It's about time they had an international baseball tournament with the world's best players. This year marks the first World Baseball Classic, with 16 teams participating. Baseball's popular not just in North America, but throughout Latin America and east Asia, as well. I'd say there's about 5 or 6 teams that have a shot at winning, so it should be interesting to see what happens.

It'll also be interesting to see the Cuban team play. Their players usually can't leave the country because of the oppressive regime they live under. And the US government almost didn't let them travel to play in this competition because of the embargo against Cuba. But the Cubans still have some of the best baseball players in the world, so they should be a contender.

The competition takes place between March 3 and March 20.

Here's the 4 pools for the first round:

Pool A:
China
Chinese Taipei
Japan
Korea

Pool B:
Canada
Mexico
South Africa
USA

Pool C:
Cuba
Netherlands
Panama
Puerto Rico

Pool D:
Australia
Dominican Republic
Italy
Venezuela

And here's the official site for the tournament:
http://www.worldbaseballclassic.com/2006/index.jsp

DAMN, China got spanked by Japan 18-2.  :o

Oh, that's right! :o It's underway right now!

And so is the 2006 MLB pre-season (spring training).

DAMN, China got spanked by Japan 18-2.  :o

Actually, it was Chinese Taipei who lost to Japan.

China (a different team) lost to Korea.

Actually, it was Chinese Taipei who lost to Japan.

China (a different team) lost to Korea.


Actually China lost to Korea first then lost to Japan -

Japan is playing Chinese Taipei at this moment.

First four games:
3 Mar  Korea 2, Chinese Taipei 0   
3 Mar  Japan 18, China 2
4 Mar  Korea 10, China 1   
4 Mar  Japan 14, Chinese Taipei 3

Actually China lost to Korea first then lost to Japan -

Japan is playing Chinese Taipei at this moment.


Ah. So each team plays multiple games? That makes sense. :)

Bartolo Colon helped the Dominican Republic win yesterday, over Venezuela, 11-5.

Canada beat South Africa 11-8 yesterday.

Oh, ouch. They don't even play baseball in South Africa, and we still barely got by them.

I'm just so embarassed right now.  :-[

OH WOW! Canada just beat the United States 8-6!  :o


What an upset! I can't believe we won! There's no way anyone would have predicted this.


I take back everything I said earlier. Today, I am PROUD of my country!

http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/images/canada_flag.gif


WOOHOO!

oh my!!! the Cannukians are on fire!!!

though the HOTTEST are Korea and Puerto Rico, each team having an ERA of 1 !!!

OH WOW! Canada just beat the United States 8-6!  :o


What an upset! I can't believe we won! There's no way anyone would have predicted this.



Congratz to your native team on their win. 8) It's a loss for us, however. :-[

I'm rather pleased with my boys today.

OH WOW! Canada just beat the United States 8-6!  :o


What an upset! I can't believe we won! There's no way anyone would have predicted this.


I take back everything I said earlier. Today, I am PROUD of my country!

http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/images/canada_flag.gif


WOOHOO!



Jeter is killing me.

Well, the first round's now over. There's 8 teams going on to round two.

Here's the two groups for the second round:

Pool 1:
South Korea
Mexico
Japan
United States

Pool 2:
Puerto Rico
Dominican Republic
Cuba
Venezuela


Much to my regret, Canada didn't advance to the second round.  :(

Oh well, at least we still finished with a 2-1 record.

Well, the first round's now over. There's 8 teams going on to round two.

Here's the two groups for the second round:

Pool 1:
South Korea
Mexico
Japan
United States

Pool 2:
Puerto Rico
Dominican Republic
Cuba
Venezuela


Much to my regret, Canada didn't advance to the second round.  :(

Oh well, at least we still finished with a 2-1 record.


Yup, 2-1 is a fair record, the boys just couldn't keep that ERA down.

Well, I shall root for the U.S now.
I'd bet money on the Dominican though. As long as Cuba get knocked out, that's all that matters to me.

We're down to the knock out rounds now, and have we ever had some huge upsets? The United States actually got eliminated! Who'd have thought? They lost to Korea and Mexico. And Korea won all 3 games!

And in the other group, the amateurs from Cuba made it to the semi-finals, also.

Anyway, here's the semi-final match-ups:

Cuba vs. Dominican Republic
Japan vs. Cuba

Japan vs Korea, not Cuba.

LET'S GO DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!

I just wanna see those goddam cubans knocked out.

The United States is no longer a dominant force in baseball.The
reason is,here in the US they no longer play small ball.It's all about
individual stats so they can make more millions.The Hispanic and Asian
teams know how to play as a team, move the runner,bunt,hit and run
the small things to win games.All the US players want to do is hit
home runs.

The United States is no longer a dominant force in baseball.The
reason is,here in the US they no longer play small ball.It's all about
individual stats so they can make more millions.This Hispanic    and Asian
teams no how to play as a team, move the runner,bunt,hit and run
the small things to win games.All the US players want to do is hit
home runs.


That's an excellent point, and one reason I far prefer the NL over the AL.

That's an excellent point, and one reason I far prefer the NL over the AL.

I prefer the NL over the AL mainly cuz my favorite team (the Dodgers) is in the NL, but also because they don't have the DH rule.

I prefer the NL over the AL mainly cuz my favorite team (the Dodgers) is in the NL, but also because they don't have the DH rule.


My big thing is that Small ball still exists in the NL.

GODDAM CUBA!

I'm seriously gonna be pisssed if they win.

The final's all set for Monday night. Here's the match-up:

Japan vs. Cuba

The competition's going to be decided by two teams made up of players who are mostly from outside of Major League Baseball. Who would have predicted that? And who would have predicted the players from Cuba, who are isolated from the rest of the world, would have done so well? It just shows how much talent there is outside of MLB.

I was able to watch the Japan/Korea game and I was astounded at
how they played the game.They caught pop-ups with two hands,
got in front of ground balls,protected the plate with two strikes,tried
to work the walk,stole a base when necessary and bunted when they
had to.It was so refreshing to watch fundemental baseball.I know Ichiro
Suzuki is in the AL but the guy is and all around ball player.He is just fun
to watch.

It's all over. Japan won the final 10-6 over Cuba:

http://www.worldbaseballclassic.com/2006/news/recap.jsp?ymd=20060320&content_id=1357183&gameid=2006_03_20_jpnint_cubint_1&sid=wbc

Congrats to the Japanese. It looks like they've got bragging rights in the baseball world for the next few years.

I was kind of disappointed that the first two rounds were round-robin and then the semifinals and finals were all-or-nothing.  The South Koreans would have given the Japanese something to think about if it had been best-of-three, and maybe the Cubans would have had a better tune-up too.

It's all over. Japan won the final 10-6 over Cuba:

http://www.worldbaseballclassic.com/2006/news/recap.jsp?ymd=20060320&content_id=1357183&gameid=2006_03_20_jpnint_cubint_1&sid=wbc

Congrats to the Japanese. It looks like they've got bragging rights in the baseball world for the next few years.


Phew!!

Gotta say, I'm pretty happy with that outcome.

It's all over. Japan won the final 10-6 over Cuba:

http://www.worldbaseballclassic.com/2006/news/recap.jsp?ymd=20060320&content_id=1357183&gameid=2006_03_20_jpnint_cubint_1&sid=wbc

Congrats to the Japanese. It looks like they've got bragging rights in the baseball world for the next few years.


Good for Japan. :)


Now in just a couple weeks, it'll be time for the 2006 Major League Baseball regular season! 8)