Although Cuba is a historic power in the baseball, their results in the World Classic (WBC, for its acronym in English) are stagnant, since their best performance was the runner-up in the first edition, held in 2006, when they lost the title 10-6 against Japan. And it seemed that the darkness would continue in their 2023 participation, but they managed to get back on track and became the first semifinalists.
The Cubans appeared as the main candidate in Group A, along with Italy, the Netherlands, Panama and Chinese Taipei, but that perception was barely lost in their first two games, when they lost 4-2 to the Dutch and 6-3 to the Italians. . Fan expectations were dampened, but thanks to a combination of results between their four rivals they still had hope of advancing if they managed to win their next matches.
So it was. Thanks to their massive 13-4 victories over Panama and 7-1 over Chinese Taipei, the ninth-ranked Cuban managed to storm the top of their group, thanks also to the tiebreaker, which was based on the average runs per putouts recorded, which gave Cuba a figure of .139, leaving in second place Italy (also qualified for the quarterfinals) with .157, while those eliminated were the Netherlands with .186, Panama with .200 and Chinese Taipei with .295, as they all finished with a deficit of two wins and two losses.
Thus, Cuba moved into the quarterfinals against Australia’s surprising ninth, who qualified in second place from Group B behind only unbeaten Japan. The Cubans presented a high quality level thanks to Yoan Moncada who reached base four times, in addition to scoring a double and a run. For his part, closer Raidel Martinez secured the high-leverage save for him with a perfect ninth.
The Caribbean team, led by manager Armando Johnson, is now heading to Miami to face its first World Classic semifinal match for 17 years and it does so with the firm conviction of obtaining a positive result: “Our goal is to reach the final and now we have the opportunity to challenge to fulfill it. We will do our best in Miami”, he highlighted after the 4-3 victory against Australia.
“I would like to show my respect for the Australia team,” manager Johnson added. “They have a great starting pitcher and a great bullpen, but also, at the same time, two of our relievers, (Miguel) Romero and Martinez, did a great job.”
After having played the four group stage matches in Taichung (Chinese Taipei) and the quarterfinals in Tokyo, the Cuban team will return to the American continent to face the semifinals in Miami, along with the other members of the Final Four 2023. The Caribbean will wait for the winner of the duel between Venezuela and the second place in Group C to be able to qualify for the final.
It should be noted that the base of the Cuban team is its local league, contributing seven of the 30 members of the roster; Although they have six militants in the United States, only one of them is in the Major Leagues (Luis Roberto, with the Chicago White Sox), while the others are still part of the Minor League rosters.
