First game is tonight, Australia vs Taiwan (Chinese Taipei)

USA Round 1 Schedule:
Fri, Mar 8 vs Mexico 9:00 PM (ET)
Sat, Mar 9 @ Italy 9:00 PM (ET)
Sun, Mar 10 @ Canada 4:00 PM (ET)

3/1/2013 5:39:44 PM

In on the only page this thread will have.

3/1/2013 6:04:13 PM

As always, Venezuela is my horse:

Pitchers
Chacin
Rincon
Anibel Sanchez
Zambrano
K-Rod

Catchers
Ramon Hernandez
Miguel Montero

Infielders
Elvis Andrus
Asdrubal Cabrera
Miguel Cabrera
Omar Infante
Pablo Sandoval
Marco Scutaro

Outfielders
Carlos Gonzalez
Martin Prado
Alex Romero

3/1/2013 7:01:06 PM

Isn't Japan going for win #3 or 4 in this thing?

Just like the LLWS I'm betting big on Japan. Mexico and Venezuela always look promising, but Japan is where it's at.

3/1/2013 7:03:13 PM

My GAF is at ZERO

3/1/2013 7:33:51 PM

this has traditionally been a great way for me to make some money, so bring it on!

3/1/2013 7:51:56 PM

who is on the USA roster?

3/1/2013 7:59:26 PM

Pitchers
Jeremy Affeldt - San Francisco Giants - LHP
Heath Bell - Arizona Diamondbacks - RHP
Mitchell Boggs - St. Louis Cardinals - RHP
Steve Cishek - Miami Marlins - RHP
Tim Collins - Kansas City Royals - LHP
Ross Detwiler - Washington Nationals - LHP
R.A. Dickey - Toronto Blue Jays - RHP
Gio Gonzalez - Washington Nationals - LHP
Luke Gregerson - San Diego Padres - RHP
Derek Holland - Texas Rangers - LHP
Craig Kimbrel - Atlanta Braves - RHP
Chris Perez - Cleveland Indians - RHP
Glen Perkins - Minnesota Twins - LHP
Vinnie Pestano - Cleveland Indians - RHP
Ryan Vogelsong - San Francisco Giants - RHP

Catchers
J.P. Arencibia - Toronto Blue Jays - C
Jonathan Lucroy - Milwaukee Brewers - C
Joe Mauer - Minnesota Twins - C

Infield
Brandon Phillips - Cincinnati Reds - IF
Jimmy Rollins - Philadelphia Phillies - IF
Mark Teixeira - New York Yankees - IF
David Wright - New York Mets - IF
Ben Zobrist - Tampa Bay Rays - UTL

Outfield
Willie Bloomquist - Arizona Diamondbacks - UTL
Ryan Braun - Milwaukee Brewers - OF
Adam Jones - Baltimore Orioles - OF
Giancarlo Stanton - Miami Marlins - OF
Shane Victorino - Boston Red Sox - OF

[Edited on March 1, 2013 at 9:51 PM. Reason : ~]

3/1/2013 9:49:49 PM

^ what a worthless infield

3/1/2013 10:41:49 PM

I don't understand the schedule.. Pool C/D play their championship on the 16th, the day before the next round, while the other pool is done after the 12th.

I don't think the USA is all that good.. No real lead off, starting pitching is kinda meh. They'll probably be pretty good defensively at least

[Edited on March 1, 2013 at 11:42 PM. Reason : And by not good i mean like 2-3 in the world]

3/1/2013 11:41:54 PM

Not that it makes a huge difference, but Chris Perez isn't going to be playing for team USA (injury)

3/2/2013 11:51:27 AM

^^Gio, Dickey and Vogelsong all had great seasons last year. Also our outfield is amazing. Our infield is kind of garbage though.

3/2/2013 12:17:22 PM

Yeah I don't really trust guys in their mid-30s that finally had one good year. Gio is pretty legit (except he roided to do it). They'll be good, I just wouldn't be surprised if they don't play that well.

3/2/2013 12:46:20 PM

The whole thing is going to be aired on the MLB network apparently. Guess no one will continue to watch it.

[Edited on March 2, 2013 at 2:03 PM. Reason : .]

