Marlins President David Samson yesterday said that "more than 135,000 tickets have already been sold" to the six World Baseball Classic games being played at Marlins Park and he "expects the final count to reach 160,000," according to Clark Spencer of the MIAMI HERALD. When the event was last held in Miami in '13, 113,000 total tickets were sold. Saturday night’s U.S.-Dominican Republic game at the ballpark "sold out in no time." Since opening in '12, Marlins Park has been "sold out for baseball five times." Marlins P Edinson Volquez, who will start against Team USA on Saturday, said that Dominican fans are "fired up about the WBC" and he "expects a large turnout from them" (MIAMI HERALD, 3/9). In DC, Deron Snyder writes the atmosphere in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood on Saturday "will be as raucous and festive as international athletics get." However, the passion "doesn’t carry over to the event as a whole, not with so many big-name stars sitting out and so many fans supporting those decisions." Baseball "wants the WBC to be its version of soccer’s World Cup, an admirable and ambitious goal," but whether it is "attainable is questionable" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 3/9). In West Palm Beach, Dave George writes, "Truth is, the WBC is actually growing on me, and that comes as a real surprise to a stubborn old goat" (PALM BEACH POST, 3/9).
BEST & THE BRIGHTEST: In Boston, Ron Borges notes Rays and Team USA P Chris Archer yesterday "tried to make clear there was more behind his choice to pitch in the WBC than simply having once thought it cool to represent his country in an international tournament." Archer: "Given the timing and the circumstances of our country ... it’s a great opportunity for us, temporarily, to show we are united, regardless of the turmoil and things going on here and other places in the world." Borges: "This was the best of America, a young man with a bright future giving a few weeks of his life to wear three letters across his chest of which he’s rightly proud: USA" (BOSTON HERALD, 3/9).
