kslusherplantman t1_jbgl2we wrote on March 8, 2023 at 10:03 PM

Reply to comment by islandsluggers in 'The sickest tournament ever': Why this WBC could make history by [deleted]

Ohtani hit 2 3-run home runs in the opener.

Japan is to be feared solely because of him… let alone the rest of the Japanese badasses

jokerj4513 t1_jbgo2vh wrote on March 8, 2023 at 10:23 PM

Japan hasn't played their first game yet though

Juzaba t1_jbgt9pg wrote on March 8, 2023 at 10:58 PM

The teams who have first round byes usually do some exhibition matches against local teams for practice and marketing purposes. For example, Team USA will scrimmage against the San Francisco Giants and Team Canada against the Chicago Cubs.

DJLJR26 t1_jbi4ew4 wrote on March 9, 2023 at 5:04 AM

They dont have a bye. They have to go through the same pool play as everyone else. The games hosted in asia start a few days earlier to give those teams that advance extra time to travel for the knockout stage in the us.

Juzaba t1_jbi504x wrote on March 9, 2023 at 5:10 AM

I thought there was a play-in round to get the last slot of each Pool. Maybe I misunderstood that bit of the structure.

DJLJR26 t1_jbkbgbm wrote on March 9, 2023 at 5:38 PM

Ahh, i see. There is but those qualifiers already occurred and arent part of the formal tournament.

kslusherplantman t1_jbgw3j2 wrote on March 8, 2023 at 11:18 PM

Oh was it a warm up? I thought it was the first game. My bad…

run0utn0w t1_jbgplvk wrote on March 8, 2023 at 10:33 PM

It was against a fairly new NPB arm though, likely not on the same level as those he’ll be facing.