Japan faces Cuba tonight in the first ever World Baseball Classic championship. Your guess is as good as mine as to what’s going to happen. However, Cuba does have a pattern of losing the first matchup against a professional team, then winning the second. Puerto Rico mercy ruled them in the first round, then lost 4-3. The Dominican Republic defeated Cuba in the second round by four runs, then lost a close game 3-1. It seems once Cuba sees you play once, they adjust well. Having not played against Japan might give the Asian team the edge.
Given the weather and the tough pitching, I suspect another low scoring game. I was impressed that the Japanese hitters found a way to get the ball out of PETCO Saturday night; if they can do that again, their odds of winning go up.
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I really think it?s a joke the way you?ve analysed those games and in case that you?ve forgotten, the game tonight is it; there?s no second chance, and furthermore the Cubans have always managed to win when it counted….this is the championship baby,give them the credit they deserve!
the prediction:
Cuba 4
Japan 3
What’s the weather at Petco? Early forecast shows rain, showers and very dark clouds.
Edgar: I think you might be overreacting. This analysis seems fair enough. The Cubans have had a few games where they were beaten badly and a lot of games where they looked like a very good baseball team. The Japanese have looked very much like the same team each time we have seen them play.
Both teams are obviously very good and either team could easily win any 1 game against the other. It is hard (as Pinto noted) to select a winner here, especially since we haven’t seen crossover games between the two pools. It is not, however, a stretch to suppose that the Japanese have a slight edge due to the Cuban team’s inconsistency.