What the World Baseball Classic Meant to the Diamondbacks

For the first time in over two weeks, Arizona Diamondbacks starters stood at their lockers at Salt River Fields. The World Baseball Classic had ended in dramatic, historic fashion one night prior, as Team Venezuela took down Team USA in the final.

One could feel the emotion through the cameras on Tuesday night, as former Diamondback Eugenio Suárez (who delivered the winning knock for Venezuela) and current Arizona starter Eduardo Rodriguez (who held the U.S. scoreless through 4.1 innings) celebrated their victory.

"You can see, when Geno answers a question the way he did, and when Eduardo was in front of the camera... You know that these guys wanted it from a level that was extremely deep and extremely passionate and extremely real, and I felt it through the TV," manager Torey Lovullo said.

"I'm going to give Eduardo a big hug and tell him, 'Great job, and let's turn the page and get ourselves ready for a baseball season, but we were certainly proud of what you did.'"

Said second baseman Ketel Marte said of Team Venezuela: "We're brothers, we're a family and I feel very good for them because they deserve it."

Diamondbacks Discuss What WBC Means to Them

The tournament, which happens only once every three years, featured the entirety of Arizona's starting infield, two of their starting pitchers and a starting outfielder — and that was just the major league group.

Marte, Geraldo Perdomo, Carlos Santana and Nolan Arenado have all made their way back to camp. Rodriguez will be back Thursday — capping off the final round of roster reinforcements.

The reviews from those participating were, as they almost always are, overwhelmingly positive.

"We did the best we can [in the tournament]," said Marte. "My family enjoyed it; that's the most important thing. ... The unity that we were within the team [was the best part]."

"It was amazing, truly amazing," Arenado said. "The team, Puerto Rico, the people were just unbelievable, very kind. They welcomed me with open arms, and I just had a great time, it was awesome.

"My mom loved it. Obviously, it was her Puerto Rican side, so she was really fired up about it, even my dad. ... I was very fortunate to be able to do it."

Not only does the tournament provide players an opportunity to represent their heritage and culture, it provides them with real, high-intensity environments they would not otherwise experience during March baseball.

Perdomo described the atmosphere as, "Game seven. Game seven of the World Series, every game."

That type of environment allows for players to

"I just feel like I'm game-ready now for the season," Arenado said. "After you play in those type of environments, coming back to [spring training] is great, but it doesn't really hit quite the same, obviously. I think we're all excited for opening day."

Marte said he was "super excited" for the regular season.

"Can't wait for it to begin, because I don't really like spring training," the second baseman said with a laugh.

Lovullo said he "very much so" feels that the amplified atmosphere will help his players to be more game-ready come opening day — particularly Marte and Perdomo, who manned the middle of the Team D.R. infield together.

"I feel like two of the four... were playing at the highest level you could possibly imagine," Lovullo said. "It's very intense, everything matters, so I could tell the two of them were playing that way when they were picking up ground balls."