Be prepared for more than two weeks of baseball fever, starting tonight.
Stadiums across Taiwan are likely to start reverberating with the chants, gongs and air horns of eager supporters as the baseball fest begins.
Taiwan faces Italy at 6pm in the opening game of the 16-nation tournament at Tienmu Stadium in Taipei.
The official world championships of the International Baseball Federations runs through Nov. 18 and also includes games at stadiums in Chiayi City, Taipei County, and Kaohsiung County.
First held in 1938, the tournament gains an added measure of prestige and competitiveness this year as professional players will be competing for the first time.
Top pros from the Japanese, South Korean, and Taiwanese leagues as well as minor-league players from around the globe are suited up in the uniforms of their home countries.
While details have not been worked out to allow the stars from the Major Leagues to compete in the World Cup, the tournament still features some of the best top prospects and amateurs in the game.
The 16 teams are grouped into two lots for preliminary round-robin play. Group A includes the Dominican Republic, France, Italy, South Korea, Nicaragua, South Africa and the US.
Group B is comprised of Australia, Canada, Cuba, Japan, the Netherlands, Panama, the Philippines, and Russia.
Four teams from each group will advance to the final rounds.
Traditional amateur baseball power Cuba has dominated the World Cup, winning the last six titles and eight of the last ten.
For their first visit to Taiwan, the Cubans have brought along veteran members of their legendary teams -- first baseman Orestes Kindelan, second baseman Antonio Pacheco, shortstop German Mesa, and third baseman Omar Linares.
Cuban manager Miguel Valdez would not venture to predict whether his squad would be among the medal winners this year.
"It's hard to say because of the rule changes which have allowed the introduction of professionals," he said through an interpreter at a press conference yesterday.
"I can't forecast which teams will be the final four, but the US, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia are all outstanding teams."
Team USA is managed by former Philadelphia Phillies manager Terry Francona and is coming off a gold medal at last year's Olympics, the last time national teams from around the world squared off.
The US has sent a squad of highly touted minor league players to Taiwan, a team rated more powerful on offense than the gold medal winners in Sydney.
As for Taiwan, baseball officials have good reason to hope that the home team advances far in the first time the country has ever hosted the tournament.
They are not only rooting for success on the field, but are also hoping the tournament will herald a rebirth, of what President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has declared Taiwan's national sport.
The country has gone all out in preparing for the tournament.
Stadiums have been spruced up, tournament mascot "Tom Bear" (a Formosa black bear) has become ubiquitous and the government put junior players celebrating a win on the new NT$500 bill to commemorate 2001 as "Baseball Year in Taiwan."
Taiwan manager Lin Hwa-wei (林華韋) told the Taipei Times yesterday that he hopes the World Cup can bring back the fans and develop a new generation of players.
"We hope that the tournament can attract the fans and build up excitement and love for the game," he said. "If so, it will have a great influence on the development of baseball in Taiwan."
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