Third time's the charm for the World Baseball Classic. The 2013 version offered even more tweaks to the format, but no change more noticeable than the lineup. As opposed to in 2006, the 2009 WBC involved the pitfall where teams that went winless in round 1 not only were eliminated, but they'd have to requalify to participate in 2013 as the Classic was finally ready to expand the number of countries beyond the original 16.
Twelve countries from across the world were invited. The qualifiers took place in 2012 with the teams divided into four double-elimination brackets comprised of three new teams and one of the last place teams from 2009. From that chaos, two new teams emerged to play with the big dogs in the proper competition, while Panama and South Africa were gone (South Africa has yet to qualify ever since).
As with the previous years, a number of MLB players from the upcoming 2013 season participated in the competition wearing the colors of their home countries. 11 of the 16 teams featured at least one MLB player, while China, Cuba, South Korea, Australia and 2x defending champion Japan all had their own leagues to pull from for the most part. The remaining teams, however...
Brazil
Brazil opened the qualifiers against Panama and prevailed in a tough 3-2 game. Next up they easily dispatched Colombia 7-1 before getting a rematch against Panama with a trip to the WBC on the line. In an even tighter game, they clinched their first trip to the Classic with a 1-0 victory. Their reward for qualifying was to get stuck in the same pool as Japan and Cuba, both of whom handled Brazil 5-3 and 5-2 respectively. Already eliminated, all Brazil had left was to battle China with a qualification to 2017 on the line. Here as well Brazil would fall 5-2, bounced completely out of WBC play as soon as they arrived.
Just one Brazilian logged in time in the MLB in 2013 and that would be Rienzo. Based on his chart, the call-up could've used a bit more seasoning in the minors. You never wanna see your pitcher allow homers on his own chart.
Spain
The other debut WBC team took a slightly different path to victory in the qualifiers. In their opening game, Spain ganged up on France 8-0 before getting humbled by Israel 4-2. With the qualifiers being double-elimination, Spain still had a chance though, and they made good on it by beating South Africa 13-3 to set up a rematch against Israel in the qualifier finals. The back-and-forth game went 10 innings, but Spain prevailed 9-7.
Spain's WBC pool would prove to be even more unforgiving than Brazil's. Puerto Rico shut them out 3-0 before the Dominican Republic ended their title aspirations with a 6-3 game. All that was left to do was try to qualify for 2017, but Venezuela wanted it more with a convincing 11-6 win. Both new teams in the WBC ended up sent packing back to the qualifiers.
This would be Beltre's only season in MLB, and even that wasn't a very good sample size.
I've mentioned before that a chart like this better have better control than just a 3.
Taiwan
Panama, Germany and Taiwan all had a unique advantage in the qualifiers as they also happened to be the host countries (The USA hosted the last one as a neutral site). Unlike the other two though, Taiwan was able to turn that advantage into advancement as they easily beat New Zealand (10-0, 7 inning mercy rule), Philippines (16-0, 7 inning mercy rule) and New Zealand again (9-0, the poor things had to play all 9 innings this time).
As opposed to the other qualifier winners, Taiwan also had the distinction of finding success in the WBC when the time arrived, where for round 1 they also got to play host. everyone in Pool B beat Australia, and Taiwan did their part with a 4-1 win to open. They followed that up with a shocking 8-3 upset win over the Netherlands. We could've had a clean finish to the pool play (3-0, 2-1, 1-2, 0-3 records) if Taiwan could pull off one more upset, but South Korea decided to make things complicated with a 3-2 win. So now the dreaded tiebreakers were called into play. Anyone familiar with the WBC at this point know the controversies involved here, and this year to avoid problems the tiebreaker rules were tweaked again. This year, in the event of a 3-way tie, advancement would be decided based on a teams TQB (team quality balance) a convoluted math equation. We'll get into it more later, but for now, it means Taiwan won Pool B with a TQB of 0.235 (Netherlands had a score of 0, and South Korea got eliminated with -0.235)
Round 2 switched the format to a double-elimination bracket. And here Taiwan would run into the familiar bullies of Japan and Cuba. They took Japan to 10 innings, but ultimately fell 4-3, then got quickly curb stomped by Cuba 14-0 in a 7 inning mercy rule game, sending them home. It remains the only time to date that Taiwan had made it as far as the 2nd round.
