Who will be WBC Final Teams? Who wins? And, biggest surprise in WBC?

I have this feeling S. Korea will be, yet again, another pest to Japan like in the Beijing Olympics and in the WBC '06. But I'm still giving it to Japan to be in the finals. And for the other team, it's an obvious toss up between Dominican Republic and of course USA.

Japan, Korea, Cuba, Dominican Republic, or USA can all win. If none of the mentioned teams win then that will be the surprise. If Japan had an unconventional manager such as Seibu's Watanabe we could have perhaps seen Ichiro coming in as relief and that would have been the surprise of the tournament.

The Dominican Republic doesn't have the pitching to win the whole thing. Cuba, USA, Japan, and Korea do. In a tournament like this, pitching will always win out over hitting.

My "spider sense" is telling me that Japan isn't going all the way this time around. Something tells me that Korea wins the Asia round and advances. The final match will be either USA vs. Cuba or Korea vs. Cuba.

My biggest surprises are Chinese Taipei and Puerto Rico.

You are probably right about the pitching Nipponham11. I really don't follow MLB much and don't know too much about it apart from the Japanese players there and that Dominican Republic has got some terrific sluggers.

Since there will be DH in WBC, I would like to see Abe/Johjima as catcher and Uchikawa as DH. I would not like to see either Jojima or Abe as DH. I have a feeling that there will be no room for Uchikawa on the field. First base will be Ogasawara and left field someone else. Fukudome? Aoki, Uchikawa, and Ichiro are the best batters on the team and need to have their at bats.

I think Hara will choose Iwamura over Kataoka at second base. But Hara should not be afraid to use Kataoka as a pinch runner in crucial game situations. Kataoka terrorized the Giants in the Japan Series with his aggressive base running. Hara giving Kataoka the nod to steal lots of bases will be the surprise of this tournament.

Chinese Taipei.

The Dominican lost A-Rod, a huge blow.

I think it comes down to USA, Japan and Korea.

Japan versus........Uh, oh heck. It will likely be Japan versus the U.S.

Surprise team will be the Netherlands.

Anything is possible at this point. (Yes, I saw the Netherlands win twice.) In the game of baseball, if you can hit only three of ten times consistently, you are called a good player. A team that wins a pennant usually has a winning percentage of about 60%.

It's fun to watch teams like the Netherlands win. But baseball at the highest level is just not suited for tournaments.

I think Japan vs USA will be in the final. And the Dutch team is the biggest surprise of the WBC. The Dutch just eliminated the Dominican Republic! I went to the game and it was super! If you would have said that Holland would beat the DR twice, you would have been called crazy! This is what makes baseball so nice: everybody can win.

Wow, the Netherlands team is such a surprise to have beaten DR twice! The other surprise is how weak the Cuban team looks now compared to 2006!