Possibly The Best WBC Roster We've Ever Seen Got Sent Packing In Pool Play
This is why the game isn't played on paper. Leading up to the World Baseball Classic everyone and their mother, me included, was touting the Dominican Republic as the best baseball team possibly ever assembled. All Stars all over, future Hall of Famers, big bats everywhere. Welp, they didn't make it out of their pool after being one of the odds on favorite to win the whole damn thing. Yes, that team that had Manny Machado, Julio Rodriguez, Nelson Cruz, Rafael Devers, Wander Franco, Juan Soto, Eloy Jimenez, Ketel Marte, Jeremy Pena, Gary Sanchez and more are now going back to Spring Training after losing to Puerto Rico on Wednesday. They went 2-2 with that All Star roster, good for third in their pool. They just fell flat on their faces.
Just an awful showing for this team who was supposed to steamroll their way through the tournament until a massive matchup with Japan somewhere down the line. This has to be embarrassing for the Dr. I know it's not as big as the World Cup or anything, but they had a super team and absolutely shit the bed here. I mean have some pride boys, they went down without a fight. Sad!
I'm obviously pulling for USA but I was also pulling for the DR just because of how stacked they were. Maybe I sprinkled a little on them to win it all at +220 on the Barstool Sportsbook, but I just wanted to watch them be entertaining. This was like a Globetrotters team on a diamond, now they're gone and it was all just a tease. No Juan, no Manny, no JRod, no Devers, sadness.
Now it's clear that it's Japan's tournament to lose. I wouldn't sleep on the US either, even though I don't think their pitching can get it done. Puerto Rico is obviously a threat, Venezuela has looked great too. But man would it have been fun to see this team mash into the the single elimination portion and hit a billion homers, oh well.