Tag Archives: China

2026 World Baseball Classic Qualifier Mini-Preview: Tucson (Colombia, Germany, China, Brazil)

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I don’t have time to create a full preview like I did with Taipei, so here is a mini-preview of the Tucson region of the 2026 WBC qualifiers. This is sort of a potpourri group that is unlikely to draw as large of crowds the other qualifier, but should still be entertaining.

  • Colombia enters the region as the likely favorite. Although Jose Quintana dropped out late in order to fight for an MLB spot, this is still one of the most experienced teams in the group. It has former MLB pitchers with Luis Escobar, Guillermo Moscoso, Jhon Romero, Reiver Sanmartin, and most notably two-time all-star Julio Teheran. They have MLB-experienced players in the field as well, most notably Gio Urshela, Dilson Herrera, and Harold Ramirez, with Jair Camargo (who had a cup of coffee for the Twins last season) at catcher. They also have a few players playing in high level foreign leagues in places like Mexico and Taiwan. In his preview, friend of the Continuum Michael Clair says to keep an eye on Mariners prospect Michael Arroyo- the infielder is a top 100 project.
  • Germany looks to make its first main WBC tournament with a team that includes MLB-experienced players like outfielder Donald Lutz and German-American pitcher Nick Wittgren, as well as longtime pitcher Markus Solbach, who reached as high as AAA in America. The most famous player on the team, however, is probably Jaden Agassi- the son of tennis legends Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf- who has German citizenship through his mother. The pitcher did well in summer ball last season and has pitched for USC.
  • China is likely outmatched here, but may be able to pull an upset thanks to help from Chinese-American players like pitcher Alan Carter (going by his Chinese name of Yunlun Zhang this time around), former draft pick Jeremy Wu-Yelland (currently in high-A in the Boston organization), and indy leaguer Samuel Benjamin. Beijing born Tom Sun plays Division II ball at Augustana University.
  • Finally, Brazil has a good chance of reaching the main tournament, although they will likely have to win the 2/3 play-in game to do so. In addition to “passport players” like Dante Bichette Jr., the Brazilians will have a AAA veteran in infielder Leonardo Reginatto, NPB-experienced players in pitchers Oscar Nakaoshi, Bo Takahashi, and current minor leaguers like pitcher Eric Pardinho.

Overall, I feel like Colombia is by far the favorite in this group, with Germany and Brazil the top candidates for the second spot. China may be able to surprise but has an uphill battle.

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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BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE 2.0: “Mr. Go” is about a GORILLA PLAYING BASEBALL IN KOREA

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In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball In Bizarre Baseball Culture 2.0, I take an updated look at some of the more unusual places that I previously covered where baseball has reared its head in pop culture and fiction. In the process, I clean up some mistakes of mine and add some more perspective.

NOTE: The original form of this post ran here. It has some grammatical mistakes and out-of-date information that has been corrected in this post but remains up for posterity. In addition, I have added some extra stuff.

In 2019, the Bong Joon-ho film Parasite took the world by storm. The tale of a poor Korean family that integrates its way into the life of a wealthy family, it became the first film not in the English language to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It spurred a greater appreciation and interest in Korean cinema amongst cinephiles and even general audiences.

This post is not about that film. No, this is about the exact opposite of the award-winning works of Bong Joon-Ho. This is a post about the 2013 film Mr. Go, a Korean-Chinese co-production (more on that later) about a gorilla trained to play baseball.

This was a film much beloved by people throughout the baseball internet at one point for the sheer curiosity factor of its existence. Places like the now-defunct Big League Stew did posts about it, but few actually saw it. I, however, was able to procure a copy of the film in 2014. It was in the form of a DVD from Hong Kong, acquired from a Canadian seller on eBay. All for you, the readership of the Baseball Continuum (and anybody who found this link). Times have changed since 2014, though. Now, you can watch it streaming for free (with advertisements) on the Amazon FreeVee service and on Tubi.

So, buckle up. Below the jump, we dive deep into Mr. Go. Prepare yourself, because gorilla baseball, MLB cameos, banana-shaped thunderstix, pizza commercials, a bullpen-cart chase, and other madness awaits you:

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The Best of 2014- BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE: “Mr. Go” is about a GORILLA PLAYING BASEBALL IN KOREA

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This was originally published July 18, 2014. More “Bizarre Baseball Culture” can be found here.

In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.

Oh boy.

I have covered many strange things on Bizarre Baseball Culture over time. There was the story about baseball in 2044, there was the Pokémon episode, the comic where the hero basically uses PEDs, the comic where Billy The Marlin and Spider-Man had to save Jeff Conine from Doctor Doom, and, of course, all of those “Ultimate Sports Force” comics. But perhaps none can compare to the 2013 Korean/Chinese epic that is… Mr. Go.

Yes, Mr. Go. A film much beloved by people throughout the baseball internet for the sheer curiosity factor of those blog posts at places like Big League Stew last year, but rarely actually seen by it. I, however, was able to procure a copy of the film, in the form of a DVD from Hong Kong, acquired from a Canadian seller on eBay. All for you, the readership of the Baseball Continuum (and anybody who found this link).

So, buckle up, because below the jump, we dive deep on Mr. Go. Prepare yourself, because gorilla baseball, MLB cameos, banana-shaped thunderstix, pizza commercials, a bullpen-cart chase and other madness awaits you:

Continue reading →

Neat Link: Chinese Baseball

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A new link in the Blogroll: Chinese Baseball. As the name suggests, it’s a look at the nascent baseball scene in the world’s most populated country. This year (2014), they had their first professional baseball in several years, with a very short 12-game season amongst 4 teams.

Check it out.

 

BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE: “Mr. Go” is about a GORILLA PLAYING BASEBALL IN KOREA

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In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.

Oh boy.

I have covered many strange things on Bizarre Baseball Culture over time. There was the story about baseball in 2044, there was the Pokémon episode, the comic where the hero basically uses PEDs, the comic where Billy The Marlin and Spider-Man had to save Jeff Conine from Doctor Doom, and, of course, all of those “Ultimate Sports Force” comics. But perhaps none can compare to the 2013 Korean/Chinese epic that is… Mr. Go. 

Yes, Mr. Go. A film much beloved by people throughout the baseball internet for the sheer curiosity factor of those blog posts at places like Big League Stew last year, but rarely actually seen by it. I, however, was able to procure a copy of the film, in the form of a DVD from Hong Kong, acquired from a Canadian seller on eBay. All for you, the readership of the Baseball Continuum (and anybody who found this link).

So, buckle up, because below the jump, we dive deep on Mr. Go. Prepare yourself, because gorilla baseball, MLB cameos, banana-shaped thunderstix, pizza commercials, a bullpen-cart chase and other madness awaits you:

Continue reading →

World Baseball Classic Preview: Pool A (Fukuoka, Japan)

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Pool A of the World Baseball Classic has two traditional powerhouses, Japan and Cuba, and two countries where baseball is a niche sport, Brazil and China.

Go below the jump for the preview:

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