World Cup of Baseball

Discussion in the NPB News forum

In the Inside Baseball section of the April 20 Sports Illustrated, there is an article on a World Cup of Baseball. They give lineups for the US, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Japan. They call the Dominicans the favorites, and the Japanese a "dark horse." The Japanese lineup suggested by SI is:

RF Ichiro
SS Kazuo Matsui
LF Hideki Matsui
1B Michihiro Ogasawara
3B Norihiro Nakamura
DH Nobuhiko Matsunaka
C Kenji Jojima
2B Tadahito Iguchi
CF Yoshitomo Tani
SP Hideo Nomo
SP Tomo Ohka
RP Masahide Kobayashi

I'm a little surprised that closer K. Sasaki isn't listed, and I'm not sure the other pitching choices are the best. I'd love to see such a World Cup, though.

Jim Albright

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Re: World Cup of Baseball

[ Author: morosuki | Posted: Apr 25, 2003 10:11 AM | YOK Fan ]

That lineup is very Pacific League heavy! With the exception of Matsui Hideki and Ohka Tomo, who are former Central league players and current MLBers, everyone else are either current or former PA Leaguers. I wonder if this is due to Central League teams constantly juggling their fielders, especially the infielders?

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