Come anticipate the World Baseball Classic with me

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

uh, whoops!

https://i.imgur.com/pLoOb3A.png

Cuba and Italy advance

The tiebreaker that decided Pool A was: fewest runs allowed per defensive out recorded.

In other words, divide each team's total runs allowed in pool play by the total number of outs they recorded on defense. The two teams with the lowest numbers advance.

Cuba allowed 15 runs in its four games, and recorded 108 outs, resulting in a ratio of .139 runs allowed/outs recorded. That was the lowest in Pool A.
Italy allowed 17 runs in its four games, and recorded 108 outs, resulting in a ratio of .157 runs allowed/outs recorded. That was the second-lowest in Pool A.

i'm not sure if anyone saw the US game last night but it appears that the team has decided to make saluting each other their "thing" for the WBC. worst

jesus christ

don’t all team record the same number of outs unless they’re the home team and they’re winning in the 9th, which is arbitrary? am i missing something?

yeah, you'd think they'd be pretty similar for each team! i guess extra innings might change things, or if the mercy rule cut things short

craziest is that taiwan ‘finishing last’ means they’ve been relegated and will have to go through qualifiers to make the next WBC

Canada’s starting pitcher Quantrill coughing up 3 runs in over 30 pitches in the 1st inning so far. Did not see this happening.

Buck Showalter has a very difficult voice to listen to

Quantrill loads the bases, manager comes to take him out. What is happening

The pitcher Canada brought in to replace him was brought on during the ad break, the commentary was in the middle of saying “…was about to give it all up to become a farmer.” When he gets the third out to end the half-hour top of the 1st, commenter says, triumphantly, “Not many farmers can run like that.” This is Madbum erasure you know!

Ok Canada had a home run and we missed it cos of the ad break! Sigh.

Freddie Freeman is on his second at bat in the first inning. We’re still in the first - oh wait he actually is out. Unreal how bad this is. An hour for a single inning!

More of the same in the second

It’s so bad. Five pitchers in 1.5 innings!

Another walk. My god.

"…was about to give it all up to become a farmer.”

hell yeah phillippe aumont

career bb/9 in 46 major league appearances: 7.0

He apparently did retire and is a farmer!

Commentary: in the UK it’s prime time Sunday and the pubs are watching this game…You never know when a kid watching in London is going to be captured by this game

this game?!

xps to Mookieproof: your boy Russell Martin was shown on screen trying not to laugh at the plays

I think this team could probably use Russ on the field.

Also these Britain jerseys are godawful.

Big clipart vibe
https://creazilla-store.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com/cliparts/63402/baseball-clipart-xl.png

centered default text, 11:55pm the night it was due energy

“I’m thinking of the British fans at the pubs…” goes on to name five pubs

That was pubs having official watching parties

Which is 5 more than I would have expected.

Yeah I know, but earlier they were talking about it like this was on in a load of pubs and we were laughing

This bottom of the 3rd has been going how long

Two hours to play three innings

Lol they just said this game has been going on so long it might jeopardise bp for the US-Mexico game