The first ever Team “Europe” is ready to face Samurai Japan in the Global Baseball Match on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 10 and 11. The games will be broadcasted live on Eurosport 2 (on TV or online) at 10am Central European Time.

Due to bad weather the scheduled exhibition match against minor leaguers of the Yomiuri Giants got cancelled on Sunday. Steve Janssen and his coaches went back indoors for more work-outs. On Monday the team also used the facility of the Chiba Lotte Marines.

During the weekend, which featured a trip to Fukushima and a baseball clinic for kids, it was announced that Dutch right-hander Rob Cordemans will be Europe’s starting pitcher on Tuesday. Japan’s starters already had been known since last week.

Cordemans is the logical choice. He has been the best European pitcher in the past decade, highlighted by his win over Cuba in the 2011 Baseball World Cup Final in Panama City. He didn’t pitch much during the 2014 European Championship due to an injury, but is back healthy following the offseason.

Not much else is known regarding the lineup for tomorrow’s matchup. 28 players are on the roster and everybody is eager to take the field at the Tokyo Dome. 14 players are from the Netherlands, six from Italy, four from Spain, two from Germany, one from France and one from the Czech Republic. 14 of the 28 players are pitchers.

Europe’s chances against Japan are slim, especially since the professional players from NPB already had a couple of Spring Training games, while the Europeans just had a couple of outdoor practices. However Europe hopes to pull off a surprise win. Obviously it hurts that Rick van den Hurk and Andruw Jones withdrew from the rosters, but there is still plenty of talent on the team.

Photos by WBSC