The grumbling, or at least a little grousing, has started about the legitimacy of Team Israel and its assemblage of American Jewish professionals in the World Baseball Classic.
It started out as a feel-good story last week when Team Israel -- the 41st-ranked baseball team in the world with its Mensch On The Bench mascot and Jew Crew T-shirts -- swept the well-respected teams from Korea, Taiwan and the Netherlands in Pool A of the quadrennial event under the cloak of time-zone obscurity in Seoul.
The first reaction in the U.S., at least, was to hail the band of unheralded bearded guys, all but one from the U.S. with varying degrees of religious conviction, playing under the Israeli flag in the name of promoting baseball in the Jewish state.
Then came Saturday night's 4-1 victory over all-time international baseball power Cuba in Tokyo, putting Team Israel one victory away from a trip to the final four at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
Rest assured Cuba isn't the Cuba it used to be after years of having its best players defect to the riches of the major leagues, but Saturday night's result still came as a surprise to the Cubans, especially Manager Carlos Marti.
"Before the game, we didn't know Israel had such good players," Marti said through an interpreter. "When we played against them, we saw."
So impressive was Team Israel that one Cuban reporter asked Manager Jerry Weinstein if Team Israel was really "United States II" or "United States III" rather than an Israel team.
WBC rules allow for players who live in one country to play for another, and Israel, with one homegrown player, has taken full advantage. Team Netherlands and Team Italy are two other competing teams who have milked the clause, which is aimed at growing baseball worldwide.
Weinstein, 73, told the Cuban reporter that he didn't agree with that assessment.
"We're representing Israel," said Weinstein, a baseball lifer who this summer will be managing the Class AA Hartford Yard Goats in the Colorado Rockies organization. "Our guys qualify under the heritage rules. I think if you ask anyone in our clubhouse, we're representing Israel. We're not a JV team for the U.S. We're Team Israel. Make no mistake."
Nobody can really call the Americans playing for Team Israel a group of ringers. Not one of the 28 players is on a 40-man major-league roster, and Saturday night's starting pitcher, Jason Marquis, is a 38-year-old who hasn't played in the big leagues since 2015.
The rest of the team is made up of younger players at the bottom rungs of professional baseball and a few who have tasted the big leagues in the past and are trying to rekindle their careers.
Right-fielder Zach Borenstein says they are playing for their careers and for the future of baseball.
"We have something to prove," said Borenstein, who had the go-ahead hit Saturday. "Our goal is to win the last game of the tournament."
Team Israel's next game, against Team Netherlands, is scheduled to get under way before the sun rises in the U.S. today. Under the cloak of darkness, and a little bit of curiosity.
Sports on 03/13/2017