The road ahead in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) will not be easy for Taiwan's national baseball team, baseball analysts said prior to Taiwan taking on South Korea today in its first and most important game of the tournament.
"Taiwan is now only at 70-80 percent of its full strength after losing its ace hitters Chen Chin-feng and Peng Cheng-min and its No.1 pitcher, Wang Chien-ming," said King Wang, a former reporter who has been covering baseball for 15 years.
The WBC is the first international baseball tournament to feature US Major League players. Sixteen teams have been divided into four groups, with Taiwan bracketed in Pool A with China, Japan and South Korea for round-robin first-round games slated for March 3-5.
"Considering the absence of some of its top players and the fact that Taiwanese baseball is still a few steps behind Japan and South Korea, I would say a third-place finish in the first round is reasonable," Wang said.
Jason Chang, a baseball columnist, is more optimistic.
"As you can see, Taiwan team is going through a rebuilding phase, bringing in young blood and dropping veterans. Younger players make up the lack of experience with hustle and competitiveness," he said.
After facing South Korea today, Taiwan will meet Japan tomorrow and then China on Sunday. With Japan being the favorite to win the group, the Taiwan-South Korea matchup is widely seen as a battle for second place in the group and the right to advance to the next round.
"Both Japan and Korea are under tremendous pressure to win. And baseball is a subtle sport in which winning and losing can be decided by the intangibles. I would say Taiwan still has a chance [to advance]," Chang said.
The strongest part of Taiwan's team is its infield, former baseball reporter Kerry Wu said.
"The pitchers and outfield are above average at best. And that makes hitting the key. The support of offensive firepower in a short tournament always helps," Wu said.
"Let's not look at this tournament in terms of patriotism or nationalism. We need to look past that and enjoy the WBC as a baseball festival that showcases top baseball players from around the world. Winning or losing a game will not turn our baseball world upside down overnight, " Wu said.
The first-round games of the other three groups will be played from March 7 to 11 in the US and Puerto Rico. The final four will be played in San Diego on March 18 to 20.
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