Chien-Ming Wang had some very successful years with the Yankees....however by now he is clearly not of that era. No control, no stamina, and a chart that just doesn't justify inclusion in your rotation.
Kingdom of the Netherlands
The Netherlands had been trending upwards in the WBC. A Round 1 exit in 2006 was followed by a Round 2 appearance in 2009. Looking to build on that momentum, they opened up 2013 with a 5-0 shutout of South Korea. After stumbling to a 8-3 defeat to Taiwan, they still had Australia to fall back on as they beat them 4-1 to secure at least a tiebreaker situation, which they needed to advance.
If the Netherlands wanted to advance out of Round 2, they'd need at least one upset win over a big time favorite. A 6-2 win over Cuba put them on the right track, setting up a match with Japan. The 2x defending champs weren't playing around though, beating the Netherlands 16-4 in a 7 inning mercy rule game. There was still a chance to advance, if they could beat Cuba a second time now in the losers bracket. In a tight game, the Netherlands prevailed 7-6. Even as they lost 10-6 to Japan in the Pool 1 finale (non-elimination game just to determine seeding in the next round), the Kingdom had secured their 1st trip to the championship bracket. It was there they lost 4-1 to the Dominican Republic, ending their journey, but they continued the positive trending.
Sorry Roger, but a 6 on-base and no real power isn't gonna work in Showdown.
Bogaerts might make it on your bench, but a sad little chart and poor Shortstop defense makes him an easy one to overlook.
Jansen played as a Catcher in prior WBC runs for the Netherlands. He was added for the semi-finals and unfortunately there wasn't a chance for this elite late inning Reliever to make an impact.
Martis is a calculated risk out of your bullpen. He's got great control, but way too much homer potential on his own chart to trust him in a tight game.
Profar wasn't ready to be a regular in the Ranger's lineup in 2013, but that just means he's got a nice assortment to position utility.
That homer potential for an ok 8 on-base card makes up for the meh defense at 2nd Base.
Simmons has an alright chart and a concerning 7 on-base....but he's still someone you want on your team with that better-than-perfect +6 defense at Shortstop.
Italy
Sharing Pool D with the United States, Canada and Mexico, you'd think Italy would be the last team to advance out into the 2nd round. They showed they meant business though with a 6-5 victory over Mexico before they thrashed Canada in a 14-4 game that mercy rule ended after 8 innings. They couldn't quite sweep North America, however, as the United States beat them 6-2, but a 2-1 record still secured Italy advancement.
The difficulty sure shot up in Round 2, as Italy quickly fell 5-4 to the Dominican Republic. In the win-or-go-home losers bracket, they faced Puerto Rico. It was another close game that Italy dropped 4-3. Despite the quick exit in Round 2, hopes were high in Italy since this was the first time they made it that far.
At first glance, Butera and his 4 on-base and no power at all would make him an easy skip...but that +7 rating at Catcher means he might be an important late inning option if your starting Catcher is all offense and no defense.
The full outfield eligibility and ok 8 on-base might earn Denorfia at least a look, but you can hold out for better charts.
Italy didn't have nearly the amount of big league vets as the other teams did, but one equalizer for them was having a solid option in the back of the bullpen in Grilli and his high strikeout potential.
No thanks, Alex.
Punto is your typical weak utility infielder. Not a starter, but not the worst idea on the bench either.
Rizzo offers a pretty average chart and speed to go along with his good 9 on-base and +1 ability at 1st Base. A great option if you can't get any big boppers at 1st Base.
