First, a confession. Prior to last Friday night, I had never watched a full inning of a World Baseball Classic game. After going to two games over the weekend, I am looking forward to my next one. Pre-Game The experience, however, started off poorly. There is a list of 17 instruments that are allowed at the WBC and it includes bongos, tambourines, trumpets and trombones. There is also a list of...
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Good morning, Mets fans! MMO’s Brandyn Pokrass is crushing spring training coverage like he’s Juan Soto in the WBC. Carson Benge and Francisco Alvarez had two hits apiece, Freddy Peralta made his second spring start (two earned runs in three innings, four strikeouts) and the Mets beat the Yankees 10-4 Sunday in front of 7,277 at Clover Park. Brandyn Pokrass was at a Carlos Mendoza...
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If this tournament existed last century, Team Cuba might have won it a few times. The Cubans won gold at the Olympics for baseball in 1992, 1996 and 2004 and took silver in 2000 and 2008. In the WBC, they have gotten as far as the finals. Notable Players Yariel Rodriguez made 21 starts for the 2024 Blue Jays (4.47 ERA) and transitioned well to the bullpen in 2025 (3.08 ERA, 73 strikeouts in 66...
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If you are looking for great signs for the Mets during spring training, there were two on Wednesday: Christian Scott was excellent in his return to game action and Carson Benge took a lefty deep. “Pretty impressive,” Carlos Mendoza told reporters of Scott’s outing after he struck out five over 2 2/3 scoreless innings in a 5-2 win over Team Israel. “First time out there...
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Team Samurai Japan returns 1o players from the group that rejoiced when Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout to end the 2023 World Baseball Classic in perhaps the most iconic moment in the tournament’s history. Notable Players Ohtani, who fanned Trout with no one on base to secure the 3-2 victory, is back, but he won’t pitch this time. The MVP of the 2023 WBC will lead a formidable...
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