After a six-year hiatus, the World Baseball Classic returned on Wednesday, with a duel that ended in a 4-2 victory for the Netherlands over Cuba in a Group A game hosted in Taichung, in Taiwan.
In another Group A duel on Wednesday, Panama easily beat Chinese Taipei 12-5, thanks to outbursts of five runs in the fourth set and six runs in the sixth set.
Group B action begins Thursday in Tokyo with a clash between South Korea and Australia, and a duel between Japan — which will feature Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani — and China.
Matches in Group C, which includes Canada and the United States, among others, and Group D will begin on Saturday in Phoenix and Miami, respectively.
Canada will make their first outing in the group stage on Sunday afternoon, March 12, against Great Britain.
The tournament brings together 20 countries divided into four groups. The grand final is scheduled to take place on March 21 in Miami.
The United States won the last edition of the Classic, in 2017, and are among the favorite nations to win the tournament, along with the Dominican Republic and Japan. The Dominican Republic emerged victorious from the tournament in 2013 while Japan won the competition in 2006 and 2009.
It will also be the first time this year that major league baseball players can wear Cuba’s colors during the Classic.
Yoenis Cespedes, a former major league player who played for Cuba in the 2009 tournament, posted a 458 batting average during the event. Three years later, he began his major league baseball career with the Oakland Athletics before playing for the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers and New York Mets during an eight-year career in the majors.
Employed as the designated hitter against the Netherlands, Cespedes was limited to two walks in two official appearances at the plate. The Cuban formation obtained only three hits during this duel between the two clubs tipped as favorites to finish at the top of the Group A standings.
The Cubans took a 1-0 lead in the second thanks to a double from Yadil Mujica.
The Dutch tied the game in the third inning on a single from Didi Gregorius and added three runs in the sixth after a run single from Josh Palacios and another good for two from Chadwick Tromp.
Cuba scored their second run of the game in the seventh inning, but were unable to come any closer.