WORLD PARTY

The World Baseball Classic keeps continuing to grow, literally and figuratively. The WBC expanded to 20 teams this year after previously being a 16-team event.

- KYLE GLASER

The addition of four new entrants means teams now must play four games to advance out of pool play instead of three, making it a longer road to advance. It also means deeper pools in many cases, creating more possibilities for upsets.

The Dominican Republic faces this acutely. On paper, the Dominicans are the most talented team in the WBC. But they are also in the tournament’s Group of Death, Pool D, and could very conceivably finish behind Venezuela and Puerto Rico in pool play.

While Japan and the United States don’t face quite the same level of threat in their respective pools, the tournament’s heavyweights nonetheless know they are in for their greatest challenge yet.

The Dominican Republic, Japan and United States are the class of this year’s WBC field, but that doesn’t mean they are light years ahead of the competition. Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Mexico, South Korea and the Netherlands all boast talented rosters and are serious contenders to finish on the medal stand.

There remains yet more talent beyond that group. Canada’s recent wave of promising young players gives its national team a major boost. The addition of big leaguers to Cuba’s roster should help the longtime power reverse its recent decline. Israel continues to rise on the international baseball scene. Taiwan boasts a competitive roster of professionals from the Chinese Professional Baseball League.

This year’s WBC is loaded with talent. While there is a clear top three teams and a clear second tier of five others, teams throughout the field have enough talent to pull off an upset. That sets the stage for what could be the most thrilling WBC yet.

NEW APPROACH