Breaking Down the WBC: Pool C

The “World Series” is a misnomer — the final round of the MLB playoffs only determines the best team in America/Canada. The true “World Series” is the World Baseball Classic, where the top baseball teams from all across the globe compete.The WBC isn’t like Olympic Baseball, where only the best amateurs compete — instead, countries draw on the best professional talent tied to the nation and assemble powerhouses of teams to compete with one another.The first round of the WBC consists of four pools of four teams who compete in a round robin tournament. The top two teams from each pool move onto the next round. For the next week, I’ll be ranking each WBC team, pool by pool, to see who might be best poised to make it to the next round. Teams are sorted from 1st to 4th by their ability to contend in the WBC. I reviewed Pool A and Pool B already, so today I’ll look at Pool C.

1. United States

Almost every starter for the U.S. this year has potential to be Major League Baseball’s MVP. Many of the starting pitchers were in this year’s Cy Young award voting. There’s too much talent to highlight in a brief paragraph, but some highlights include: RP Andrew Miller, unquestionably the best reliever in the MLB last season; 2B Daniel Murphy, who put up video-game numbers in 2016; OF Giancarlo Stanton, who does things like this; 1B Paul Goldschmidt, the best first baseman in the NL of the past 5 years; and C Buster Posey, the best all-around catcher since Mike Piazza.

The team is also led by veteran skipper Jim Leyland, recipient of 3 manager of the year awards. Despite rolling out All-Star caliber teams every WBC, the US has yet to reach the finals in their history. But if there’s ever a squad that can win it all for the US, it’s this one. Given how weak the rest of the pool is, expect to see the US reach at least the second round this March.

2. Dominican Republic

Matching the US almost pound-for-pound is the Dominican Republic. The DR has proved to be a goldmine of MLB talent in the modern era of baseball and as a result, there’s plenty of MLB All-Star talent on the squad. OF Nelson Cruz leads the majors in HRs hit between 2014 and 2016, 3B Manny Machado is consistently in the MVP award discussion, and SP Johnny Cueto had a career year last season, going 18–6 with a 2.79 ERA. Both the US and the DR are top tier teams who could fight it out in the finals, and the US only gets the edge because they appear to have the edge in terms of depth. But, make no mistake, both teams are of almost the same caliber.

3. Colombia

Colombia’s team is mostly composed of MLB prospects and rookies, and while the team reeks of potential, much of it is unrealized. Some of the veteran talent includes former MLB journeyman 3B Alberto Callaspo, SP Jose Quintana, and SP Julio Teheran. While Quintana and Teheran are both fantastic pitchers, the rest of the team appears very inexperienced going up against the powerhouses of the US and the Dominican Republic. They may have swept the WBC qualifier, but it’ll be rough going for a young, hopeful Colombian team.

4. Canada

Oh, Canada, where’s the talent? 1B Freddie Freeman is consistently the best player on the otherwise lackluster Atlanta Braves, and he looks to be in a similar situation with the Canadian team. It’s hard to get excited about Canada running out over-the-hill ballplayers like 1B Justin Morneau, SP Ryan Dempster, or RP Eric Gagne (who is still pitching, for some reason). This team could possibly scratch out a game against Colombia, but even then, it looks like an uphill battle for an aging Canadian team.