2023 World Baseball Classic

[Helobious 9827]

First time since 2017. Starts tomorrow night, Cuba vs Netherlands. Dominican team is loaded and should be favorites. Most games appear to be on FS1/2. The 2017 WBC kicked all kinds of ass, but it did have more stars playing in it iirc. Hopefully this edition gets close to that. 

https://www.mlb.com/world-baseball-classic/schedule/2023-03-08

I’ll be mostly pulling for Mexico I guess, although England or the Czechs making some noise would be the most awesome.

[tx 3 putt 78820]

Pool c and d are damn stacked

[Blotto 24046]

I had to look it up, so here's a link for the roster: https://www.mlb.com/world-baseball-classic/roster/united-states

[Zepol87 9356]

I was trying to make a work trip out to Phoenix for this but it got canceled. The last one was pretty damn fun, I'm ready 

[tx 3 putt 78820]

About an hour to go, I’m ready 

[tx 3 putt 78820]

Horn guy needs to be shot, asap 

[Helobious 9827]

Is there a law against Cuban national teams ever having a good-looking uniform?

[Helobious 9827]

Cespedes sighting

[tx 3 putt 78820]

This about to get ugly 

[shadow_operative2.0 16298]

Poor unsigned Profar sighting. 

[tx 3 putt 78820]

2 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Poor unsigned Profar sighting. 

 @Scraps is probably there cheering for him 

 

Edited March 8, 2023 by tx 3 putt

[tx 3 putt 78820]

Extremely timely double play 

[shadow_operative2.0 16298]

That would be @Beau Vine that's Profar's biggest fan around here. 

[Helobious 9827]

The Dutch team… or more accurately “Curaçao players & a bunch of scrubs”  

[shadow_operative2.0 16298]

Bernadina's last season in the bigs was 2014. 

[tx 3 putt 78820]

7 minutes ago, Helobious said:

The Dutch team… or more accurately “Curaçao players & a bunch of scrubs”  

My dad texted me : how does the Netherlands have so many black players ?

[Massive Horn 41]

1 hour ago, Helobious said:

Is there a law against Cuban national teams ever having a good-looking uniform?

You ever been to Florida? The only thing shittier than their defensive coordinators is their color palette.

 

 

 

Edited March 8, 2023 by Massive Horn

[Valmy77 13626]

1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

My dad texted me : how does the Netherlands have so many black players ?

Same reason the United States has black players. 

1 hour ago, Helobious said:

The Dutch team… or more accurately “Curaçao players & a bunch of scrubs”  

And they usually overachieve in this tournament. I enjoy them.

[Massive Horn 41]

8 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

Same reason the United States has black players.

History of slavery?

 

As an aside, we only have four on the team by my count.  We've reached NHL territory. 

 

[Valmy77 13626]

3 minutes ago, Massive Horn said:

History of slavery?

Yep.

5 minutes ago, Massive Horn said:

As an aside, we only have four on the team by my count.  We've reached NHL territory. 

 Yeah well we knew that was coming for awhile. But it seems like there are more black players in college baseball now so maybe that trend will eventually reverse itself.

[shadow_operative2.0 16298]

0-4, 2 Ks for Jurickson at the moment. Maybe they should play his brother. 

 

The immortal Chadwick Tromp is currently the hero. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16298]

Dutch are the big winners. 

[tx 3 putt 78820]

Cuba’s team is weak sauce 

[WBT 21025]

I can't take the music and drill team when Taiwan is batting.

[cmontexas 3379]

Japan has gotta be the favorite. 

Kyle Tucker is my pick for US MVP. Lefty bats tend to play in these type of tournaments (heavy rhp fastball pitching)

[Fudge Nuggets 19487]

39 minutes ago, cmontexas said:

Japan has gotta be the favorite. 

They might win it all, but the favorite has to be D.R.  They stackt.

