World Baseball Classic 2023 (Expansion Era All-Star Edition)

[Honus1908]

This is a short Spring Training project to get me through the next two months.

The format is a hybrid of the WBC and Little League World Series with 10 international squads and 10 teams representing regions of the U.S. divided into four pools for round-robin play.

Players from 1961 on were selected based on career WAR and using their best season (a majority are from the BATS set). Twenty-one man rosters, with 13 position players and eight pitchers on each team. Place of birth was used to assign players with the WBC elastic eligibility for the international teams.

Top two teams in each pool advance to the single-elimination quarterfinals. I hope to finish up in sync with the actual tournament.

I did something similar using BBW about a decade ago. The results are on a hard-drive in a storage unit but if memory serves, USA Northwest, powered by Harmon Killebrew and Curt Schilling took the tournament, dispelling any concerns that splitting up the USA would weaken them.

The Dominican Republic is stacked with a murderers’ row line-up (Pujols, Manny Ramirez, Sosa, Ortiz) and Pedro Martinez leading the pitching staff. They’re the international side favorites but face strong competition in Venezuela, Cuba and Puerto Rico. Israel could be a spoiler.

USA West, Southwest, Southeast and Metro figure to battle in the U.S. bracket but the Northwest will be there to defend their title.

I’ll post rosters as I go for those interested. Only mod I’ll be using will be a single dice with a 1 or 2 converting extra-base hits to singles; and a 5-6 converts a PRN 31 to a single. This is to keep averages up above .250 or so.

[Honus1908]

POOL A @ Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
Game 1:
ISRAEL
C- 1999 Mike Lieberthal, 2000 Brad Ausmus
IF- 1972 Ron Blomberg, 2010 Ike Davis, 2008 Ian Kinsler, 2004 Mark Loretta, 2009 Kevin Youkilis, 2019 Alex Bregman
OF- 2022 Joc Pedersen, 2001 Shawn Green, 2012 Ryan Braun, 2015 Kevin Pillar, 2021 Harrison Bader
P- 1965 Sandy Koufax, 1972 Ken Holtzman, 2022 Max Fried, 1971 Dave Roberts, 2013 Craig Breslow, 1967 Joe Harlan, 1980 Steve Stone, 2004 Jason Marquis

CUBA
C- 2019 Yasmani Grandal, 1963 Jose Azcue
IF- 1999 Rafael Palmeiro, 2014 Jose Abreu, 2007 Yunel Escobar, 2008 Alexei Ramirez, 1970 Tony Perez, 1966 Leo Cardenas, 1970 Bert Campaneris
OF- 2016 Yoenis Cespedes, 1964 Tony Oliva, 1967 Tony Gonzalez, 1988 Jose Canseco
P- 1968 Luis Tiant, 1969 Mike Cuellar, 2003 Liván Hernandez, 1999 Orlando Hernandez, 2012 Aroldis Chapman, 2021 Raisel Iglesias, 1963 Camilo Pascual, 2005 Jose Contreras

ISRL 112-000-010 - 5 8 0

CUBA 010-000-110 - 3 10 0
Israel slammed four home runs, including two by Kevin Youkilis, to upset Cuba, 5-3, in an opening game match up.
WP-Koufax (1-0, 10 Ks) LP-Tiant (0-1, 12 Ks) Sv-Breslow
HR-Youkilis 2 (2), Braun (1), Pederson (1)

Game 2:
AMERICAS (Panama, Colombia, Nicaragua, et al)
C- 1971 Manny Sanguillen, 2012 Carlos Ruiz
IF- 1977 Rod Carew, 2020 Donovan Solano, 1977 Rennie Stennett, 2003 Edgar Renteria, 1999 Gio Urshela, 2003 Orlando Cabrera
OF- 1989 Roberto Kelly, 1980 Ben Oglivie, 2008 Carlos Lee, 1991 Devon White, 1984 Chili Davis
P- 1991 Dennis Martinez, 2016 Jose Quintana, 2014 Julio Teheran, 2002 Vicente Padilla, 2008 Mariano Rivera, 1964 Al McBean, 1998 Ramiro Mendoza, 2005 Bruce Chen

