World Baseball Classic 2023

[PackLandVA]

Netherlands and Cuba in game 1.

 

Cuba has MLBers for first. Time ever. They load the bases with one out (3 BBs and a Robert K) only to hit into an inning ending DP.

 

Who the hell has the car horn and why is it allowed.

[PackLandVA]

And finally an actual meaningful* game!

*sort of

[PackLandVA]

Was watching a little bit of Korea/Australia and they brought up Lee and him possibly being the “next big thing” in MLB.

[Bertz]

Was watching a little bit of Korea/Australia and they brought up Lee and him possibly being the “next big thing” in MLB.

 

I read something that his numbers against fastballs 93+ were pretty pedestrian. Considering the average MLB fastball is now bumping 94 I'd be really concerned.

Honestly for that reason I'd guess the WBC here is gonna either make or lose him a ton of money.

[PackLandVA]

Jung-Hoo Lee may not get much more of an opportunity as Sout Korea is 0-2 so far. Not completely certain of the tie breakers for their pool, but having already lost to 2-0 Australia, they may be eliminated already. My guess is his still be highly sought after in next year's FA class.

[PackLandVA]

Stroman starts Puerto Rico's opening game and goes 4.2 with 2 Ks, 0 BB, 2 H, 1 HR, 1 ER.

[champaignchris]

Watching Puerto Rico beat Nicaragua in the WBC at a road side shack while tossing back Medallas in Rincon, PR will go down as one of my favorite baseball memories.

[Bertz]

For a team that's not historically a baseball powerhouse Mexico's team is pretty loaded. Columbia's up but this feels like a very precarious lead.

[17 Seconds]

the wbc is such a perfect appetizer for the mlb season. i hope it never goes away again

[PackLandVA]

So I guess it’s an upset, but Venezuela just pretty much handled the D.R. 5-1.

[Thurman Merman]

Damn I miss schwarber. I wish we hadn't given up on him (fully understanding that it was him leaving that might have been necessary to fix him). Nothing better than the no doubter homers he hits.

[bukie]

What in the world were those Great Britain uniforms? Did Nike forget they were in the WBC until this morning and someone just laser screened the country over the front?

[PackLandVA]

USA is stacked offensively and defensively, and relief pitching looks pretty solid. But if they fail to make/win the WBC, I think it will be due to their very pedestrian starting pitching. Wainright, Mikolas, and Lynn don’t really do it for me. I do like Merrill Kelly, though.

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

Heh. Pretty fun.

 

https://www.mlb.com/world-baseball-classic/news/shohei-ohtani-strikes-out-against-electrician-in-world-baseball-classic?partnerId=zh-20230312-849630-mlb-1-A&qid=1026&utm_id=zh-20230312-849630-mlb-1-A&bt_ee=cvF%2BbsPblXq3YSeUjCZV9dlqldXGtknKYx1HiUpLbXai0H6vdypzj0NV%2Bb9y4XUZ&bt_ts=1678637161404

[PackLandVA]

Caissie with a line drive RBI single to right in his first WBC AB. Mervis did the same (minus the RBI) earlier today. Two really hard hit balls.

[Stu]

Caissie with a line drive RBI single to right in his first WBC AB. Mervis did the same (minus the RBI) earlier today. Two really hard hit balls.

 

that Cassie at-bat — 2-0, fouls a pitch, just off, then laced the next one

[chopsx9]

Caissie with a line drive RBI single to right in his first WBC AB. Mervis did the same (minus the RBI) earlier today. Two really hard hit balls.

 

that Cassie at-bat — 2-0, fouls a pitch, just off, then laced the next one

 

HRs in his next at bat and threw out a runner at 3B yesterday. Making some noise.

[Stu]

Caissie with a line drive RBI single to right in his first WBC AB. Mervis did the same (minus the RBI) earlier today. Two really hard hit balls.

 

that Cassie at-bat — 2-0, fouls a pitch, just off, then laced the next one

 

HRs in his next at bat and threw out a runner at 3B yesterday. Making some noise.

