A while back I created team sets for the MLB participants of the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Afterwards, I took a break from the concept, but made it a note to hit up the pervious WBCs that came before it. Today, we begin that project with the very first tournament.
Today, the competition garners a bit more interest from MLB talent, but the first few times around, a lot of guys passed on it and less than stellar talent took up roster spots that I cannot utilize for the 2006 season. Crazy to think that the battle took place so soon after MLB Showdown ceased making cards. Fun little thought experiment to think of what kind of special set Wizards of the Coast might make if they had the chance (and the rights) to such an opportunity.
Another drawback of this being the first attempt: not quite as many countries available, hence the (so far) brief inclusion of South Africa. They had, unsurprisingly, no MLB talent on roster when they competed and thus will not be included in this collection. Also missing (as they were in 2017) is China, who also failed to produce any 2006 MLB players to compete. Don't be shocked that both teams went 0-3 in the opening round and were easy eliminations.
Anyway, onto countries that did have MLB players...
Australia
Down under has their own baseball league, but always has a couple guys go to America to play in the big leagues. They'd go on to find limited success in recent Classics, but their initial run saw them get shut out 0-3, including a 10-0 mercy rule shortened loss to Italy in their debut game, and swiftly eliminated.
Stockman was a few months away from breaking out with the Braves when he was representing Australia. His career wouldn't last long enough to see the next WBC, but in '06 he proved his control was enough to hang for now.
The Braves sure seemed to have a thing for Australian pitchers in 2006. Moylan brings in a solid chart that the 5 control works well with. He too made his MLB debut in 2006, though his career would last quite a bit longer.
Italy
Italia blew out Australia in the beforementioned 10-0 mercy game, but unfortunately the other teams in their pool were playing on a bit higher difficulty. Venezuela shut them out 6-0 before the Dominican Republic ended their journey with an 8-3 game.
Barzilla sounds like another awesome name I should use in a future post, but his card from his lone season isn't quite as awesome. To be fair, he only faced two hitters...I'll leave it up to your powers of deduction to see what happened with those two batters...
...as for what happens if you roll a 17-20...well I don't know what to tell you.
Frank Catalanotto is a long way from his OG Showdown days, but he still makes for the solid bench option he was back then.
Lenny Dinardo made a few starts in the rotation for the Red Sox in place of injured starters. That doesn't translate to a lengthy starter, and his 0 control means you can't cheat extra innings out of him, either. Very avoidable.
Mike Gallo has a chart that only works for your bullpen if he brings with it a 5 or 6 control, not the laughable 1 with just 1-2 for Strikeouts.
Grilli here shows us a more acceptable version where the chart is tolerable because of his control.
The face of the Italians. Management duties await his future WBC attempts, but here he was still a playable option with good power.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands
Netherland had a bright WBC future ahead of it, but not in 2006. They were ousted almost immediately. With Puerto Rico and Cuba both entering their Netherlands matchup with one win each, they both punched their tickets to round 2 and ended Netherlands' hope in back to back 8-3 and 11-2 wins. The Netherlanders saved a little face by ending their pool play with a decisive 10-0 mercy rule victory over Panama.
De Caster had another one of those "here today, gone tomorrow" MLB careers and his card shows why. At least in the WBC he was able to play the field.
Hall of Fame hopeful was the Kingdoms face of the team in the height of his impressive career.
Panama
So while Netherlands were able to salvage their failed first round with a 10-0 mercy rule victory (that involved a 7 inning No Hitter from Shairon Martis), that meant poor Panama was victimized by all three opponents and got swept out 0-3 from the competition.
Chen had a poor showing in the WBC and that misfortune seems to have followed him to the regular season.
Corpas brings a ho-hum card with standard 3 control and an average chart.
Lee brings serious power potential that Panama couldn't capitalize on, but the Brewers sure did.
Davis Romero is one of those valuable Relievers who can go more than one inning with a not-horrible chart, which is important on a bad team like Panama.
Ruiz was breaking out in the big leagues and just a couple years away from a World Series championship, and was able to cut his teeth in the international competition.
Taiwan
"Chinese Taipei", or whatever their false name is, knew they were a lost cause playing in the same pool as both Japan and South Korea. As expected, both those teams easily advanced...but Taiwan had one more game to play that meant much more than WBC glory. Their final scheduled game was a 0-2 vs 0-2 matchup against China. The true China would overcome the CCP controlled China with a 12-3 thrashing, going home with at least one small victory on the international stage.
The lone MLB talent on the Taiwanese team was Hung-Chih Kuo, who rocks the very good 6 control that makes him an appealing option for some bullpens.
