conversation
SAM DINGMAN: Thank you for being with us and giving a perspective on this really exciting event that I think a lot of people don't know as much about as maybe they would like to. Let's start with what we know so far. It's been a big week for Colombia and a not so great week for China.
MICHAEL CLAIR: Yeah, that's a, that's a pretty good way to sum it up. I mean, Colombia came here, they were a little upset that they had to come back to the qualifier, mad at themselves, really. And so, they went and outscored their opponents 23-1 across the three games. So really, if Colombia was on the field, nobody, nobody else was having a good day. China went 0-3 and and now — [AUDIO CUTS OUT]
DINGMAN: Oh, and it looks like we may have lost Michael there, but I think I know what he was about to say, which is that, in going 0-3, China unfortunately was bounced from the tournament. We are gonna see if we can get Michael back on the line.
CLAIR: No, not back.
DINGMAN: Oh, and there he is.
CLAIR: There we go, sorry.
DINGMAN: No, no worries, no worries. I, I have to assume you were distracted by a gigantic, fly ball that drove in several runs.
CLAIR: But of course, that's, that's where it's always at. So, I'm not sure where, where we got cut off.
DINGMAN: Oh, no worries, no worries. You were, you were talking about, the dominance of Colombia, the opposite of dominance from Team China. But, you know, something I really wanted to ask you about, Michael, is in addition to reporting on the play by play down there, you've been uncovering these, these really interesting storylines that are very different than the kinds of things we'd see at Major League spring training and One of my favorite pieces that you wrote this week is about a guy named Osvaldo Carvalho. Tell me about Osvaldo.
CLAIR: Yeah, so he has a really unique background, you know, the Brazilian team, they don't have any current major leaguers on the team. There's some in the minor leagues, there's some that have, they have coaches that have played in the major leagues, they have players that are playing professionally in Japan, but most of them have at least at some point been a professional player.
For Osvaldo, though, he is a construction worker, he plays in the local league in São Paulo. He started doing construction work during COVID for money, but also to continue practicing because it costs money to have access to these facilities. And he's just, he's done so well, and he's so likable, that he is on the team, and he got his first start in the final game against China, and he picked up two hits in an RBI.
DINGMAN: So cool, so cool. And again, just the kind of thing that you wouldn't see at Major League spring training. Speaking of which, another story that you've been following is, the work of Jaden Agassi, who is the son of tennis legends Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf and is playing for Team Germany. His story is pretty impressive, but there was also a little nugget, in your report on him that I loved, which is that in Europe, tennis is a major pipeline to baseball, is that right?
CLAIR: Yes, so it's not too uncommon that, if, if you're a tennis player, that some point you might come across baseball and those skills transfer really easily. Pavel Hadim, the national team manager of the Czech Republic, he did not start playing baseball until he was a teenager, but he played tennis so that when he came over to the sport, he had a lot of the movements down. You know, his backhand was pretty similar to a swing.
So it wasn't, you know, sometimes you'll see, some of the members of the German national team a couple of years ago went to the Hertha Berlin soccer team and had them swing, and it looked terrible. If you're a tennis player, you can come to the game and you'll still look pretty good.
DINGMAN: Well, just about 30 seconds left here, Michael, and I wanna ask you the last but not least important question, which is that I believe I saw on social media. You recently had your first Sonoran hot dog. What is your review?
CLAIR: So I went to Jason's, I don't know if that means anything to people in Tucson. I loved it. I love beans, this one had beans. I loved the jalapeño hot sauce on top of it. That's a top-tier hot dog. That's a hot dog that is actually a meal and not just a little nitrate-loaded snack.
