Virus derails Tebow stint with PH

COVID-19 threw a curve ball at just about everything, and the Philippines was left stranded on base.

The country was nursing high hopes of a strong showing in the MLB World Baseball Classic (WBC) qualifier, where it was set to field for football star Tim Tebow, until the tournament got scrapped.

Pepe Muñoz, secretary general of the Philippine Amateur Baseball Association, said on Friday half of the team was set to leave on March 17 in time for the Qualifiers in Tuczon, Arizona.

They were supposed to join 12 US-based and two Japan-based members of the PH squad the following day. The tournament was supposed to run on March 20 to 25.

“Too bad because we have a strong team,” Muñoz said.

Muñoz said aside from football star-turned-baseball-player Tebow, the team was to be bolstered by minor leaguers Dominic Abbadessa (Toronto Blu Jays) and Andrew Magno (Detroit Tigers).

He added that the “soonest possible” date for the WBC qualifiers would be October.

Major League Baseball also scrapped its training camp and opening day was delayed for at least two weeks due to the pandemic.

“I don’t know because they (MLB) have a lot of big decisions to make,” he said. The WBC is set for March 9 to 23 next year in four different venues.

Now ranked 32nd in the world, the Philippines is hoping to get back to “its natural ranking” of 25th.