Cuba will begin in the city of Taichung, in Taiwan, its foray into the next edition of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) which will be held from March 9 to 21, 2023 and will have actions in three other countries, as announced on Thursday by the organizers of the contest.
Group A, with a stage at the Intercontinental stadium in that Asian city, will also bring together the representations of Italy and the Netherlands, in addition to the host team and another to be defined, according to the ad released by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), which together with Major League Baseball (MLB) call this tournament.
Unlike the four previous versions, now the 16 teams that animated the 2017 event will participate, in addition to four casts that will qualify in two previous contests. One of those contests is scheduled for next September 16-21, at the Armin-Wolf-Arena in Regensburg, Germany, and the other will be held from September 30 to October 5 at the Rod Carew National Stadium in Panama City.
The series agreed in Taichung will take place between March 9 and 13, and on a similar date it will be played in Tokyo, home of segment B, which in addition to the local team, will include representatives from South Korea, China, Australia and one of the ninths to be defined.
The remaining groups will be hosted on US soil. At Chase Field, the city of Phoenix, the hosts will begin the defense of their crown in a kind of “group of death”, in which Canada, Colombia, Mexico and one of the nations that emerge from the just qualifying were also located. .
Meanwhile, at the LoanDepot park in Miami The Caribbean powers of the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela will meet, as well as Israel and another of the teams to qualify.
The World Baseball Classic is BACK!
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March, 2023#WorldBaseballClassic pic.twitter.com/3lE3RLNBns— World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) July 7, 2022
According to the established format, the first two places in each group will advance to the next phase of the tournament. The organizers also revealed that one of the venues chosen to host the quarterfinal phase (March 17 and 18) will be in the Floridian city with the first two places in group C and their peers in key D as protagonists.
On the Asian side, the Japanese capital will be the place where the best in sections A and B define those who will advance to the semifinals, which, like the duels for medals, will be held in Miami.
The fans of Cuban baseball They follow each edition of the World Classic with high expectations, aware that in the current conditions, repeating the subtitle achieved in the initial version is a fairly remote possibility.
Baseball on the Island is going through an extensive drought of titles in all categories, partly motivated by an unstoppable exodus of its best players, most of them after breaking their ties with the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB)to pursue his dream of being hired by an MLB team.
There is, however, uncertainty about the possibility that the island’s sports authorities convene players who currently play independently on professional circuits, including those who play in the MLB, although it is certain that they would add those who they play in other leagues with contracts sponsored by the Cuban Federation.
