Elephant Rumblings: WBC rolls on with (and without) A’s Players

Dominican Republic pitcher Luis Severino will stay with the team as they head to the semifinal round of the WBC | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images The quarterfinal matchups of the World Baseball Classic are set. We’ve had hours upon hours of great baseball on TV to get our spring off on the right foot, and

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The quarterfinal matchups of the World Baseball Classic are set. We’ve had hours upon hours of great baseball on TV to get our spring off on the right foot, and the ability to watch some of our favorite players get their spring reps in games that mean something to millions of fans across the globe. The stadiums were full and the crowds raucous unlike the traditional spring environments. There was some great baseball, and there was some, umm. spring training-like baseball.

Today is a day off for all

teams and half will use it as a travel day. Friday, four teams kick off the quarterfinal matchups; the USA vs. Canada and Korea vs. Dominican Republic will face off at Daikin Park in Houston. The remaining four teams Puerto Rico vs. Italy and Venezuela vs. Japan will go at it Saturday at loanDepot Park in Miami. The semifinal and final rounds all move to Miami for the remainder of the tournament, and the championship game will be played Sunday, March 17 at 5PM PDT. The remaining WBC games are all aired on Fox or FS1.

There are some perennial powerhouse teams that are flying back home now to the surprise of many fans who watch closely, and some teams at the top of the standings were not expected to move on, never mind win their pool. Canada’s 3-1 pool play record put them as the leader of Pool A and caused Cuba an early exit. Italy’s decisive win over the USA and dominating victory over Mexico put them atop Pool B, knocking the US to second place and eliminating Mexico from the tournament. Italy, powered by their in-dugout Espresso machine and coffeemaker, scored thirty-two runs in four games which was fourth highest in the tournament and knocked twelve homers, which trailed the DR by just one.

There were some incredible individual stories that fans will be talking about for a while also. How about José Contreras, 17-year-old son Joseph coaxing a double play ball out of reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge with bases loaded. Then there was Lucas Ramirez, the son of 12-time MLB All-Star Manny Ramirez, hitting two home runs against the USA. Let’s not forget the 29-year-old electrician from Czech Republic, Ondrej Satoria who went viral back in 2023 after striking out Shohei Ohtani, returned this tournament throwing 4.2 scoreless innings in his final WBC appearance.

With more than half of the teams eliminated, you can expect the A’s to get most of their players back into camp but Denzel Clarke (Canada), Carlos Cortes (Puerto Rico), Darell Hernaiz (Puerto Rico), and Luis Severino (Dominican Republic) get to play on while Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang (Chinese Taipei), Brayan Buelvas (Colombia), Max Durrington (Australia), James Gonzalez (Panama), Wei-En Lin (Chinese Taipei), Tzu-Chen Sha (Chinese Taipei), and Joey Meneses (Mexico) get to return now. Interestingly enough, those who will see their teams advance are all likely to make the opening day roster, but Joey Meneses, Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang, and Wei-En Lin have already been reassigned to minor league camp. What will the final games bring us? It’s hard not to imagine a lot of fun, national spirit, and some high-quality, memorable baseball. Play Ball!