WBC opening weekend

The Asian group went pretty much according to form, with only the South Korean (3-0) victory over Japan (2-1) in the final game a bit of an upset. Both teams had already clinched a place in the second round with victories over common opponents China and Chinese Taipei. 40,000 plus turned out for the final match, much improved over the opening game attendance of about 5,000.

Pool B (US, Canada, Mexico, South Africa) gets underway Tuesday in the Phoenix suburbs; Canada and Mexico should end up battling for the second qualifying spot out of that pool. Pool C (Puerto Rico hosts Cuba, Panama, and the Netherlands) is probably the toughest group to call, since the Cubans are such a wild card. Dominicana and Venezuela should have little trouble advancing out of Pool D against the Australians and Italians.

Second round action features the top two teams from Pool A & B at Angels Stadium of Los Angeles at Anaheim, which is somewhere in southern California that might be Anaheim, if anyone could find it on a map or in a courtroom, but is definitely not in Los Angeles, despite LA being, oh, 40,000 square miles of sprawl stretching from the ocean to the Mississippi River.

Pool C & D winners and runners-up will meet in Puerto Rico's Hiram Bithorn stadium for their second round games. Conceivably, Venezuela, Puerto rico, Dominican Republic, and Cuba will be the four teams playing in that round, and that figures to be the best and most entertaining baseball of the entire event.

Televison schedule is here. ESPN2 will have a fair number of the second round games. Hopefully, they won't be blacking out the Cubans.