WBC Pool A Recap: Canada and Puerto Rico Advance

I think that it is safe to say that both Pool A and San Juan lived up to the billing.

Prior to the WBC kicking off, I stated that Pool A was the most balanced and competitive group in the tournament. With group play wrapped up, Pool A finishes as the only group without a winless team.

The group really started to take shape on Sunday, March 8th. Cuba would beat Colombia to move to 2-0, and Panama defeated Canada in a huge upset, dropping Canada to 1-1.

With Puerto Rico already 2-0, this put Cuba in the driver’s seat for their final two matches versus Puerto Rico and Canada.

Cuba would lose the next game against Puerto Rico. This set up an incredibly important final game of the tournament between Canada and Cuba, regardless of Canada’s result against Puerto Rico.

Canada and Cuba both entered the final day of group play 2-1 with a winner-take-all game.

If Canada won, they would go through as the Group A champions, setting them on a collision course with the United States. If Cuba won, they would go through as the second-place team in Group A with an impending match against Italy.

Cuba gave the ball to their star Liván Moinelo for his second start of the tournament. He allowed one run unearned in 3 2/3 innings pitched. Tyler O’Neill scored on a sac fly after a passed ball put him on third base in the third inning.

An Abraham Toro home run would make it 2-0 Canada in the fifth, before Cuba got one back in the bottom of the inning.

Unfortunately for Cuba, that is as close as it would get for them. Canada would score three in the sixth to make it 5-1. Otto Lopez and Bo Naylor both driving in the runs.

The game would finish 7-2, sending Cuba home for the tournament.

This sets up what should be a much-anticipated matchup between the USA and Canada. After the drama of the Olympic Hockey Final, this one should not disappoint. I fully expect it to only add fuel to the fire of this historic rivalry.

On the other hand, a match-up between Puerto Rico and Italy is very interesting. So far, Italy has the fourth-highest scoring team in the tournament with the second-highest OPS. Puerto Rico has allowed the fewest runs of any team in the tournament.

Before getting into the highlights of each team in this group, I want to talk about San Juan. I was lucky enough to attend six of the Group A games in person at Hiram Bithorn Stadium, including all of Puerto Rico’s. San Juan was an incredible host city; they truly love baseball and love that team.

I hope that for the WBC moving forward, MLB and the MLBPA continue to highlight baseball in Latin America and reward them with host cities. If you haven’t been, I strongly encourage you to go to a game in Puerto Rico. A winter league game, or even a town ball game, is an incredible experience.

Team Canada First-Round Recap

• Beat Colombia (8-2)

• Lost to Panama (3-4)

• Beat Puerto Rico (3-2)

• Beat Cuba (7-2)

Team Canada was not in good shape following the loss to Panama. They were able to fight back and win their next two games to come out on top of the group.

They ultimately finished as the best offense in a group that really lacked it. Their 21 runs scored is the eighth-highest mark of a team in the tournament. Their OPS of .713 was good for ninth in the tournament through the group stage. Both of those marks topped Group A.

Ultimately team Canada has not reached their peak offensively and still has some juice left in the tank. They are going to need it in the elimination rounds if they want to make a run.

Standout Performers

• Abraham Toro (3B): 7 for 15, 1 HR, 5 XBH, 5 RBI, 1.529 OPS

• Owen Caissie (OF): 7 for 14, 1 HR, 4 XBH, 5 RBI, 1.458 OPS

• Cal Quantrail (SP): 1 GS, 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 K, Winning pitcher in an elimination game

• James Paxton (RP): 2 G, 4.1 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 8 K

Team Puerto Rico First-Round Recap

• Beat Colombia (5-0)

• Beat Panama (4-3)

• Beat Cuba (4-1)

• Lost to Canada (2-3)

After starting 3-0, Puerto Rico has to be a little disappointed with a second-place finish as the host of Group A. Losing a close game to Canada to close it out also does not feel great. However, a match-up with Italy should favor Puerto Rico.

