Tag Archives: baseball

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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2023 World Baseball Classic Pool A Preview: Taichung

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Photo by michael spadoni on Pexels.com

We begin our 2023 World Baseball Classic Pool Previews with Pool A: Taichung.

About the Venue: Situated in the island’s second-largest municipality, Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium is no stranger to hosting big baseball events. This will be the second time that it has hosted the WBC (having also held a round in 2013), and it has also hosted rounds of the Premier12 tournament and Asian Championships. It’s currently home to the CTBC Brothers club (also called Brothers or Brothers Elephants) of the CPBL. The stadium holds 20,000 fans and has symmetrical dimensions of 325 feet down the lines, 379 to left and right-center, and 400 to dead center.

About The Pool: This is a bit of a hodge-podge pool, made up essentially of teams that were odd-man-out of the more geographically based pools that are elsewhere. It also is one of the tougher ones to predict, with no true favorite and reasons to be optimistic about all five teams. The fight for the two top spots in the pool and a trip to the quarterfinals will be fierce.

Go below the jump for the full preview.

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2023 World Baseball Classic Pool Previews: Introduction/Glossary

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We are less than a month from the start of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and this week I’ll be doing pool previews.

But first, an explanation of what will be included in each pool’s preview.

First off, each pool will have the following:

About the Venue: Info on the stadium where it will take place. Pretty self-explanatory.

About The Pool: A general overview of the pool. Summing up the basic storylines to keep an eye on.

Pool Outlook: My outright predictions for the pool.

For every country, there will be these bits:

About The Country: Again, largely self-explanatory. Just a bit about the country, its history, etc. Probably will include a fun fact, as well!

Baseball History: The history of baseball in that country. Needless to say, this can vary greatly.

International Baseball History: The history of the country in the WBC, Olympics, and other international play.

Road to the WBC: How the team qualified for this WBC. For most countries, this will basically be “did well enough in the last WBC.”

(Insert Country Name Here)’s Baseball League: Info on the current structure of baseball in that country- what their top league is, etc.

(Insert Country Name Here) MLB Players: A look at MLB players from that country through history as well as how many (if any) are on the team.

Notable names: The most notable players on the team.

Highest Achievers: Other notable players who have reached highest in the continuum of baseball leagues.

Ones to Watch: Generally will be for younger players who aren’t really well-known or MLB now, but could be in the future.

Manager/Coaching Staff: A bit about the manager and coaching staff of the team.

Outlook: General overview of the country/team and how they might do in the pool.

We start tomorrow with Pool A!

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.

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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Aside: Wings and the deadline at Pickin’ Splinters

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Over at Pickin’ Splinters, I have an article about how the trade deadline may affect the Rochester Red Wings. Keep an eye open, because I’ll also have a Rochester Red Wings report tonight over at Nats Report.

Over at Nats Report: A Red Wings Report!

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I have a new Rochester Red Wings Report over at Nats Report. Check it out here.

Tomorrow on this blog: A World Baseball Classic update!

Who is the greatest Mr. Irrelevant in baseball history?

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You may know about Mr. Irrelevant, the last pick of the NFL Draft. The idea being that he is the equivalent of the last person picked on the playground, doomed to be an afterthought. Of course, even the last person picked in a professional draft is still far more talented than you, me, or almost anyone else on the planet. And, indeed, some Mr. Irrelevant picks have gone on to have good careers.

But what of baseball? After all, until very recently the MLB Draft was hilariously long. In fact, at one point there was no set ending. Even once more structure was added, it could still last 40 rounds. Only recently has it truly been downsized, going all the way down to five rounds in 2020 for COVID/labor reasoning before being increased again somewhat to 20 in 2021.

That, as well as the fact that all but the very best of prospects must spend at least some time in the minors, mean many baseball Mr. Irrelevants never even played professionally. But of those who did, who did the best? Given that this year’s draft is currently in full swing, I have a rundown under the jump:

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The CompO’St Declaration

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On June 22, I made the following post on Twitter:

At the time, it seemed absurd, but as we enter Wednesday, the Baltimore Orioles are now at .500 and are just two games back of a wild card spot. While still considered quite unlikely, it is now not out of the realm of possibility that they will, indeed, make the playoffs.

When I made the declaration above, I did not believe the Orioles would even come remotely close at any point in the season. This is not because I dislike the Orioles. In fact, I quite like the Orioles. I have family in Maryland, watched their minor leaguers when they were the Red Wings’ parent club, and Cal Ripken Jr. was my favorite player growing up. In fact, I even attended one of their playoff games against the Yankees in 2012 and have the “BUCKle Up” rally towel to prove it.

However, I didn’t think they’d possibly be this good. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they continued to do a lot better than myself and many others thought they would, but I didn’t think they’d get to .500, much less be in the conversation for a wild card at any point. That’s especially true since I figured they’d trade away every player not on a long-term contract, which now looks unlikely save for perhaps Trey Mancini (since his contract ends after this season and they’ll want something for him). So, when I wrote that I’d get into composting if they made the playoffs, I meant it.

So, since I’m a man of my word, I’m going to stick with it: If the 2022 Baltimore Orioles make the postseason, I will get into composting. I will buy a compost bin, I will put biodegradable waste like dead leaves, rotten fruits/vegetables, and cut grass into it. I will turn it every week or two to ensure it gets all mixed up. Maybe I’ll even put some worms in it. Eventually, assuming it actually works, I’ll probably give the resulting compost to family to use for gardening, or something.

Now, you’re probably wondering: why composting? It stems from a stupid inside joke where somebody said I must have been a farmer since I was helping with something outside. I quipped that I was doing composting, and it ran far too long from there. For another, composting doesn’t hurt anything and is good environmentally, so it’s not like I’m going to do some dangerous stunt

So, yeah, if the Orioles make the playoffs, I’m going to do composting.

Seriously.

At Pickin’ Splinters: Red Wings falls back in division with 3-2 loss

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My first game story for Pickin’ Splinters is now up. Be sure to check it out and read about the Wings’ loss last night as well as manager Matthew LeCroy’s thoughts on the game.