3/2/2013 2:00:18 PM

Quote :

"I don't understand the schedule.. Pool C/D play their championship on the 16th, the day before the next round, while the other pool is done after the 12th. "

that's to allow the 2 teams time to travel over from Japan and adjust

Quote :

"The whole thing is going to be aired on the MLB network apparently. Guess no one will continue to watch it."

Yeah, I think MLB not putting this thing on ESPN was a bad move. $$$$ of course, but ESPN commercials and highlights would've done more for putting this in the public consciousness.

Loved the first two, was planning on going to the first round Phoenix or second round Miami pool, but I just recently started a new job and shouldn't.

Japan almost lost to Brazil this morning. Brazil were up 3-2 before Japan got 3 runs in the 8th. Brazil's team has a lot of kids that are sons of Japanese that immigrated to Brazil to work in the oil industry there, so a good number of the Brazilian team play in the Japanese minor leagues, would've been quite the upset. Brazil is managed by Barry Larkin.

Chien-Ming Wang threw six shutout innings as Taiwan beat Australia 4-1 in front of a sellout crowd waving Republic of China flags. I'm not sure why Taiwan had him pitch against Australia instead of the Dutch or Koreans.

The Netherlands beat the 2009 runners-up South Korea 4-0. The Dutch back in 2009 with almost zero major league talent defeated the Dominicans twice and knocked them out all off the back of their pitching, which when you compare the Dominican hitters to the Dutch pitching and where each played was remarkable. They return most of their pitching from that tournament to here, have a couple guys that boost them like Andruw Jones, and hold the South Koreans to only 4 hits. South Korea was also bad in the field, having 4 errors.

Cuba-Brazil tonight at 10:30pm.

[Edited on March 2, 2013 at 2:33 PM. Reason : /]

3/2/2013 2:25:00 PM

All those infielders have been good in the past, just maybe not this past year. Jimmy Rollins is getting old, I'll give you that, but the others could still put on a good show.

I just wish more pros saw this as positive experience like NHL players and playing for their national olympic teams. Young American players don't want to risk injury pre-season, but young players from other countries play hard to get noticed.

Instead we get 38-year-old Mike Piazza playing for Italy in 2006 and 41-year-old Shawn Green playing for Israel this year (the team didn't make it past the qualifying round, lost out to Spain for the final spot, but the next oldest player would have been 11 years younger)

3/3/2013 2:00:54 AM

Dominican has the best infield, bar none. And Venezuela is really good, but I don't think better. But our infield is still really good, I don't know why you guys are dogging it so much. Especially considering the other options...

1 - Votto and Fielder are the only others that would be an obvious upgrade. Tex is still top 10 overall in all MLB. and probably the best American defensive 1b.
2 - Cano is the only 2b that I would consider an OBVIOUS upgrade, and he's Dominican. Kinsler and Pedroia are the only 2b above Phillips, really, and they aren't considerably better. BP is probably top 5-6 defensively overall as well.
3 - Who is a better option than Wright? and he might be the best defensive 3b in baseball right now too.
S - Tulo is the only obvious better option. The other Americans I don't think would be tremendously better. Rollins is still top 10 overall. AND, probably top 10 defensively, with the other 9 guys being offensive black holes (think brendan ryan/paul janish types)

and Zobrist is a good up-and-coming middle infielder that can spot Rollins/Phillips, and is definitely top 10 in all MLB at both positions.

So there might be a handful of better options that I would rather have (pedroia, tulo). And also consider that the advantage that some marginally better players have will be mitigated by the fact that there aren't alot of games played in the WBC.

tl;dr - infield still good

[Edited on March 3, 2013 at 9:02 AM. Reason : DR]

3/3/2013 9:00:49 AM

Votto plays for canada

Nm that might not have been your point. I said they should be good defensively, I just wish we had better pitching. Verlander, Jared weaver, cc sabathia, strasburg.. We have pitchers that could be dominant but they won't do it. That's my only problem

[Edited on March 3, 2013 at 10:56 AM. Reason : ~]

3/3/2013 10:52:01 AM

Quote :

"Dominican has the best infield, bar none."

Lack pitching though.

When I listened to the Baseball America preview podcasts a month or so ago when the preliminary rosters were released, they came to the Dominican and were talking about the tendencies of certain nationalities in baseball, and the Dominican it was "their pitchers don't have pitchability". They were putting it down to when MLB scouts go down there they're just looking for rocket arms that can throw 95 instead of who can throw a decent slider, but it results in them having good relievers but not many good starters.

