OTTAWA- Although Canada suffered a tough loss to the United States last Sunday and was eliminated from the World Baseball Classic, here are five reasons to watch the tournament this weekend as Round 2 action winds down and the Championship Round begins
1. USA vs. Puerto Rico (7pm ET tonight) to decide final-four
The Dominican Republic punched their ticket to the Championship Round last night with a thrilling 3-1 victory over the United States. If you were tuning into the WBC for the first time last night, you didn’t need to be sold any further as to the passion and pride that countries competing in the WBC play with. The Dominicans thrilled their fans with two runs in the top of the 9th and closer Fernando Rodney shut the powerhouse Americans down in the bottom of the 9th to send the Dominican faithful home happy. The crowd of over 30,000 at Marlins Park in Miami were treated to perhaps the game of the tournament thus far.
Team USA will now face Puerto Rico tonight with the final spot in the Championship Round on the line. A strong contingent of Puerto Rican fans combined with the hometown American supporters promises to provide an electric atmosphere at Marlins Park.
2. Top spot on-the-line Saturday night
Although the Dominican Republic has already qualified for the Championship Round and tonight’s USA/Puerto Rico winner as well, there’s still plenty to play for tomorrow night with first place on the line in Round Two. Tomorrow night’s loser between the Dominican Republic and either USA or Puerto Rico will be forced to play two-time defending champion Japan in a semi-final on Sunday at AT&T Park in San Francisco. The winner of tomorrow night’s game will get a day of rest on Sunday before taking on the Netherlands on Monday in the second semi-final.
3. Netherlands
Perhaps the biggest story of the 2013 World Baseball Classic is the Netherlands advancing out of the Asia bracket to the Championship Round in San Francisco. Unexpected, yes, surprise - it shouldn’t be. You only need to look back to the 2009 WBC when the Dutch upset the Dominican Republic twice in Round One to effectively eliminate the heavily favoured Dominicans. The upset in 2009 wasn’t the only time that Netherlands has proved the experts wrong as the Dutch had a magical run at the 2011 World Cup in Panama where they defeated international powerhouse Cuba twice, including the gold medal game to win the event. Netherlands showed that the victories over the Cubans in 2011 were no fluke as they bounced Cuba from the WBC last week with a 7-6 win in Tokyo to advance to the Championship Round. Another possible story to watch for this weekend is if the Dominican Republic wins their Round Two bracket they will face the Netherlands on Monday in the second semi-final and you can bet that the Dominicans will have revenge on their minds when facing the team that eliminated them in 2009. Netherlands also added Jurickson Profar, the top rated MLB prospect, to their roster for the Championship Round.
4. Japan
Japan is the only champion that the World Baseball Classic has ever known and the Japanese are back in the Championship Round to defend their title once again. The team is without a bona-fide MLB superstar, but that hasn’t slowed them down one bit with their only blemish a 6-3 loss to Cuba when they had already clinched a spot in Round Two. Japan put up 30 runs combined in wins over Chinese Taipei and twice over Netherlands in Round Two, while giving up 13. A possible re-match with the United States looms in the semi-finals on Sunday in San Francisco as Japan knocked the US out of the 2009 WBC with a 9-4 semi-final win. The United States would have to defeat Puerto Rico tonight and lose to the Dominican Republic Saturday night in order for the re-match to happen.
5. Playoff baseball in March!
Anyone who has witnessed action in the WBC thus far has been treated to playoff-like baseball when normally teams are gearing-up for the regular season in spring training. With bragging rights on the line and National pride evoking passion and emotions rarely seen in players, you can bet that this weekend’s WBC games will go down in history as some of the finest international baseball ever played. Do yourself a favour and tune-in this weekend, as you will not be disappointed!
In Canada, Sportsnet is providing wall-to-wall coverage of all WBC games on their regional channels. Please check your local listings for games and times.
In the US, you can watch every WBC game on MLB Network.
Please visit www.worldbaseballclassic.com for news, schedules, stats and more!
