Category Archives: MLB

2023 World Baseball Classic Pool B Preview: Tokyo

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We continue our WBC Pool previews with Pool B: Tokyo.

About the Venue: The Tokyo Dome is the largest baseball stadium in the largest metropolitan area in the world and the go-to place for MLB events in Japan. Holding over 45 thousand fans for baseball, the air-supported dome is normally home to the Yomiuri Giants, the most successful team in Japanese baseball. The “Big Egg” has symmetrical dimensions (329 to the corners, 375 to the alleys, 400 to center) and has over the years also played host to concerts, boxing (including Mike Tyson‘s infamous defeat at the hands of Buster Douglas), professional wrestling, NFL exhibition games, and mixed martial arts. It is also the location of Japan’s Baseball Hall of Fame.

About The Pool: It’s not quite accurate to call this the “Pacific pool”, since the Czech Republic is there, but it’s pretty close: four of the five teams are on the Pacific Ocean. Japan and Korea are definitely the big names here, but Australia is always scrappy and could pull an upset. China and the Czech Republic will likely prove canon fodder to the larger teams but should still be interesting to watch given how rarely we see their players against top competition.

Go below the jump for the full preview.

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Update on pool previews

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The pool previews are taking longer for me to write than expected, so as a result I’ve updated the schedule for them. Starting with tomorrow’s entry (originally scheduled for today), you’ll see pool previews every other day.

Thank you.

Schedule for WBC Pool Previews

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EDIT: Due to the fact that these pools are taking longer to write than I remember, I have adjusted the release schedule.

Tonight, MLB Network will unveil the schedules for the World Baseball Classic.

Next week, I’ll roll out my comprehensive pool previews, where I’ll go through not only the rosters for each team, but also the histories of the countries, their baseball history, and specific players to watch. If you’re wondering what I’ll be doing during the 30 hours of Super Bowl pregame, this is that.

The schedule goes like this:

Sunday: Introduction/glossary for the previews.

Monday: Pool A (Taichung Pool- Taipei, Netherlands, Cuba, Italy, Panama)

Wednesday: Pool B (Tokyo Pool- Japan, Korea, Australia, China, Czech Republic)

Friday: Pool C (Phoenix Pool- USA, Mexico, Colombia, Canada, Great Britain)

Sunday: Pool D (Miami Pool- Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Israel, Nicaragua)

Depending on other stuff, I’ll have more after that, as well, but that’s a bit more TBD.

Over at Pickin’ Splinters: Daniel Brito returns

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Over at Pickin’ Splinters, my article on the return of Daniel Brito to Frontier Field over a year after his medical emergency.

2023 WBC Team USA Roster Projections Version 1.0

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It is time. After far too much slacking on my part, it is finally here. My first actual roster projection for Team USA in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. This isn’t my talk of the “ideal” roster, as I have done previously, this is based on who may actually take part and who has actually committed.

Go below the jump for more.

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World Baseball Classic Update 8/27/2022: Team USA sets coaching staff and continues to grow, plus other news

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Another busy week of WBC News, so here’s a bit of a catch-up:

There will be another WBC post tomorrow.

World Baseball Classic Update 8/21/2022: Venezuela, Argentina, Pakistan, and more

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A roundup of some additional WBC news from the past week or so that I missed in yesterday’s post:

  • Add Astros pitcher Luis Garcia to the list of Venezuelans who have committed to the tournament. You can add Rockies pitcher German Marquez to that list as well.
  • Rolando Arnedo, the manager of the Diamondbacks’ Arizona Complex League team, will skipper Argentina in the qualifiers. In fact, Argentina has revealed a lot more about its qualifier team in an article released on Aug. 18. Among other information: Astros Arizona Complex League manager Marcelo Alfonsin will be the pitching coach, Gabriel Sanso will be the bench/hitting coach, Eduardo Capdevilla will be outfield/third base coach, Nicolas Solari will be infield/first base coach, and Federico Bisbal will be on quality control and analytics. Player-wise, Argentina is hoping for participation from players of Argentine descent like Miami’s Daniel Castano, the Baltimore organization’s Yennier Cano, and CPBL player An Ko Lin. It’s unlikely that they’ll be able to get Castano given scheduling and the concussion and Cano’s participation would likely depend on whether he’s on the big league club by that time as well, though.
  • Pakistan has introduced three of the coaches involved in the qualifying team: Brian Furches, pitching coach Randall Arms, and Naser Peter.
  • Australia and Japan will play a series in November as preparation for the WBC.
  • Broadcasting announcement: Tyler Maun and former Australian big-leaguer Ryan Rowland-Smith will be on the call for the WBC qualifiers.

World Baseball Classic Update 8/20/2022: DeRosa to manage, Ohtani can play, more commits, and more

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In the week since our last update, more World Baseball Classic News has come out. Here’s some of it (I may get some stragglers tomorrow):

Team USA gets a manager

It’s been announced that Mark DeRosa will be the skipper for Team USA in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. It’s a bit of a surprise pick, as I and others assumed it’d be a retired manager like Mike Scioscia. However, instead USA Baseball is going young. While DeRosa has never managed professionally, he’s been thrown about in the past as a potential future candidate and is well-liked around the game. Plus, his day job as an analyst and host at MLB Network means he’s well-acquainted with most of the MLB players in the tournament. DeRosa played for Team USA in the 2009 WBC and had a long career in the majors as a super-utility man.

Ohtani can play

Shohei Ohtani didn’t play in the last WBC due to injury, but if he wants to he can in this one. The Angels have granted him permission to take part. Technically, he could have played anyway as WBC rules only allow teams to deny permission under certain circumstances like if they were on the injured list, but players- especially pitchers- generally will take team requests to heart and so if the Angels didn’t want him to play it’s likely he wouldn’t.

This needless to say is a huge get for both Samurai Japan and the tournament in general. The Japanese uniforms for Ohtani will sell extremely well, and the tournament instantly gets another marketable star to slap on some billboards and commercials.

Altuve in for Venezuela, Lopez to manage

Jose Altuve has confirmed he’s planning to play for Venezuela in 2023. Altuve previously played in the WBC in 2017. Managing Altuve will be someone familiar to him: Houston first-base coach Omar Lopez.

Alonso becomes latest position player to confirm for Team USA

The Polar Bear himself, Pete Alonso, has confirmed he’s in for Team USA. One of the best sluggers in the lead, the Mets first-baseman joins Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Nolan Arenado, J.T. Realmuto, Trevor Story, and Paul Goldschmidt as played who have signed up for Team USA. Notably, there still have yet to be any pitchers to announce their interest, but at least as far as position players the USA is looking good so far for defending its WBC title.

More WBC News and Reports:

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Look for more WBC updates in the coming days!

World Baseball Classic Update for 8/13/2022: Team USA loads up, and other updates

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Some big names have committed to Team USA in the past few days: Bryce Harper says he’s in, as does catcher J.T. Realmuto. Over at first base, Paul Goldschmidt has also committed to the team.

Meanwhile, an article on Minnesota Twins players planning to take part in the tournament revealed that Carlos Correa and Jose Miranda are planning to play for Puerto Rico, while Gio Urshela and Sandy Leon (who is actually Venezuelan but has family ties to Colombia) will suit up for Colombia.

Fernando Tatis Jr. is not expected to be eligible to play in the WBC due to his PED suspension.

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I haven’t yet done a good search of the international media over the past few days, so come back tomorrow or Monday for another update.

World Baseball Classic Update for 8/5/2022: Machado and Guerrero, Colombia’s manager, and more

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Still catching up on some of the WBC news from the past few days….