Their synopsis on the Dominican at the time was "you really hope Johnny Cueto says yes" (he didn't), make a phone call to Pedro Martinez saying "we only need 4 innings out of you 3 times", or your bats are going to have to carry you. Legitimately their 4th-best Dominican starter in baseball they could come up with was a guy that was on the Yankees' Triple-A team all last year.

[Edited on March 3, 2013 at 11:03 AM. Reason : /]

3/3/2013 10:55:45 AM

Japan 5, China 2
Taiwan 8, the Netherlands 3
Cuba 5, Brazil 2

Pool A:

Japan 2-0
Cuba 1-0
-----
China 0-1
Brazil 0-2

Pool B:

Taiwan 2-0
the Netherlands 1-1
-----
Australia 0-1
South Korea 0-1

could be getting a 3-way 2-1 split in Pool B

3/3/2013 11:03:47 AM

yeah, pitching for USA was something that jumped out at me as a big weakness, but I wasn't trying to address that in my post.

we are missing the best aces in the game, but Dickey/Gio/Vogelsong/Holland ain't bad. actually that would still be a pretty good 1-4 for an MLB team.

Kimbrel - best closer on earth, with Perkins, Pestano, Affeldt, Cishek the obvious guys that stand out behind him.

all the others are wtf material

3/3/2013 12:02:36 PM

one guy picked the U.S. to win, but the team they liked best as having the most solid lineup and pitching was Venezuela

mostly U.S. and Cuba previews: http://media.baseballamerica.com/mp3/free/130117.mp3

the other 14 teams' previews: http://media.baseballamerica.com/mp3/free/130118.mp3

(Baseball America based in the Triangle by the way)

[Edited on March 3, 2013 at 12:15 PM. Reason : /]

3/3/2013 12:14:06 PM

Welp. Tex is out of the WBC with an arm injury, and they haven't named a replacement yet.

3/5/2013 9:19:02 PM

watched Australia-Netherlands and South Korea-Taiwan today, I think Taiwan are a darkhorse with their pitching talent and they could knock off one of Japan or Cuba in the Tokyo Dome

podcast reviewing the play in the opening 2 pools: http://media.baseballamerica.com/mp3/free/130305.mp3

[Edited on March 5, 2013 at 11:33 PM. Reason : .]

3/5/2013 11:24:56 PM

it's a hit!

[Edited on March 6, 2013 at 11:43 AM. Reason : .]

3/6/2013 11:42:49 AM

Quote :

"Welp. Tex is out of the WBC with an arm injury, and they haven't named a replacement yet."

Eric Hosmer

3/6/2013 1:08:34 PM

what's up with the brian wilson/sergio romo head in that pic?

and is that pic real??? that's damn depressing.

3/6/2013 8:27:00 PM

apparently some games are being played in SF

I'd go, but decent seats are insanely expensive.

3/6/2013 8:50:43 PM

^^ the Japanese only care about games with Japan in them and the Taiwanese only cared about games with Taiwan in them, same thing happened in Tokyo in 2006 and 2009 as well; the games that have taken place in the Americas over time have obviously had the home team's games drawing largest attendances, but those locations the fans support the "B games" of the day with much higher numbers.

Quote :

"Pool A Attendance: Japan vs. Brazil - 28181 Japan vs. China - 13891 Japan vs. Cuba - 26860 Cuba vs. Brazil - 4003 Cuba vs. China - 3123 China vs. Brazil - 3110 Pool B Attendance: Taiwan vs. Australia - 20035 (sellout) Taiwan vs. Netherlands - 20035 (sellout) Taiwan vs. South Korea - 23431 (sellout) Netherlands vs. South Korea - 1085 South Korea vs. Australia - 1481 Netherlands vs. Australia - 1113"

Japan threatened to not play in this World Baseball Classic for a long time and it only became official late last year. I think one of their points in addition to wanting more money was they wanted to host a 2nd round pool. Well they did, but their fans' "support Japan and only Japan" makes it a really big risk. Hypothetically if Japan did not make the 2nd round, they'd have 4 teams playing in the Tokyo Dome in a pool with zero Japan games and the promoters there would take a bath.


Dickey will be the starting pitcher for the U.S. on Friday vs. Mexico.

