Come anticipate the World Baseball Classic with me

the Venezuela team looks pretty good. surprised Puerto Rico is the favourite for the second seed over them

Might watch the cuba/Netherlands game tonight

i'm here for it

Dude with the horn is getting on my nerves already

he's grooving a bunch of slow-ass offspeed stuff down the middle - Cuba is going to go to town eventually

*airhorn*

netherlands

jurickson profar, jonathan schoop, bogaerts, andrelton simmons, didi gregorious! i don't see them taking out japan or south korea in the elimination round but they might be ok!

Dude was lucky to get out of that inning

yeah, i predict the final score of this game is going to add up to at least 15

Cuban starter who is a pitcher in Japan - looks *really* good

I do like those Netherlands caps

i do too.

cuba's blues, okay, but i dislike pretty much any uniform with a gradient on it. really hard to pull off unless it's a videogame

the pitching coach for the netherlands?

BERT BLYLEVEN

I guess it sounds Dutch?

That was my first thought when you posted about how good the Netherlands' infield was--Honus Wagner's playing for them? I had no idea all those guys were from there.

I think the rules are a little more loosey goosey than just where you were born.

Truthfully, I didn't even know they played baseball in the Netherlands.

Ya there’s a whole euro league. I’m sure they’re about as popular as pro ultimate frisbee leagues are over here… but they exist!

xp
the team has players from not just the netherlands, but also west indian caribbean islands they colonized, like aruba and curacao

Just came up with a potential, very obscure, fantasy team name: Newcombes on de Blok

Oohh I thought that ball was gone

lol, that xander bogaerts hbp was at least 6 inches away from his body

Ya. That’s not gonna survive the challenge.

was able to stay awake long enough to see Netherlands take the lead and then i was out. glad they were able to hang on

https://i.imgur.com/abRAN0G.png

https://www.mlb.com/news/cuba-fan-with-horn-at-world-baseball-classic

He jokes that he’s not only one of the most famous people in Cuba, but the entire world. The crowd at Intercontinental -- mostly baseball fans from Taiwan -- immediately took a liking to Avila. They cheered with him and, in between almost every inning, groups of people went down to take selfies with him.

The players, of course, know him well (again, he’s always there) and he feels like this is a great squad that he could follow all the way to end.

“They’re very good,” Avila said. “One of the best teams ever. Like the 1990s teams.”

those in the US, how are you watching this?

the fox sports website, using an ancient login from the brother of a friend of a friend

the usual free shady streaming options (sp0rtsurg3 etc) didn't have the first game, but maybe they'll catch on as the tournament progresses

adam wainwright is starting game 1 for the US and it could get pretty ugly. however, i was completely wrong about my "15+ total runs in NED vs CUBA" prediction so who knows

It was nice to see Cespedes again!

it warms my heart to see that lars nootbaar has quickly became a national sensation in japan

https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/11lz47w/lars_tatsuji_nootbaars_signature_pepper_grinder/

LARS NOOTBAAR AND HIS GRIND THE PEPPER CELLY HAVE GONE INTERNATIONAL 🐐🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/pIJuRCA9Cy

— The Game Day MLB (@TheGameDayMLB) March 8, 2023

on the one hand: yesss
on the other hand: never repeat the word “celly” again ever

heavily otm

all caps celly is unforgivable

wheel/snipe/celly ferda

also

Rik Aalbert Blyleven was born in Zeist, a municipality in Utrecht, Netherlands, the son of Johannes Cornelius and Jannigje Blijleven. His family moved to Melville, Saskatchewan, when Blyleven was two years old before ultimately settling in Garden Grove, California, in 1957 when Blyleven was five years old. One of seven children, his parents anglicized their names to Joe and Jenny, with Rik Aalbert becoming simply "Bert".

apparently if you are eligible for citizenship in a country you can play for that team in the WBC

^untrue, i was flatly rejected by the US squad this year, again

“Celly” is a hockey thing

Also john axford looks like an old wizard what happened

China having a difficult 4th inning

Naturally just as I say that they finally get a third out. Ohtani absolutely nightmarish for them.

woah - Italy just beat Cuba!

wow, 16 walks on the Japan side of the box score in that game with China!

also, just ran across this, maybe it'll divert your attention for a few moments as well:

https://i.imgur.com/dkeR5Um.png

also i see that team USA was defeated by the Giants in their warm-up game yesterday, 5-1.

so is Cuba done, now that they've lost two? or do they still have a sliver of hope going into the game v Panama tonight (which you would think should be win-able)?

i think they're not technically out of it yet but they are pretty much cooked.

First Round: In the First Round, the teams in each pool shall be ranked according to the percentages of games won in the First Round. The two teams with the highest such percentages in each pool shall advance to the Quarterfinal Round. If at the end of pool play in Round One of the Tournament, teams within a pool are tied with an identical winning percentage, the tie shall be broken in the following order of priority:

The team that won the games between the teams tied shall be given the higher position. If three or more teams are tied and one of those teams won its games against all other teams it is tied with, then it will be placed in the higher spot. Similarly, if one of those tied teams lost its games against all other teams it is tied with, then it will be placed in the lowest spot.

...

*persevering air horn in the night*

i like the part of the televised intro when the voice goes "IT'S A NEW DAY IN THE INTERNATIONAL LANDSCAPE!!!"

At 44, he is the second-oldest player in the WBC. He has a mullet, and sometimes, a gold tooth. He throws 75 mph.

He is Kenny Powers, Forrest Gump, Paul Bunyan, Batman and Walter Johnson rolled into one

This is the legend of Shlomo Lipetz

NEW @MLBONFOXhttps://t.co/NzBUPCqE95

— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) March 10, 2023

awesome

not a great outing by sandy alcantara

EAT
TAIN

We could watch replays of Ohtani's homer 24/7. #WorldBaseballClassic pic.twitter.com/IOmqVVj4E3

— MLB (@MLB) March 12, 2023