00:00Let's take a look here first at Japan.
00:02Rolling through the pool stage here, Greg.
00:04Taiwan, 13-0.
00:06Korea, 8-6.
00:07Australia, 4-3.
00:08And that game got close late with a couple home runs for Australia in the ninth inning.
00:11But still, Korea was able to win.
00:13Chechia there, 9-0.
00:15Easily got through that group stage here before we get to that Venezuela game.
00:19Always on top.
00:20Superstars, the biggest of them all.
00:22Shohei Otani is having a fantastic, fantastic WBC here.
00:26And they blew right through their group stage.
00:28Yeah, they did.
00:29And in the group stage, it wasn't particularly close.
00:32I did think that Japan had a great shot to win it all after watching them play there.
00:37But you mentioned Otani.
00:39I thought he did a really good job.
00:42I think that you have to hope that Seiya Suzuki is okay.
00:45He was another big performer for them and will be and was supposed to be in the opening day line.
00:50And for the Cubs, hopefully nothing serious with him.
00:51Got to keep a close eye on these guys again because of the injury perspective here.
00:55But yeah, Japan just rolled everybody.
00:57And then unfortunately just came up short against the team that we'll talk about next in Venezuela.
01:02But what an opening to that game last night, by the way, where Acuna opened up to Homer the game
01:09and then Otani homered as well.
01:10It was great.
01:11It was fantastic stuff.
01:13And Venezuela, how they got here as well.
01:14Craig, 3-1 through their pool stage here.
01:16Beat the Netherlands 6-2.
01:18Israel 11-3.
01:19Nicaragua 4-0.
01:20And then lost to the Dominican Republic in a fun game 7-5 as it set the stage there.
01:24We expected Venezuela to be a player in this tournament, Craig.
01:27And certainly doing the job.
01:28Yeah, great lineup and very timely hitting.
01:32As you can see, they lost to the Dominican Republic, but they beat a Nicaragua team that was hot at
01:37the time for nothing.
01:38Beat the Netherlands.
01:39And they took care of Israel early.
01:41The question for Venezuela as they move forward, maybe more so than Dominican Republic and even for Team USA, is
01:47who is left to pitch, Donnie, on those teams.
01:49They're really thin now after seeing the result of Ranger Suarez pitch against Japan.
01:56So, I don't know.
01:57It seems to me like if you're asking for a guy that's not with the team, like Lozardo, to go,
02:03that's trouble for me.
02:05So, look, I would not be shocked, and we'll get into it later, but I would not be shocked to
02:09see Israel, or I'm not Israel, Italy, have a shot to beat Venezuela on Monday night.
02:14Could happen.
02:15Let's say just sensational.
02:17And a lot of these guys really stepping up.
02:18But the one thing, Craig, we're going to talk about now, we're number two, obviously going over some Major League
02:21Baseball stuff.
02:22Like, just how good is Shohei Otani on the world's biggest stage when you need him just playing day-to
02:27-day?
02:27He's always there.
02:28Like, the tournament, again, ends up for Japan where they didn't advance because they lost to Venezuela 8-5.
02:34But you look at the tournament itself for Otani.
02:36Craig, he hit .462 out of the leadoff spot, like, just extrapolating what he's going to do again this year
02:43in Major League Baseball.
02:44But when it seems like you are carrying your country, you're the brightest light, you're on the biggest stage, he's
02:50just an unbelievable performer.
02:51And it seems like he delivers all the time.
02:54Yeah, look, he's the best player, and if you consider the fact that he's a pitcher and a hitter, he's
02:59the best individual player that I've ever seen play with things that he does.
03:04I mean, that's just it.
03:05Like, look, I mean, how can you put him ahead of Barry Bonds and some of the other players?
03:09I was, you know, a kid in the 80s watching baseball, too, and there were some phenomenal players there.
03:13But you're right, Donnie, any time that this guy is asked to come through in a big moment, he does,
03:18whether it's the World Series or when he was chasing down in that ballpark in Miami 50-50, like, he
03:24always seems to find the big moment he did again.
03:27But Japan, unfortunately for them, a couple of really big hits for Venezuela that sent them home.
03:34Otherwise, Japan could be playing in the championship.
03:36Yeah, you know what?
03:37I'll surprise that, too, Craig.
03:38You take a look at some of these games, the way they play out, which, again, there's not going to
03:41be any give-up because you lose your going home, and there's a lot of national pride.
03:45I'm going to tell you, five-to-two game heading into the fifth, like, yep, Japan's going to advance here,
03:49and boy, what a final that's going to be for the world stage, which would be Japan versus the winner.
03:53You know, maybe, like, just say, like, the Dominican Republic or the U.S. if they just kept advancing at
03:57this point.
03:58But also, Mikel Garcia, two-for-five in that game, 421 he hit for this tournament.
04:03And shout-out to my guy, Eugenio Suarez, out here, you know, in the clean-off spot, hitting 167, and
04:08still the team's advancing.
04:09But Venezuela moves on, a lot of national pride at this point, and some of those younger guys stepping up
04:14in the spotlight.
04:14But I just thought, like, Japan would keep moving on.
04:17If you would have told me, Craig, before the tournament started, all right, Otani's not going to pitch, but he's
04:21going to hit almost 500?
04:22You're like, yeah, if they're going to advance, they're probably going to win this thing again.
04:25And also talking about the last WBC, one of the biggest moments you're going to find.
04:28Like, wait a second, I'm going to get Otani going up against Trout, and it's basically going to decide who's
04:31going to win the championship.
04:32I mean, it doesn't get any brighter than that.
04:34We're almost hoping for a spot where it's like, okay, Otani's going to pitch, and he's going to wind up
04:38in the final.
04:38And boy, those ratings worldwide would have been absolutely ballistic.
Comments