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
C-2013 Carlos Santana, 1983 Tony Pena
IF- 2003 Albert Pujols, 2006 David Ortiz, 2012 Robinson Cano, 1991 Julio Franco, 2004 Adrian Beltre, 1997 Tony Fernandez, 2002 Miguel Tejada
OF- 2000 Vladimir Guerrero, 1999 Manny Ramirez, 1972 Cesar Cedeño, 2001 Sammy Sosa
P- 2000 Pedro Martinez, 1966 Juan Marichal, 2002 Bartolo Colon, 1993 Jose Rijo, 1999 Armando Benitez, 2010 Joaquin Benoit, 2014 Johnny Cueto, 1996 Pedro Astacio

AMER 001-131-001 - 7 11 0

DREP 000-020-002 - 4  6 2
Carlos Lee and Orlando Cabrera homered and knocked in two runs apiece as the Americas beat the Dominican Republic, 7-4.
WP- D. Martinez (1-0) LP-P. Martinez (0-1) Sv-McBean
HR- C. Lee (1), O. Cabrera (1), M. Ramirez (1), Tejada

[Honus1908]

POOL A @ Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
Game 3:

AMER 000-111-300 - 6 9 2

CUBA 100-000-100 - 2  8 0
WP-Teheran (1-0, 8-2/3 IP, 2 ER, 8 Ks) LP-Cuellar (0-1, 12 Ks)
HR- Oglivie (1)
The Americas (2-0) knock off second-seeded Cuba, which falls to 0-2.

Game 4:
ASIA (Japan, South Korea)
C- 2006 Kenji Johjima, 2009 Kurt Suzuki
IF- 2004 Hee-Seop Choi, 2019 Ji-Man Choi, 2005 Tadahito Iguchi, 2004 Kaz Matsui, 2016 Jung Ho Kang, 2022 Ha-Seong Kim
OF- 2012 Nori Aoki, 2010 Kosuke Fukudome, 2004 Hideki Matsui, 2010 Shin Soo-Choo, 2004 Ichiro Suzuki
P- 2013 Yu Darvish, 2021 Shohei Ohtani, 1995 Hideo Nomo, 2012 Hiroki Kuroda, 2007 Takashi Saito, 2013 Koji Uehara, 2000 Chan Ho Park, 2019 Hyun Jin Ryu

ASIA 002-010-000-0 - 3 6 1

ISRL 003-000-000-1 - 4  7 2
WP- Breslow (1-0) LP-Uehara (0-1)
HR- Bregman (1), Kim (1), Green (1)
Shawn Green walked it off with a home run off Koji Uehara in the 11th inning as Israel moved to 2-0, spoiling host Asia’s debut.

Next up, from Rogers Centre in Toronto:
Canada (Ferguson Jenkins) vs. Venezuela (Johan Santana)
Mexico (Fernando Valenzuela) vs. Puerto Rico (Javier Vazquez)

[Honus1908]

POOL B @ Rogers Centre, Toronto, Canada

Canada vs. Venezuela
CNDA 210-000-001 - 4 9 3

VENZ 000-001-000 - 1  7 0
WP-Jenkins (1-0) LP-Santana Sv-Gagne (1)
HR- Votto (1)

The upsets continued as Joey Votto hit a two-run homer in the first and Ferguson Jenkins made it stand up. Russell Martin went 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles. (Freddie Freeman had a rough transition to playing third base making a pair of errors.

Mexico vs. Puerto Rico
MXCO 030-000-000 - 3 7 1

PRCO 000-001-000 - 1  6 1
WP- Valenzuela (1-0) LP-Vazquez (0-1) Sv-Soria (1)
HR- Clemente (1)

A three-run third inning was enough as Fernando Valenzuela bested Javier Vazquez in a pitchers’ duel and another top seed took a loss.

