Baseball Ogasawara
Author: Baseball Bob
Is Japan the Favorites to win the WBC next year?
They are the defending champs, and obviously USA is wayy better than everyone on Paper. But what are the chances that Japan repeats the World Baseball Classic next year?
Japan’s Projected Roster:
1B: Ogasawara
2B: Kaz Matsui or Tad Iguchi
3B: Akinori Iwamura (played 3B last time)
SS: Munenori Kawasaki
LF: Hideki Matsui (assuming Steinbrenner lets him)
CF: Ichiro
RF: Kosuke Fukudome
C: Kenji Johjima (maybe)
P: Dice-K Matsuzaka
*They have a solid Bullpen with Akinori Otsuka, Takashi Saito, etc.
Yea true that, the Domincan Republic, Puerto Rico, and Venezuala all have a bunch of MLB stars. So they are always a threat to win it.
There is no doubt that the USA has the best overall talent, but the American players are too complacent. The Japanese, Dominicans, Cubans etc. all care more about winning this thing. If I were to put money on anybody for the ’09 WBC, it’d be Japan.
Desperation Squad – “Ogasawara”/「小笠原」- デスパレシャンスクァド