The highlight for Puerto Rico this tournament has to be their pitching staff. For a staff without a lot of Major League experience, they really showed up. The young starters Eduardo Rivera and Elmer Rodriguez were particularly impressive.

They are going to need to get the bats going if they expect to advance past Italy in the elimination round. Without their stars, someone is going to have to step up. Despite that, this team is certainly not lacking in belief.

Standout Performers

• Darell Hernaiz (SS): 4 for 14, 1 HR, 1 RBI, .786 OPS, Walk-Off Home Run

• Eduardo Rivera (SP): 1 GS, 4.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 5 K

• Luis Quiñones (RP): 2 G, 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 7 K

• Edwin Diaz (RP): 2 G, 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 5 K, 1 SV

Team Cuba First-Round Recap

• Beat Panama (3-1)

• Beat Colombia (7-4)

• Lost to Puerto Rico (1-4)

• Lost to Canada (2-7)

After a hot start, Cuba had a disappointing finish to their WBC experience. Finishing in third automatically qualifies them for the next WBC, but they surely wanted more. A win over Puerto Rico or Canada would have pushed them through to the elimination rounds.

Given Cuba’s complicated political history, this team was far from “full strength”. It begs the question of just how far this team could go if more of its major league talent were on the team. Maybe that is something we will find out in the future, maybe not.

At Just Baseball, we had them as the fourth-best team in the group; they outperformed our expectations of them.

Standout Performers

• Ariel Martinez (1B): 6 for 13, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1.255 OPS

• Livan Moinelo (SP): 2 GS, 7.1 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 8 K

• Yariel Rodriguez (RP): 3 G, 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 10 K

• Raidel Martinez (RP): 3 G, 3.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 3 K, 2 SV

Team Colombia First-Round Recap

• Lost to Puerto Rico (0-5)

• Lost to Canada (2-8)

• Lost to Cuba (4-7)

• Beat Panama (4-3)

Team Colombia has an argument for being the most disappointing team in the tournament. We at Just Baseball had them as the third-best team in Group A. While they only finished a spot below where we projected, they really fell short of expectations.

This is one of the more talented teams that Colombia has put out in a WBC competition. Despite that, they really struggled, especially on the mound. They were far and away the worst pitching staff in the Group. They allowed seven more runs (23) than the next-worst pitching staff (Cuba).

Thanks to their one-run win over Panama, they will not have to worry about qualifying for the next WBC. With that said, hard to say that they deserve that. Panama was a much more competitive team over the Group stage.

Nevertheless, we will see Colombia in 2030 with hopefully a more competitive team.

Standout Performers

• Harold Ramirez (LF): 7 for 17, 1 RBI, 1 2B, .883 OPS

• Jose Quintana (SP): 1 GS, 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 K

• David Lorduy (RP): 2 G, 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 K

• Emerson Martinez (RP): 2 G, 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 4 K

Team Panama First-Round Recap

• Lost to Cuba (1-3)

• Lost to Puerto Rico (3-4)

• Beat Canada (4-3)

• Lost to Colombia (3-4)

Team Panama has to be disappointed with how the group stage went. They were truly just a couple of bounces of the ball away from pulling off something amazing and getting through the group stage. Their three losses came at a combined total of four runs.

Unfortunately for them, they had to see the best pitcher in the Group in their first game against Cuba. They then had Puerto Rico on the ropes, taking them to extras before a walk-off home run would end the game in the 10th.

Following that, they pull off an upset over Canada with a strong showing from their bullpen. Finally, they lost a heartbreaker to Colombia after giving up four runs in the sixth, coming up short by one run.

This Panama team is exactly who I thought they would be. They played good defense, caused some havoc on the base paths, and played scrappy baseball, giving every team in this group a challenge. Unfortunately, they will have to qualify for the 2030 WBC.

Standout Performers

• José Caballero (SS): 4 for 15, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 SB, .954 OPS

• Ariel Juardo (SP): 1 GS, 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 4 K

• Paolo Espino (SP): 1 GS, 4.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 4 K

• Dario Agrazal (RP): 2 G, 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 5 K, 1 SV