Next up, from Pool A, Tokyo:
Israel (Dave A. Roberts Joe Horlen) vs. Americas (Jose Quintana)
Asia (Shohei Ohtani) vs. Dominican Republic (Juan Marichal)

[TSBL]

very cool great project nice work. Great 1997 larry walker card fr team canada

[Honus1908]

POOL A @ Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan

ISRL 110-005-503 - 15 12 1

AMER 000-001-000 - 3  4 4
WP-Roberts (1-0) LP-Quintana (0-1)
HR-Kinsler 2 (2), Loretta (1), Green (GS, 2), Youkilis (3)

Israel broke open a 2-0 game with five runs in the sixth inning and five more in the seventh. The win leaves Israel undefeated in three games and virtually assures them a spot in the quarterfinals. The Americas fall to 2-1 but retain second place in the pool ahead of the Dominican Republic and Asia, both 0-1, and 0-2 Cuba.

[Honus1908]

Thanks @TSBL. It’s been a lot of fun so far.

POOL A @ Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
ASIA 100-011-000 - 3 8 2

DREP 030-211-000 - 7 10 1
WP-Marichal (1-0, CG 11 Ks) LP-Ohtani (0-1)
HR-V.Guerrero 2 (2, 3-4, 3 RBI, 10 TB), Kang (1)

The Dominicans brought their big bats and roughed up Ohtani early. The defense helped Marichal with timely double plays in the late innings.

Standings
3-0 Israel
2-1 Americas
1-1 Dominican Republic
0-2 Asia
0-2 Cuba

Next up, Pool B from Toronto:
Europa (Bert Blyleven) Mexico (Teddy Higuera)
Venezuela (Felix Hernandez) Puerto Rico (Ed Figueroa)

Note: Despite an opening-game win, Mexico GM Jose Casas shook up his roster, adding Nomar Garciaparra, Anthony Rendon, Michael Young, Carlos Quentin, Alex Verdugo and Andre Ethier. The players were originally excluded due to a front-office clerical error.

Luis Urias, Ramon Urias, Aurelio Rodriguez, Alfredo Amezaga, Carlos Lopez and Karim Garcia were dropped from the team. Gentlemen, the WBC thanks you for your service.

[Honus1908]

POOL B @ Rogers Centre, Toronto, Canada
EURA 002-000-000 - 2 5 1

MXCO 011-001-100 - 4 8 1
WP-Higuera (1-0, CG) LP-Blyleven (0-1)
HR-Ethier (1), Garciaparra (1)

New additions Andre Ethier and Nomar Garciaparra lifted Mexico to the top of Pool B with home runs and Teddy Higuera hurled a complete game to stymie Europa (Europe+Australia) in that team’s opener.

VENZ 000-000-000 - 0 2 0

PRCO 003-000-100 - 3 8 0
WP-Figueroa (1-0, CG 2-hit Shutout) LP-Hernandez (0-1)
HR-none

Ed Figueroa came up big for PR, firing a two-hit shutout as the islanders evened their record. Carlos Beltran went 3-4 and Orlando Cepeda drove in two runs to lead the offense.

Standings
2-0 Mexico
1-0 Canada
1-1 Puerto Rico
0-1 Europa
0-2 Venezuela

Next up, Pool A from Tokyo:
Americas (Vicente Padilla) vs. Asia (Yu Darvish)
Cuba (Camilo Pascual) vs. Dominican Republic (Jose Rijo)

[Honus1908]

POOL A @ Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Canada
AMER 140-000-000 - 5 11 1

ASIA 100-100-002 - 4 8 1
WP-Padilla (1-0) LP-Darvish (0-1) Sv-Rivera (1)
HR-Renteria (1), Choi (1)

Asia fought back Ji-Man Choi’s two-run home run in the eighth but it was not enough to secure them their first win as the Americas finished round-robin play in prime position for advancement.

