Well, the 2026 WBC either did or didn’t start off with a bang, depending on your perspective.
On the “not” front, you have the fact that the opening game took place at 10:00 pm ET at the Tokyo Dome, and featured two dark-horse-at-best competitors in Australia and Taiwan.
On the “yes, with a bang” front, though — the game featured two homers by Team Australia, who call themselves Southern Thunder. The first was a two-run shot by former Rockies farmhand Robbie Perkins, breaking open a scoreless tie in the fifth.
First overall pick (2024) and current Guardians minor leaguer Travis Bazzana added a tack-on dinger in the seventh.
Overall, without anything approximating MLB-quality lineups, this was a contest for the pitching. Taiwan starter Jo-Hsi Hsu added four scoreless frames to his ledger with a 3/0 K/BB ratio; the Aussies got on the board only when Hsu departed as Perkins homered off Pirates prospect Po-Yu Chen. Meanwhile, Australia’s pitching was a trio of three-inning efforts: one-time Orioles prospect Alex Wells started and had a 6/1 K/BB ratio, followed by Jack O’Loughlin (2/0 K/BB), and then former Braves minor leaguer Jon Kennedy wrapped it up, mainly on balls in play (1/1 K/BB ratio). Taiwan’s bats really didn’t get anything going — before the ninth, their only runner in scoring position came thanks to a two-out hit-by-pitch.
That said, the game had a tiny bit of drama at the end, as Taiwan finally rallied with one out in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate — in part thanks to a defensive error on a grounder. That brought up former Arizona State and minor leaguer Lyle Lin, who had swapped in earlier in the game against Kennedy, and Lin got a grooved 1-0 87 mph fastball and gave it a real ride… but it was caught just short of the wall in center field, and the game ended on a groundout shortly thereafter.
Anyway, that was fun — for those of you interested, which “clearly not first tier” WBC team do you think will have a surprising run this year? Canada seems to be the popular pick for this as their roster is more MLB-esque than at any prior point, even if they’re missing Freddie Freeman this year.
“Thursday’s” WBC action includes a couple of games with Czechia, due to the magic of time zones, including one that’s already concluded (where they were routed by Korea). Czechia will face off against Australia later tonight at that same 10:00 pm ET slot as well.