[Scraps 13814]

13 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

 @Scraps is probably there cheering for him 

 

At least he is playing somewhere while Brantley is over there dicking around 

[Scraps 13814]

44 minutes ago, cmontexas said:

Japan has gotta be the favorite. 

 

No way.  DR has to be the favorite.  

[cmontexas 3379]

US is arguably just as stacked as DR lineup wise. Japan has the arms although Darvish will probably blow it for them

[n64ra 1150]

Wow, the USA games start at 9pm ET or 10pm ET. They don't want most of the country to watch?

[tx 3 putt 78820]

[Beau Vine 55901]

Did Cano roid back up for this?  Because I can't think of any other reason to bat him 5th in that lineup.

[shadow_operative2.0 16298]

6-hole is equally fun. 

[WBT 21025]

Pena should be 2nd.  /Dusty, probably

[Fudge Nuggets 19487]

21 hours ago, Helobious said:

Is there a law against Cuban national teams ever having a good-looking uniform?

Negative.

 

[Scraps 13814]

PR got punked by the Braves today

[The Dog 44880]

39 minutes ago, Scraps said:

PR got punked by the Braves today

Split squad Braves too.

ouch

[Fudge Nuggets 19487]

I guess the only requirement to qualify for Italy is you have ever eaten a piece of pizza?

[Beau Vine 55901]

You really gonna question the bona fides of Salvatore Frelick?

[Valmy77 13626]

3 hours ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

I guess the only requirement to qualify for Italy is you have ever eaten a piece of pizza?

Quote

To be eligible for the roster, a player must have an Italian passport, be a legal resident of the country, have a parent from the country or present documentary evidence that he would be granted citizenship or a passport in due course under Italian laws, if he were to apply for such citizenship or passport.

So basically be citizen or resident of Italy or have a parent who is Italian. I don't really know what it means to be granted citizenship if you were to apply, so maybe all you need a grandparent who was Italian.

They do have a pro league in Italy and traditionally have been pretty decent for Europeans but...to win in this tournament you need a few ringers. And DeLuzio, Mastrobuoni, Pasquatino, and Valente were not born in Italy either. Most of the native born Italians on the team are pitchers.

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Valmy77

[Valmy77 13626]

However the Czech team that is currently dominating the Chinese seems to be filled with Czechs, who knew they played so much Baseball in Prague?

[Valmy77 13626]

Why are the Cubans sucking so bad? This was supposed to be their big moment with the Cuban government finally agreeing not to throw all their major leaguers in prison and stuff.

[Valmy77 13626]

Well shortly after I posted that Cuba absolutely obliterated the Panamanians with 21 hits, so maybe I should make a similar post whenever Texas is sucking.

[WBT 21025]

Fucking Chuckles is on the Italian roster.

[Helobious 9827]

8 hours ago, Valmy77 said:

So basically be citizen or resident of Italy or have a parent who is Italian. I don't really know what it means to be granted citizenship if you were to apply, so maybe all you need a grandparent who was Italian.

They do have a pro league in Italy and traditionally have been pretty decent for Europeans but...to win in this tournament you need a few ringers. And DeLuzio, Mastrobuoni, Pasquatino, and Valente were not born in Italy either. Most of the native born Italians on the team are pitchers.

 

Rizzo played for them in 2013. Had grandparents from there.

[WBT 21025]

China-Australia is supposed to be on FS2 right now but there sticking with some kind of 'neck car in a crash delay.

Edited March 11, 2023 by WBT

[shadow_operative2.0 16298]

I noticed a couple games were on Tubi. Bet those don’t get a ton of eyeballs. 

[tx 3 putt 78820]

2 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

I noticed a couple games were on Tubi. Bet those don’t get a ton of eyeballs. 

is that the tv in a teletubby’s belly ?

Edited March 11, 2023 by tx 3 putt

[shadow_operative2.0 16298]

I watch a bunch of 90-minute ‘horror’ movies on there at dumb hours. 

[WBT 21025]

Game is on now.  I like Australia's A's ripoff unis