WBC is popping off. Pool play is over and we’re locking in for the tournament games starting tonight. We’ll be livestreaming on our JM Baseball channel starting at 6:30 pm.
Scroll for a WBC-focused issue that tackles DR vs. the World, the rest of the field, and Jimmy Knorp putting Jokic at catcher.
— Team TSN
The DR has already won
The bat flips were next level.
WBC pool play is over, and let’s just say if you’re looking around this tournament trying to figure out who can beat the Dominican Republic, you better come with something serious. The DR aura was crazy, the crowd was on fire, and every moment felt even bigger because it was happening in Dominican colors.
A fake lineup: This roster does not look real. This looks like the kind of team you build in The Show and then your boys tell you, “Yo, you can’t play with this team, bro.” Top to bottom, this is just too much. Too many stars, too much swagger, too much firepower, too many guys who can change a game with one swing. Korea can hit, sure, but if your pitching hasn’t looked right and now you’ve got to face this lineup? Boy, you better pitch well. That’s the whole scouting report right there.
The aura is a weapon: The barrage of home runs against Venezuela (Juan Soto, Ketel Marte, Vlad, and Tatis Jr.) turned what was supposed to be tightly contested baseball game into a competition of who could best pimp a home run, with the Miami crowd loving every moment. The Dominican Republic didn’t just win games in pool play. They made the tournament feel louder every time they took the field.
DR fans are turning out: The Dominican fans were activated. Fully activated. In the stadium, outside the stadium, back home — everybody’s pulling the same rope. That’s what makes international baseball hit different and why this felt so live in Miami. It wasn’t just a game atmosphere. It felt like a country showing up in real time.
Venezuela Was Real. This isn’t like the Dominican Republic rolled through a weak group and now everybody’s overreacting. Venezuela is legit. That game had bragging rights, heat, real tension, and two undefeated teams going at it. If you wanted to see the Dominican Republic tested before the knockout round, there it was. And they still looked like the class of the field.
Can they be beat? The bracket is one-game elimination, and baseball is a high-variance sport. Anyone can get got. But in stomping through pool play the DR didn’t just look like a favorite. They looked like the team everybody else is trying to survive.
Which team has the best chance of pulling a WBC upset?
Okay there are seven other teams, too
These guys want it.
Outside of the DR, the story of pool play was a mix of surviving, advancing, almost collapsing, and weird tiebreaker math. It hasn’t just been about who has the best roster. It’s been about who can handle the format, who can take a punch, and who can stay alive long enough to make the bracket dangerous.
Japan Took Care of Business: Japan won its pool, which is what a lot of people expected. Korea had to not only overcome a 2-0 hole against Australia, but due to tiebreaker rules had to come back to win by at least five runs. That run-differential tiebreaker chaos has been one of the best wrinkles in the WBC. You’re watching a team celebrate while still trailing because they know one more run changes everything. That’s not normal baseball, but it is perfect tournament baseball.
Puerto Rico Has Heart: PR rolled through pool play until a sloppy game against Canada. The takeaway wasn’t panic. It was more like, they’re still moving on, and they still feel dangerous because they’ve got that fight to them. They’re a team that can get hit, stay standing, and keep coming.
Mission Im-pasta-ble: Italy getting out of pool play has been an amazing story, even if Team Italy could be more accurately called Team Italian-American. And they did the Americans a solid by beating Mexico so the US could avoid what would have been the biggest disappointment in WBC history.
Venezuela and USA are battered but dangerous: Venezuela was overwhelmed by the DR but they could be a big problem for Japan in the opening round. The US backed into the bracket but top to bottom it’s the best roster they’ve ever had. Pool play is over. The field is still very much alive.
The Wide World of JM
Jack and Zo present Anything But a Bat: Costco Edition.
Jimmy breaks down the closest overturned call of the WBC.
Jimmy joins Talkin’ Baseball to talk about the US’s chances in the WBC.
Over in the Warehouse a Slapball championship game.
Jimmy Knorp builds a roster from jerseys seen at a WBC game.