Defeats the whole purpose of the World Series. These are supposed to be club teams not all star teams but why ask people from Maryland to follow the rules….they never do! Blue Jays “team” disbands the day after the W.S.
The nitpicking on here is laughable. Everybody rips the Blue Jays but how many teams had ‘27s join them (hello, Machine boys)? How many holdbacks on each team - those ‘fall baby’ kids born before the NY December cutoff? All of these teams were all-star teams of some construct or another and all clubs benefit financially from loading up on players but what about the kids who went down and didn’t play? They watch 8th graders take their spots and they’re supposed to be OK with this?[/quote]
I don't think anyone is calling out Blue Jays for having 8th graders on the team. This is a U13 tournament, not a grade based tournament. It's actually the only level playing field out there. The knock on Blue Jays is that they aren't an actual club. It is quite literally an all-start team that we will never see again once the world series is over. You won't play them or see them in any tournament after July 4 - that's the actual gripe (albeit a quiet one that nobody is losing any sleep over). Machine might have had a kid who plays 27's play with them but that is within the rules as long as the kid was born after 9/1/09 and actually plays within the 91 Machine program.
It's not nitpicking, those are the actual rules of the World Series.
I am fine with the bluejays playing because why would we deprive a 13 year old from a memorable experience?. However, it does highlight the holdback philosophy of the mass/nh clubs - they can't field a competitive on-age team within their club system.
