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If you’re not fired up to be a baseball fan right now, we don’t know what to tell you. The first round of the World Baseball Classic has been exceptional, and we’ve got seven more games of amazing baseball ahead of us, starting tomorrow!

As we all gear up for the second phase of the WBC, let’s first recap the pool play round to fully understand how each of the eight remaining teams advanced for a chance to win the sixth World Baseball Classic.

Then, we’ll preview the next round, which features quarterfinals in Houston and Miami, over the next two days, before shifting to solely Miami for the semifinals and championship game!

First Round Recap

This round was an absolute whirlwind with dominance from a few powerhouse teams, complicated tiebreaker scenarios, and the magic of Italy shocking the world.

Quarterfinals kick off tomorrow in Houston and Miami, but let’s quickly recap the action from each of the four initial pool play groups.

Pool A - San Juan, Puerto Rico

Winner: Canada

Runner-up: Puerto Rico

Must qualify for next tournament: Panama

The most balanced group entering the tournament proved to be just that, with no team going undefeated or winless, and the last place getting their sole win against the eventual winner of the pool.

I was lucky enough to attend a few of these games, and the environment in San Juan was unbelievable. It makes you wonder if Puerto Rico could support an MLB team one day…fans were that electric.

Rosters for Cuba, Colombia, and Panama featured a lot of non-MLB players, but they truly held their own against a pair of stronger rosters on paper.

After winning against the other two here, Cuba lost their final two games, resulting in something we have never seen in WBC history.

The other piece of history came in the other direction with the most talented Canada roster ever proving that when it came time to do so. After a shocking loss to Panama early in the week, the Canadians bounced back to stun the Puerto Rican crowd Tuesday and clinch the pool officially against Cuba yesterday.

From start to finish, we got plenty of close games in this tournament with Canada and Puerto Rico ultimately winning three games a piece, and advancing to the next round.

These two teams will face an uphill battle in the next round with much more loaded rosters in comparison to those they just faced.

Pool B - Houston, Texas

Winner: Italy

Runner-up: United States

Must qualify for next tournament: Brazil

How can you not love an underdog story? We warned you last week that they were sneaky good, but I’m not sure anyone expected one of three undefeated teams in this round to be Team Italy!

Two of the teams were never really in this one, despite an awesome story when 17-year-old Joseph Contreras pitched against the heart of Team USA’s lineup for Brazil.

Great Britain qualified for the next tournament by beating Brazil, who will have to re-qualify next time around.

The other three teams in this pool gave us an absolute show in the past few days. First, it started with Team USA taking down Mexico for the first time in 20 years. Yes, that’s somehow true.

Following a lackluster pitching staff from last tournament, Team USA carved through their first three games.

Despite starting 3-0, Team USA had yet to clinch a spot in the Quarterfinals due to the Italy and Mexico both showing out otherwise. Even though Manager Mark DeRosa may have thought otherwise…

This led to one of the most stunning upsets in World Baseball Classic history as Italy took down Team USA in wild fashion as their young trio of Jac Caglianone, Kyle Teel, and Sam Antonacci led the way with Michael Lorenzen shutting down a stacked USA lineup.

With Mexico and USA both at one loss, yesterday’s final game of pool play between Italy and Mexico would ultimately decide this pool.

Italy dominated Mexico from the onset of this one led by the first three-homer game in World Baseball Classic history by Vinnie Pasquantino and a huge start from Aaron Nola.

It should never have come down to this given the rosters, but Italy officially eliminated Mexico, sending Team USA to the quarterfinals.

After leaving their status to chance, Team USA should be more motivated than ever heading into the next round of the tournament. And yeah, they owe Vinnie P a couple espressos.

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Pool C - Tokyo, Japan

Winner: Japan

Runner-up: Korea

Must qualify for next tournament: Czechia

To no one’s surprise, Japan made it through Pool C undefeated, winning the pool in convincing fashion. The reigning champions look excellent once again and remain one of the favorites to win the whole thing.

Korea advanced as the runner-up, finishing pool play with a 2-2 record, earning their place in a crazy three-way tiebreaker with Australia and Taiwan that came down to one run in their final pool play game against Korea.

Read our full recap of Pool C below ⬇️

Pool D - Miami, Florida

Winner: Dominican Republic

Runner-up: Venezuela

Must qualify for next tournament: Nicaragua

Two of the best teams in the tournament did not disappoint in the opening round.

The Dominican Republic and Venezuela put on a show early and often, starting 3-0 and locking up a spot in the quarterfinals before facing off last night to determine the winner of the pool.

Nicaragua actually took a lead over DR early in their matchup, but that quickly vanished as they eventually lost every game and will have to prequalify next tournament.

The Netherlands finished 1-3 while Israel finished at 2-2, their second-best finish in the tournament.

After both easily handled those three teams, last night’s matchup between the Dominican Republic and Venezuela with the reward of not playing Japan in the quarterfinals on the line was incredible.

The offenses for both got started early with Juan Soto getting the crowed pumped early in the first inning.

Venezuela hung around throughout the game, but the Dominican lineup proved to be too much for them to handle. The top four of superstars led the way for them, as you can see below…

Quarterfinals Preview

The next two days feature four games and they are absolute bangers!

Quarterfinal 1: Korea vs. Dominican Republic

Friday 3/13 at 6:30 PM ET (Miami, FL)

Some may look at this game and assume the most electric team in the tournament will steamroll their way to the semifinals, but don’t sleep on Team Korea.

Cristopher Sánchez had an uncharacteristically rough night in the Dominican Republic’s first game of the tournament, but should be available to start this game or could be held out for a potential start against Team USA in the semifinals.

Bo Gyeong Moon had possibly the best first round of any hitter in the tournament and leads a potent lineup for Korea.

Quarterfinal 2: United States vs. Canada

Friday 3/13 at 8:00 PM ET (Houston, TX)

Oh boy, we’ve got another international tournament matchup between the USA and Canada! You really couldn’t write a better script for this one.

Logan Webb should be taking the mound for Team USA, after pitching against Brazil last Friday, while Canada is likely to turn to Michael Soroka or Jameson Taillon as the two started their first two games over the weekend.

A battle for North America is always fun and while Canada enters as a massive underdog, don’t count them out just yet.

Quarterfinal 3: Puerto Rico vs. Italy

Saturday 3/14 at 3:00 PM ET (Houston, TX)

This matchup is the battle of the underdogs as neither team was expected to reach the semifinals, yet one of them will do just that.

Team Puerto Rico is missing key players this tournament and that showed in pool play with fairly lackluster offense, while Team Italy had the best performance of anybody in that round. However, Italy lost two starters to injuries in Kyle Teel and Miles Mastrobuoni and their pitching remains thin.

Puerto Rico can turn to ace Seth Lugo while Italy will likely call upon youngster Sam Aldegheri in the biggest spot of his career to date after he dominated Brazil on Saturday.

Quarterfinal 4: Venezuela vs. Japan

Saturday 3/14 at 9:00 PM ET (Miami, FL)

The final matchup of this round could be the best yet with two of the four best rosters in the tournament facing off on Saturday night.

Japan can turn to top five pitcher in the world, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who will have over a week of rest entering this game. Meanwhile, Venezuela will likely give the ball to the new Red Sox No. 2 starter, Ranger Suárez, after he started off the tournament for them last Friday.

These two offenses have the firepower to make this one a banger but the reigning champions are the clear favorite and deservedly so.

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