TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The World Baseball Classic, an international round-robin competition featuring 20 teams held every few years, begins play later this week.
Taiwan’s team, mostly culled from the local professional league, along with a handful of minor leaguers in the U.S., will get a boost from local fans and home field advantage. Unfortunately, they face the difficult task of besting the top teams in Pool A, such as Cuba, Panama, and the Netherlands.
With just two teams advancing from Pool A to the quarterfinals, Taiwan faces nearly insurmountable odds, a fact made more evident by a CTS report that indicates Taiwan does not even rank amongst the top half, or top 10 teams in the tournament, according to the official WBC rankings.
Worse yet, a Dominican Republic reporter calculated the historical run difference amongst each of the 20 teams in the tournament. Among the teams, Taiwan ranked third from the bottom. While the stats may disappoint, fans are still holding out hope as the final roster spot for the Taiwan team was filled on Sunday (March 5).
Right-handed pitcher, Teng Kai-Wei (鄧愷威), arrived to join the team from the San Francisco Giants minor league system. Teng said he was warmly greeted at the hotel by his teammates. He said his goal for the tournament is not to waste too many balls and waste too many pitches, according to CTS.
As of press time, Teng had yet to discuss his pitching schedule with the coaching staff. He said there were some special arrangements between his U.S. ballclub and the Taiwan team, and he was happy to abide by the agreement.
Teng said he was happy to put on the Taiwan uniform once again, following his previous success with the Taiwan team which won the 2019 Asian Baseball Championships. He admits there will be pressure, but it is also a great responsibility to play on behalf of his home country.
Unfortunately, competition in Pool A is expected to be quite difficult as many teams have MLB players. In past World Baseball Classics, Taiwan not only struggled to score in addition to pitching woes.
Taiwan's first test comes against Panama on Wednesday (March 8) at 7 p.m.