[Edited on March 6, 2013 at 10:06 PM. Reason : /]

3/6/2013 9:55:06 PM

USA-Mexico starting in 5 minutes on MLB Network.

3/8/2013 8:58:25 PM

Knuckleball indoors. Should have just brought in a change up specialist

3/8/2013 10:22:21 PM

David Wright executes the hit-and-run and Jimmy Rollins scores. 4-1, comeback is on!

3/8/2013 10:33:40 PM

Not anymore its not

3/8/2013 10:43:06 PM

ESPN says we batted Stanton 7th and Adam Jones 8th? That is terrible.

3/9/2013 8:54:15 AM

Benches clearing brawl in the Canada-Mexico game.

Pretty good one too as you'd expect when all the Canadians played youth hockey.

watch before MLB pulls the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XpeQpillrU

[Edited on March 9, 2013 at 7:01 PM. Reason : /]

3/9/2013 6:51:17 PM

That was awesome

My father in law was a pitcher in the braves/padres game

3/9/2013 7:09:44 PM

Good result for the U.S., if they beat Italy tonight (they damn well better should, Italy's starter is a guy that pitched in the Italian Baseball League last year), that puts up at 1-1 and Canada are 1-1 as well. Mexico are eliminated if the U.S. win tonight and Italy are in. So that makes tomorrow's U.S.-Canada game winner advances, loser goes home.

3/9/2013 7:21:37 PM

Unless Venezuela can pull back a 4-run deficit on Puerto Rico in the 9th, here's our 2nd round:

Japan
Netherlands
Cuba
Taiwan - eliminated

Dominican Republic
Puerto Rico
Italy
winner of U.S./Canada game provided the U.S. beats Italy tonight

3/9/2013 8:54:54 PM

David Wright Grand Slam! 6-2 USA!

3/9/2013 10:49:42 PM

BOOM David Wright with the bomb. The US needed that.

3/9/2013 10:50:27 PM

The Canada-Mexico brawl gets the Don Cherry treatment during Hockey Night in Canada. Jump to 1:55. http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=lC-BRpvpT-g

ESPN providing boxing PBP (some good shots here on who is throwing): http://espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2013/story/_/id/9035253/canada-mexico-brawl-breaks-wbc-game

After letting up a run each in the 1st and 2nd, Vogelsong settles down and him and the American bullpen retire 22 of the last 25 batters. Good for tomorrow's game is the U.S. only used 3 pitchers (Vogelsong, Affeldt, Detwiler). David Wright grand slam gives the U.S. a 6-2 lead in the 5th and that's the final score. That result officially eliminates Mexico from the competition. U.S. and Canada play tomorrow for it all. 4pm eastern time.

[Edited on March 10, 2013 at 12:47 AM. Reason : /]

3/10/2013 12:45:50 AM

This is why I just love Canadian sporting events.

3/10/2013 4:07:55 PM

2-2 after 4 innings. No punches thrown yet.

3/10/2013 5:18:33 PM

2-run double by Adam Jones and an RBI single by Shane Victorino gives the U.S. a 5-3 lead in the top of the 8th.

[Edited on March 10, 2013 at 6:26 PM. Reason : .]

3/10/2013 6:24:13 PM

Well looks like we live to lose another game

3/10/2013 7:19:08 PM

We going to Miami

3/10/2013 7:33:31 PM

We even win the pool! The U.S. will play the loser of tonight's Dominican Republic-Puerto Rico game Tuesday night.

The two issues going forward for the U.S.:

Prior to the offensive explosion at the end of the game, the U.S. was hitting .152 with guys in scoring position. They finish the first round at .237.

Second, they've gone down early in all 3 games, here's the cumulative scoreline from them:

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Opp 3 3 2 0 1 1 0 1 0 11
USA 0 0 0 4 5 0 0 4 4 17

3/10/2013 7:34:28 PM

It's like the philies offense and marlins defense

3/10/2013 7:50:14 PM

Dominican Republic 4, Puerto Rico 2.

Schedule Tuesday in Miami:

Day Game: Dominican Republic vs. Italy
Night Game: United States vs. Puerto Rico

early tomorrow morning, Cuba vs. Netherlands to see who joins Japan to go to San Francisco in the final 4

3/10/2013 11:20:46 PM

lol those last 2 pitches were strikes

3/12/2013 3:52:31 PM