We now know two of the four teams in the World Baseball Classic who will compete in Pool E with the conclusion of Pool A play. If you have missed any of the action, The Game Haus has you covered.

We will be reviewing each round of WBC play, beginning with Pool A in Seoul, South Korea. Each of the four teams put up a valiant effort, but only two could move on. Let’s go team by team and see how each fared in WBC play.

Israel

Israel was one of the biggest underdogs in Pool A and blew away the competition. They had a strong opening day with a double header and upset powerhouse Korea 2-1.

Jason Marquis started the game for Israel and held Korea to two hits and one walk in three innings. Won-Jun Chang started for Korea and gave up one run in four innings pitched. Israeli pitcher Josh Zeid closed it out for Israel to earn the win.

Israel crushed Chinese Taipei in the second game of its double header. Israel exploded for 15 runs in the game to win 15-7. They were fueled by Ike Davis and Nate Freiman, who each had three hits in the game.

Israel then pulled off another upset victory on Wednesday over the heavily favored Dutch team 4-2. The Netherlands was limited to two runs on five hits by nine different Israeli pitchers.

Even with a resounding tour through Pool A, Israel still has its toughest test awaiting them. Don’t expect them to go undefeated in Pool E.

Netherlands

The Dutch team is littered with MLB players, and their talent showed through in Pool A play. The Netherlands had a resounding opening to the WBC by shutting out Korea. The Netherlands only needed three pitchers for the shutout and relied on their offense to deliver the 5-0 win. Jurickson Profar fueled the offense by hitting a homer and driving in two runs.

The Netherlands then split their doubleheader on Wednesday. They won the first game but dropped the second. Chinese Taipei gave the Netherlands all they could handle in the opener on Wednesday. The Dutch were able to pull out a tough 6-5 win.

Didi Gregorius paced the offense by hitting three doubles to driving in three runs. Mike Bolsenbroek and Shairon Martis picked up Jair Jurrjens to pitch four shutout innings to finish the game.

They then dropped their second game of the doubleheader to Israel with a 4-2 loss. The Netherlands will move on to Pool E with Israel with a 2-1 record in Pool A play.

Korea

Korea struggled in WBC play after being considered one of the heavy favorites to move on from Pool A. They opened the tournament against Israel and lost a close contest 2-1.

The game went into extra innings after the game was tied 1-1 after nine innings. Israel came through in the clutch to score the eventual game-winning run on an RBI ground out.

Korea then was matched up against a deep Netherlands team on Tuesday. Korea scuffled offensively in the game with only six hits. They also found themselves in a hole early on after starting pitcher Kyu-min Woo gave up three earned runs in three and two thirds innings. With the offense going 0-6 with runners in scoring position, Korea was not able to overcome their rough start and lost 5-0.

Korea was able to earn a WBC win with an 11-8 slugfest against Chinese Taipei. Although Korea was able to win their final game, they have to consider their 1-2 performance in the WBC a huge letdown.

Chinese Taipei

Chinese Taipei came into the tournament as one of the biggest underdogs in the WBC, and it showed from the start of Pool A play. They began the tournament on Monday against Israel. This may have been their best chance to earn a win with Israel coming into the second game of their double header that day.

However, Chinese Taipei’s pitching couldn’t perform. They gave up 14 runs on 20 hits to Israel and lost the game 14-7. While the offense did perform well, their pitching staff would continue to haunt them.

They came into their matchup with the Netherlands with some confidence offensively, but that couldn’t cure their pitching woes. Starter Chia-Hao Sung gave up four runs in three and one third innings pitched. It again put Chinese Taipei in an early hole. Even though they only gave up two runs after that point, they couldn’t overcome the deficit. The Netherlands came out victorious 6-5.

After dropping their last game to Korea 11-8, Chinese Taipei leaves WBC play without a win. While their offense did score 20 runs in three games, their pitching staff limited their hopes of moving on to the next round.

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