CUBA 000-300-000 - 3 5 0

DREP 020-020-000 - 4 5 1
WP-Rijo (1-0) LP-Pascual (0-1) Sv-Benoit (1)
HR-M. Ramirez (2), Beltre (1), Cespedes (1), Tejada (2)

Cuba and the Dominican Republic combined for just ten hits, but five left the yard as the DR improved their chances for advancement and Cuba kissed theirs goodbye.

Standings
3-0 Israel
3-1 Americas
2-1 Dominican Republic
0-3 Asia
0-3 Cuba

Next up, Pool C from Miami:
USA New England (TBD) vs. USA Southeast (TBD)
Next up, Pool B from Toronto:
Mexico (TBD) vs. Canada (TBD)

[Honus1908]

POOL B @ Rogers Centre, Toronto, Canada
MXCO 200-201-300 - 8 9 0

CAND 000-000-010 - 1 5 1
WP-J. Urias (1-0, CG, 10Ks) LP-Harden (0-1)
HR-A. Gonzalez (1), Puhl (1)

Mexico jumped to an early lead on an Adrian Gonzalez home run in the first and never looked back, solidifying their lead in Pool B.

Standings
3-0 Mexico
1-1 Canada
1-1 Puerto Rico
0-1 Europa
0-2 Venezuela

Next up, Pool C from Miami:
USA Southwest (Steve Carlton) vs. USA New England (Tom Glavine)
Pool D from Phoenix
USA Northwest (Curt Schilling) USA Southwest (Greg Maddux)

[Honus1908]

POOL C @ LoanDepot Park, Miami, Florida

USSE 110-000-011 - 4 9 3

USNE 000-000-010 - 3 5 1
WP-Carlton (1-0, 8.1 IP, 1 ER) LP-Glavine (0-1) Sv-Wagner (1)
HR-Konerko (1)

POOL D @ Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona
USNW 000-000-000 - 0 3 1

USSW 200-000-100 - 3 6 1
WP-Maddux (1-0, CG 3-hit SHO) LP-Schilling (0-1)
HR-B. Robinson (1)

[Honus1908]

POOL C @ LoanDepot Park, Miami, Florida

Roger Clemens looked strong shutting out USA Metro on five hits, striking out 10. Jim Thome (2-5, HR, 2 BI), Pete Rose (1-3, R, 2 BI) and Ted Simmons (2-3, R, BI) led the Great Lakes offense.

[Honus1908]

POOL B @ Rogers Centre, Toronto, Canada

In one of the more exciting games of the tournament so far, Puerto Rico staged a ninth-inning come from behind victory against Europa. Starters Juan Pizarro and Danny Cox exchanged goose eggs for three innings before Robert Clemente started the scoring for PR with a solo shot in the fourth. Max Kepler responded with a two-run home run in the bottom half of the inning putting Europa on top. Clemente struck again in the sixth with his third homer of the tourney to tie the game, but Andruw Jones added a two-run HR to once again give Europa the lead. Liam Hendriks relieved Cox in the seventh to squelch a rally and made quick work of PR in the eighth. In the ninth, Carlos Correa led off with a single against Europa closer Kenley Jansen. Pudge Rodriguez singled Correa to third and stole second to put the tying run in scoring position. Jansen bore down to get pinch-hitter Jorge Posada to pop up and Roberto Alomar flied out to Andruw Jones in shallow center. But Bernie Williams played the hero, lacing a single to left-center to even the score and Carlos Delgado followed with a double to right-center to give PR the lead. Robert Hernandez earned the win save striking out the side in the bottom of the ninth.

