World Baseball Classic Gaining Audience

“America’s favorite pasttime” no longer stands just for the United States of America, but also countries like Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Japan, and Venezuela. All of these nations are contenders in the WBC and Japan won it last time (2006).

This year has been a mixture of soap-drama and exciting play, which naturally has raised much interest for the events. Between the steriod allegations, banning of one trainer, calls for tougher testing, Japan’s title defense, and the robust MLB staffs that island nations are producing, there has been a media frenzy behind the WBC.

As if that weren’t enough, the Netherlands has to go and beat the Dominican Republic 3-2 on Friday night, one of the biggest upsets in recent sports history. Essentially a Pro team vs. a semi-Pro team matchup, the game was lost by the DR, more than it was won by the Netherlands. Nonetheless, this will spark a rally of fan support from the Hague to Curacao.

There will surely be more excitement to come. Here are today’s matchups (some have already been played) and a bracket:

Pool A:          Korea 1, Japan 0

Pool B:           Mexico vs. South Africa, 10 PM

Pool C:           Italy vs. Canada, 6:30 PM

Pool D:           Netherlands vs. Puerto Rico, 6:30 PM

The US will play in 2 days against the winner of the Venezuela vs. the Italy/Canada matchup winner. WBC is double elimination and Round 2 starts on Sunday.