Team Taiwan's warm-up game against a Japanese professional farm team was canceled this morning due to poor weather, as the squad continued their preparations for the upcoming World Baseball Classic (WBC).
Taiwan were scheduled to face the Orix Buffaloes' farm team at Sokken Stadium in Miyazaki, Kyushu.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
However, persistent rain forced the cancelation, leading the Taiwan team to pivot to indoor practice instead.
The cancelation means that Team Taiwan has only one opportunity to fine-tune their play with the full roster in a matchup tomorrow against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks' farm team.
Taiwan are to play their first WBC game against Australia at the Tokyo Dome at 11am on Thursday (Taiwan time).
Chinese Professional Baseball League commissioner and national team coordinator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said earlier that unlike the Japanese and South Korean teams, the Taiwan players did not have official warm-up games scheduled at indoor stadiums.
This is because Taiwan secured their WBC berth through the qualifying round rather than as an automatic seed, he said.
Asked about the change in schedule, Team Taiwan manager Tseng Hao-jiu (曾豪駒) expressed concern for his hitters rather than his pitchers, saying that it is generally more difficult for batters to maintain their timing and "game feel" without live at-bat practice.
Regarding the rotation, Tseng confirmed that Zhang Chun-wei (張峻瑋), who was scheduled to start on the mound today, would start tomorrow instead.
After the opener against Australia, Taiwan are to come up against Samurai Japan on Friday evening, the Czech Republic on Saturday morning and South Korea on Sunday morning.
Only the top two teams from the group are to advance to the knockout stage at loanDepot Park in Miami, Florida.
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