 

Granted that it’s some of the worst pitching in the tournament,, but his ABs certainly are intriguing. Is his upside anything more than fourth outfielder with some nice power off the bench?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Granted that it’s some of the worst pitching in the tournament,, but his ABs certainly are intriguing. Is his upside anything more than fourth outfielder with some nice power off the bench?

 

Caissie has first division starter upside, there's a reason some evaluators are pretty bullish on him. And he doesn't turn 21 until July and will likely be in AA, so there's time for him to make adjustments and tap into that more than he has in pro games so far. Personally I'm more bearish on him, I think with his size and current defensive reports he's gonna be a 1B/DH at the MLB level, and the bar there is so high(and his MiLB performance has enough red flags) that a good outcome is more in the Vogelbach/Tellez realm of production.

[champaignchris]

Sal Perez looking like an early favorite for tourney MVP. He’s knocking the ball all over the place.

[soccer10k]

All 5 teams in Group A finished 2-2 so the tiebreaker was runs allowed per out recorded.

[UMFan83]

I'm fascinated by the non-traditional countries in this tournament like England and Italy. Do they even know this tournament is going on? Are the games broadcast anywhere? I just looked at a couple of English news sites and I found 1 article total on the WBC and I had to use the search function to find it.

 

If England was following the tournament they might actually come away excited about baseball after a closer-than-expected loss to USA, an offensive explosion against Canada (though won by Canada with the mercy rule) and currently leading Colombia 6-3 in the 7th.

[bukie]

I'm fascinated by the non-traditional countries in this tournament like England and Italy. Do they even know this tournament is going on? Are the games broadcast anywhere? I just looked at a couple of English news sites and I found 1 article total on the WBC and I had to use the search function to find it.

 

If England was following the tournament they might actually come away excited about baseball after a closer-than-expected loss to USA, an offensive explosion against Canada (though won by Canada with the mercy rule) and currently leading Colombia 6-3 in the 7th.

The majority of team UK is from the Bahamas, which probably contributes to European apathy regarding the event.

[UMFan83]

With GB beating Mexico tonight the US is in great position to advance I think

 

USA 2-1

CAN 2-1

GB 2-2 (!)

COL 1-2

MEX 1-2

 

Canada plays Mexico, US plays Colombia, GB done

 

In the event of a USA loss, there would be a guaranteed 3 team tie between USA, GB and COL. If MEX beat CAN we will have another 5 way tie. The US I think is leading that RA percentage metric, but i could be wrong. Either way they are likely in the top 2. So as long as they don’t give up a ton of runs tomorrow I think they’re ok. By virtue of GB finishing 2-2, any tie the US has at 2-2 will be with 3+ teams meaning H2H tiebreakers to Mexico and Colombia won’t come into play. Furthermore only Canada can finish 3-1 and we win the H2H tiebreaker over them so we’d win the group if both win

 

I could be wrong though, all this horsefeathers is confusing.

[bukie]

With GB beating Mexico tonight the US is in great position to advance I think

 

USA 2-1

CAN 2-1

GB 2-2 (!)

COL 1-2

MEX 1-2

 

Canada plays Mexico, US plays Colombia, GB done

 

In the event of a USA loss, there would be a guaranteed 3 team tie between USA, GB and COL. If MEX beat CAN we will have another 5 way tie. The US I think is leading that RA percentage metric, but i could be wrong. Either way they are likely in the top 2. So as long as they don’t give up a ton of runs tomorrow I think they’re ok. By virtue of GB finishing 2-2, any tie the US has at 2-2 will be with 3+ teams meaning H2H tiebreakers to Mexico and Colombia won’t come into play. Furthermore only Canada can finish 3-1 and we win the H2H tiebreaker over them so we’d win the group if both win

 

I could be wrong though, all this horsefeathers is confusing.

 

Wait...what?

 

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

As for the tiebreaker, the US would only advance with a 1 run loss, as Colombia has allowed 2 more runs than the US in 2 additional innings (the US won a game in 7 innings, and the tiebreaker is RA / inning), so it would be best served with a win.