Im generally lukewarm on the WBC countries that are essentially B-teams for other nations (Italy, GB, Israel, Spain, Brazil), but Italy advancing this far has me questioning that.
You just cant have a baseball tournament where Italy succeeds. Its not serious.
The U.S. boofed the Italy game and let a not-so-great Canada team hang around until the end.
I’m liking the DR’s odds.
Korea has played really well this tournament! The DR has just been so much better than every other team this tournament
The WBC is great because Soto would never slide like that in the regular season. I didn’t even know he was capable of that
SOTO SWIM
Lost in the shuffle of the DR players having so much fun is how seriously this team seems to be taking this competition.
No messing around when it comes to lineup and pitching decisions. A pro org with a pro strategy to match.
Meanwhile for the DR
“We have the NL’s best lefty on out staff, should we use him?”
“It’s a knockout game. So yes.”
“Who should we pitch against the greatest lineup ever constructed?”
“How about a 39-year-old then a 42-year-old?”
“Perfect.”
I, uh … do not understand Korea’s pitching strategy against the DR
Manny shaking the little kid’s hand was super adorable
NANDO!!!
Pujols seems like a serious and competent manager for DR while the Venezuelan coaching staff is just “who are our country’s WAR leaders?”
VLADITO
The DR/Venezuela/Japan/Korea side of the bracket is the real final four idc
Vladito just pimped a walk. DR winning it all
Has there ever been a better high-ball hitter??
SOTO
Fox One it is, i guess
Tubi down as the Caribbean Super Bowl starts. SHOCKER
I get why fox relegated DR-Venezuela to Tubi, but this is the Caribbean Super Bowl
Good for Canada
Cuba finally got a pool in the western hemisphere with a hamstrung Puerto Rico and Canada’s weakest WBC team in a while. It had no chance at making a final, but no excuse not to win the pool
Not just bad defense, boneheaded defense. Completely winnable game turned disaster
Can’t hit, can’t defend. Hard to say this Cuba team deserves to advance
Defense never seemed to be a problem, though …
For 20 years, Cuba had no problem scoring runs but struggled developing pitching that could hang in international tournaments.
That seems to have flipped, which might signal progress if Cuba can send more pro-level hitters to NPB
Okay this is some bullshit on the umps in the cuba game. Miserable officiating
Two things (I think) will prevent Mexico and Italy from WBC collusion:
1. Winning the pool is a significant advantage, and both teams will want that.
2. These teams have a ton of U.S.-born MLB players that will never hear the end of it if they don't play a fair game
TBF the WBC’s tiebreaker rules are not intuitive and his explanation totally makes sense.
Still, it’s your job to know the rules MARK
If Cuba somehow wins tomorrow and can make it to the semis again because they drew Italy in the quarters (who i dont think they should be favored against, for the record), well …
