In training matches, the players gave their best. Author: Yuki Oboshi
Tonight our team will meet with an experienced team from the Netherlands at the start of the fifth World Baseball Classic. Teams from this country have hosted showdowns from us in past editions.
This will be the first time that current Major League athletes will wear four letters, making us dream of equal or better results than previous ones at this big event.
The Antilles squad is listed as the favourite, even taking first place in Bracket A, also made up of Italy, Panama and Chinese Taipei, our rivals after Tulips, in that order.
Constraints, rather than an unfavorable balance of successes and failures, leave us with several readings. The poor performance of annotations again takes its toll, sometimes failing to get even three hits in one inning. The running of the pads should be more precise and not risk the men representing the decisive runs. The patience shown by most of the hitters in every appearance allowed them to get good connections against a much higher serve than many are accustomed to.
Five players have already joined who will clearly be regulars: Luis Robert, Yoan Moncada, Yoenis Cespedes, Andy Ibanez and Lorenzo Quintana. His performance will give us an idea of the true offensive potential we can count on.
We have to applaud the game of people like Diane Garcia and Yoelkis Gibert who could have been the team’s top starting players like Ariel Martinez, whose injury thankfully didn’t have any serious consequences.
He staff pitchers was able to back up their predictions with notable performances. We have a set of pitchers and insiders who not only stand out in the group, but can also be difficult for higher-level lineups. Excellent form, shown by Frank Abel Alvarez, Raidel Martinez and Livan Moinelo, among others, makes it much easier to move the pieces. bullpenalthough we know that they have launch restrictions, so it will depend not only on “Asians”.
Many researchers agree that this first challenge to the Netherlands will be the most important. Getting a win would put us in a positive situation mathematically and emotionally.
However, they will have to take on several players who have been playing in MLB for years, although they are not at their best right now. The pitching that the Europeans have is small and affordable for ours.
Italy has called up an experienced team with pitchers who can get off to a good start, but their weakness shows up in the relay. Panama is a country where baseball has grown significantly, and this time the doubt lies in the offense, which has also been our Achilles’ heel during recent tournaments.
Among their strengths, the hosts show that they carefully study their opponents, they have the latest technology for training, and they know how to perfectly practice what we call modern baseball.
The aggressiveness of the opponents in the bases has caused alarm, because if the recipient is not properly protected, this level can be expensive.
Singing “Play Ball” tonight. Let’s enjoy baseball in the early morning and wish our team good luck.
*Vivela team member
Source: Juventud Rebelde
