2017 World Baseball Classic Round 1 Recap and Round 2 Preview
Round 1 of the 2017 World Baseball Classic is now finished and round 2 has already kicked of. We are going to look back on round 1 and look ahead to the rest of round 2.
Round 1
Pool A:
Israel 3-0
Netherlands 2-1
South Korea 1-2
Chinese Taipei 0-3
Pool B:
Japan 3-0
Cuba 2-1
Australia 1-2
China 0-3
Pool C:
Dominican Republic 3-0
United States 2-1
Colombia 1-2
Canada 0-3
Pool D:
Puerto Rico 3-0
Venezuela 2-2
Italy 1-3
Mexico 1-2
Round 2
Pool E:
Japan 2-0
Netherlands 1-1
Israel 1-1
Cuba 0-2
Pool F:
Dominican Republic
United States
Puerto Rico
Venezuela
My Predictions:
Japan is a really good team and hasn't lost yet. I think they will advance to the semifinals and play the Netherlands, a team with a lot of good young MLB talent with Didi Gregorius and Xander Bogaerts leading the way. In Pool F I think the Dominican Republic and the US will advance. The US will have a tough time getting there, but i think they can squeak out a win against Venezuela and Puerto Rico. The Dominican is a really really really good team. I don’t think they will have one bit of a problem getting to the semifinals. In the semifinals I think the Dominican Republic will sweep the United States, and Japan will beat the Netherlands 2-1. In the Championship the Dominican Republic will prevail 2-1 and only lose 1 game in this tournament and go back to back World Baseball Classic Championships.
