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The so-called “Group of Death” of the World Baseball Classic listens this Saturday to the voice of play ball with two games where three of the tournament’s favorite teams will take the field in Miami.
Puerto Rico, included in the Major League Baseball experts’ ranking among the 10 championship teams that could take home the trophy, will face Nicaragua at noon, US Eastern Time, at the Marlins’ LoanDepot Park stadium. of Miami.
The Dominican Republic and Venezuela, two of the favorite teams among Major League specialists such as Potential World Classic Championsthey will have their face to face in the same park in Florida at 7:00 p.m.
Both clashes inaugurate a series of five days of games in a row for a group that completes Israel. The two teams with the best records will advance to the next phase.
Dominican Sandy Alcántara, current National League Cy Young Award winner in the Major Leagues (for best pitcher), and Venezuelan Martín Pérez, left-hander for the Texas Rangers, will open the game for each of their respective teams. Both nations have the largest number of players in the Majors during the last season, only behind the United States: 99 for the Caribbean and 67 for the South American country.
Venezuela’s offense will be based on the bats of stars such as Ronald Acuña, Miguel Cabrera, Eugenio Suárez, Luis Arráez, Salvador Pérez and José Altuve.
The Dominican Republic, for its part, guarantees its power with figures like Manny Machado, Juan Soto, Rafael Devers and Teoscar Hernández, although Vladimir Guerrero Jr., one of the best hitters in the Big Tent, is absent due to injury.
Respect is maximum between the teams of the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. David Ortiz, hall of fame and former Dominican star with the Boston Red Sox, praised the work of the Venezuelans, said they have a “great team” and stated that he believes they are capable of causing “a mess” for all their rivals.
The world baseball tournament opened last Wednesday with a 4-2 victory for the Netherlands against Cuba in Taichung, Taiwan. The tournament is held in four cities in Asia and the United States: group A plays in Taichung; the B in Tokyo, Japan; C in Phoenix, United States; and the D, finally, in Miami, Florida.
All “very even”
For Broderik Zerpa, a longtime Venezuelan sports journalist based in Miami, “it makes all the sense in the world” to call the D key “the Group of Death.”
“Three of the best teams in the world are in the same place,” he assures the voice of america when referring to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.
“They are teams that have a profusion of ‘major leagues’ that perhaps do not have other teams in other groups (…) The three situations are very even, everything will depend on how the pitching works, because these teams, at the level of the lineups that they are going to present can be as good as the United States team”, he explains.
Any surprise with a team that surpasses the favourites? Zerpa flatly dismisses it. “The way the groups are designed, so that two classify, there is no hint of surprise. It is possible that Israel wins a game against one of the three big teams, or Nicaragua, but from then on they are going to win three games to get into a classification, that is completely out of any sense”, he predicts.
golden opportunity
The “really powerful” roster on offense and the youth of its stars make the Dominican Republic the clear favorite of the “most interesting of all” group, says Gabriel Chávez, sports journalist and professional baseball commentator for Simple TV.
Puerto Rico, for its part, has a good base of players who were runners-up in 2017, losing to the United States in the final, also led by now manager Yadier Molina. “His only doubt is hitting,” Chavez warns.
If you can pass the broom before the two big ones in the group, you would be setting foot in the second round ”
Venezuela will have its “golden opportunity” to demonstrate in a World Classic that it is a leading nation in international baseball, he says. Its great weakness may be the lack of “depth” defensively both in the short fieldas in the gardens, aim.
The key for the Venezuelans, Chávez assures, will be to win the first two matches against the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico – he plays against her on Sunday night.
“Losing those two games would be deadly, because it would practically sign your elimination. Dividing would be keeping you alive, but if you can pass the broom before the two biggest in the group, you would be setting foot in the second round ”, he comments to the VOA.
He notes that none of the favorites should “neglect” a rival like Israel, whose base is American baseball players with religious or family ties to that nation. “Nicaragua shouldn’t be a difficult rival, but you have to win inside the diamond,” she says.
balance is key
The presence of “the three great powers, the main animators in the history of these classics” at the head of the group are reason enough to consider them as the main suitors to offer the great show.
However, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela take the lead “taking into account the balance between offense, balance and pitching,” he values for VOAalso from Miami, the sports commentator and author of a documentary about baseball, Jorge Morejón.
Even with great absences like that of the star Carlos Correa, those of Mangu Power have an extra momentum. “I believe that there is no country that puts more heart into baseball than the Dominicans.”
Venezuela, meanwhile, has “a constellation of stars that are the two teams to defeat in this group,” says Morejón.
Puerto Rico ranks third in options in the group. Morejón believes that if he beat the loser between the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, “he would see it as a small surprise.” And he concludes: “When the teams arrive for the first time they try to steal the limelight at the party, just as Israel did six years ago.”
Also read: Venezuela has an all-star team at its disposal for the World Baseball Classic
This year’s, now with 20 teams, is the fifth World Baseball Classic. Its first edition was in 2006 and it is held every four years. This Classic was scheduled to open last year, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced its postponement.
Japan won its first two editions, in 2006 and 2009, while the Dominican Republic became champion in 2013 and the United States did the same in 2017.
Puerto Rico, for its part, has been runner-up in the last two Classics, and Venezuela barely reached third place, in 2009, despite its extensive baseball tradition.
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