Overview:
Location: Taichung, Taiwan
Teams: Netherlands, Cuba, Taiwan, Panama, Italy
Venue: Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium (home of the reigning CPBL champion CTBC Brothers)
Initial Thoughts:
For my money, this is the most even of the four pools where all five teams could realistically emerge from the group into the knockout stages. The Dutch are probably the favorites though. They have reached consecutive semi-finals and have gotten out of the opening round in three consecutive WBCs. They also have a litany of stars to call upon. Cuba enjoys the best international pedigree of them all and have reached a WBC final. That said, they have fallen on harder times of late on the international circuit. The hosts Taiwan had a disappointing 2017 WBC but have a stronger team overall this time around plus home field advantage. If you’ve ever watched Taiwanese baseball, you’ll understand this to be significant. The band and cheerleaders are a nice touch too. Panama are back after failing to qualify for the last two editions and bring a long history of international baseball success. They were dominant in qualifying and should pose a threat to everyone in the group. Italy have reached the second round in each of the last two editions of the WBC and could feasibly do it again. This Italian enjoys plenty of big league level talent and may be the strongest Italian squad to date under Hall of Famer Mike Piazza. This pool will be hard to predict and lots of fun to watch. You will fall in love with the way baseball games are lived and enjoyed in Taiwan. My last three seasons of watching CPBL regularly attest to that.
The Kingdom Of The Netherlands:
All teams in this pool boast very talented players but only the Dutch boast a player like Xander Bogaerts. They top it off with a legit closer in Kenley Jansen and pieces like Andrelton Simmons, Josh Palacios, Jonathan Schoop, Sir Didi Gregorius and Jurickson Profar. Wladimir Balentien and Roger Bernadina enjoyed significant success playing overseas. You may recall Jair Jurrjens and Shairon Martis also. There are also some good prospects on this team plus stars from the Dutch league.
The Dutch have dominated Europe for decades for a reason. They are by far the most advanced baseball nation on the continent and enjoy the benefits of being able to pull in players from Curacao and Aruba. They are a regular in competitions such as the Premier 12 tournament and the European Baseball Championships so many of these non-MLB players have a long history playing together and winning together. In the WBC, they boast two semi-final appearances and were the giant killers of the 2009 edition, sending the Dominicans home early. The Dutch are used to being overlooked only to go deep in these tournaments and look for them to possibly make another final four run this time around. Maybe they even go one better this time.
Cuba:
For the first time, Cuba will boast players who have already played in MLB rather than just guys who will soon defect. They will still have some of those players as such is the sad reality of the island’s situation for decades now. Yet, in spite of all the hardships, Cuba boasts decades of international baseball success and more major talent in today’s world than most countries have ever produced. From this roster, fans will recall Andy Ibanez, Yoennis Cespdes and Roenis Elias. Alfredo Despaigne has enjoyed years of success in Asia and current White Sox Luis Robert and Yoan Moncada are named to the squad. We should get to know Raidel Martinez soon also. MLB scouts have been keeping an eye on him during Cuba’s warm-up games.
The Cubans have the most international success of anyone in the group. They boast five Olympic medals (three gold, two silver) and made the WBC final in 2006 and the second round in every edition since. They have dominated continental competitions like the Pan-Am Games to say the least over the years. The amount of Cubans playing major league baseball today also speaks for itself. However, the 2017 WBC ended with an underwhelming 2-4 record including an 0-3 second round and to be frank, they were lucky to beat Australia and therefore even get out of round one. Redemption will be on their minds in 2023 and they have the goods to pull it off if they play the level of baseball that Cuba has generally brought to these kinds of competitions.
Taiwan:
The hosts have built a squad mainly composed of CPBL stars. A few NPB based players and some MLB veterans are also on the squad. The hitting should be fairly solid. MLB vets Tzu Wei-Lin and Yu Chang will be flanked by the most complete hitter in CPBL, Lin Li. Li brings power, average and speed and is an ideal #2 hitter for this lineup. Speed demon Chen Chen-Wei will be a later inning weapon if they need to steal a base of defensive solidity in the outfield late in games but Chen Chieh-Hsien likely starts in CF. NPB’s Wang Po-Jung will likely start here also. Wei-Chuan Dragons catcher Kungkuan Giljegiljaw who opened a lot of eyes in 2022. Pitching might be suspect again but not to the same degree as 2017. Wang Wei-Chung likely anchors this rotation and the bullpen will likely be led by MLB vet C.C. Lee and Sung Chia-Hao.
Taiwan did make the second round in 2013 but generally have been unsuccessful in advancing out of round one. They will have the crowd behind them this time; not a small thing if you’ve ever seen a CPBL game, especially in the Taiwan Series, and this is arguably bigger than a Taiwan Series game to these fans. Taiwan has also qualified for the Olympics, Premier 12 and other such competitions so they’re used to playing on the international circuit with their local stars. They have the goods to make it out of this group but will need to get the offense they expect and more importantly, the pitching needs to hold up in order for them to avoid an early exit.
Panama:
Panama is back after fourteen years in the wilderness. They returned in style though, nobody could so much as touch them during the qualifiers and that included solid teams such as fellow qualifier Nicaragua, Brazil and an upstart Argentina. Their roster has quite a few MLB vets and some current MLB players but no major stars unlike the Dutch or even the Cubans. And yet, this is a quietly solid team even with the withdrawals they’ve been hit with of late. Former Blue Jays Javy Guerra and Justin Lawrence are on the squad. So are Randall Delgado and Humberto Mejia who was so impressive in the qualifiers. MLB fans will recall Jonathan Arauz and Ruben Tejada and Christian Bethancourt shares catching duties right now in Tampa Bay. Jose Ramos is a hot outfield prospect with power and speed as shown in the qualifiers.
Panama failed to make it out of the group stage in both 2006 and 2009 including getting no-hit by Shairon Martis who they may see again all these years later in the game against the Dutch. That said, this is the same country that produced Mariano Rivera and Rod Carew. And they are a recognized power in Latin America that still churns out MLB level talent on a regular basis. This squad has sufficient all around depth to compete in a fairly even group. They need to play up to their very potential to make it out but they can pull it off. There will be no freebies against this Panama squad.
Italy:
Mike Piazza has assembled maybe the strongest Italian squad to date even after being hit with withdrawals by the likes of Jordan Romano. He boasts a solid infield of Nicky Lopez, David Fletcher and up and coming star Vinny Pasquatino plus Robel Garcia and Miles Mastrobuoni. Pitching is solid too with the likes of Matt Festa and Andrew Pallante plus other MLB vets like Matt Harvey and former Jays fan favorite Joe Biagini. The squad, like other Italian squads of the past, is quietly solid and capable. Stars from the Italian league, which is one of the stronger leagues in Europe, round out the rest of the squad including San Marino born wonderkid Alessandro Ercolani.
Italy reached the second round in the 2013 WBC and forced a tiebreaker game that they ultimately lost to Venezuela 4-3 in 2017. They did it in style last time also, with a spectacular comeback to snatch a spot away from Mexico. The Italians are a gritty squad that never make for easy games no matter who they face. They are more than capable of doing this again. They are also one of the big three in Europe and typically medal at the European championships as they did in 2021 while hosting. In 2023, they should be considered a favorite to advance along with the Netherlands and Cuba.
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