[Honus1908]

Pool D, Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona

USA Mountain (Dave McNally) vs. USA West (Tom Seaver)

T5
Ron HASSEY DOUBLES to left center; Kris BRYANT and Joey GALLO score.
USA MOUNTAIN 2, USA WEST 0
J.J. HARDY SINGLES to right, Ron HASSEY scores.
USA MOUNTAIN 3, USA WEST 0

B6
Jeff KENT hits HOMERUN over left center field fence, Barry BONDS scores.
USA MOUNTAIN 3, USA WEST 2

B7
Tony GWYNN SINGLES to right, Eddie MURRAY scores.
USA MOUNTAIN 3, USA WEST 3

T8
Cody BELLINGER hits HOMERUN over right field fence.
USA MOUNTAIN 4, USA WEST 3

B8
Jim EDMONDS hits HOMERUN over right field fence.
USA MOUNTAIN 4, USA WEST 4

B9
Mark McGWIRE hits HOMERUN over center field fence, Tony GWYNN scores.
USA WEST 6, USA MOUNTAIN 4

[Honus1908]

POOL A @ Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan

Dominican Republic (Johnny Cueto) vs. Israel (Max Fried)

T4
Albert PUJOLS hits HOMERUN over right field fence.
Dominican Republic 1, Israel 0

Adrian BELTRE SINGLES to right, Manny RAMIREZ scores.
Dominican Republic 2, Israel 0

T6
Adrian BELTRE hits HOMERUN over center field fence, Manny RAMIREZ scores.
Dominican Republic 4, Israel 0

B7
Ron BLOMBERG SINGLES over second driving in Shawn GREEN and Ian KINSLER. Joc PEDERSON stops at second.
Dominican Republic 4, Israel 2

Cuba (Livan HERNANDEZ) vs. Asia (Hyun-Jin RYU)
T1
Jose CANSECO hits HOMERUN over center field fence, Rafael PALMEIRO scores.
Cuba 2, Asia 0

Jose ABREU hits HOMERUN over right field fence.
Cuba 3, Asia 0

T2
Rafael PALMEIRO SINGLES over first driving in Yoenis CESPEDES and Bert CAMPANERIS.
Cuba 5, Asia 0

B6
Shohei OHTANI SINGLES to left center. Ha-Seong KIM and Ichiro SUZUKI score.
Cuba 5, Asia 2

B8
Kenji JOHJIMA SINGLES thru short. Jung Ho KANG scores.
Cuba 5, Asia 3

POOL A FINAL Standings
3-1 Israel
3-1 Dominican Republic
3-1 Americas
1-3 Cuba
0-4 Asia

The WBC does not play extra games but we will. Based on run differential, Israel automatically advances to quarterfinals to play the runner-up from Pool B. Dominican Republic will meet the Americas in a one game playoff to advance and play the Pool B champion.

ALL-TOKYO TEAM
C Grandahl CUB .357-0-1
1B Youkilis ISR .313-3-5
2B Kinsler ISR .286-2-3
3B Beltre DR .357-2-4
SS Loretta ISR .438-1-4
OF Green ISR .444-2-5
OF Guerrero DR .267-2-3
OF Oglivie AME .500-1-4
SP Teheran AME 1-0 2.08

[Honus1908]

POOL C, LoanDepot Park, Miami, Florida
USA New England (Chris Carpenter) vs. USA Mid-Atlantic (Mike Mussina)

T1
None out, none on.
Davey LOPES DOUBLES over third.

Carlton FISK at the plate. Mike MUSSINA throws wild pitch, Davey LOPES advances to third.

Carlton FISK flies out to Reggie JACKSON, Davey LOPES scores on sacrifice fly.
USA New England 1, USA Mid-Atlantic 0

B2
None out, none on.
Paul GOLDSCHMIDT SINGLES to left, steals second.

Al KALINE grounds out, Richie HEBNER to Jeff BAGWELL; Paul GOLDSCHMIDT goes to third.

Mark TEIXEIRA hits grounder to Richie HEBNER, Paul GOLDSCHMIDT escapes rundown on Richie HEBNER’s dropped return throw from Carlton FISK, Mark TEIXEIRA thrown out at second, Richie HEBNER to Davey LOPES, Paul GOLDSCHMIDT remains at third.

Cal RIPKEN SINGLES over second, Paul GOLDSCHMIDT scores.
USA New England 1, USA Mid-Atlantic 1

B3
None out, none on.
Don MONEY DOUBLES over first.

Reggie JACKSON flies out to A.J. POLLOCK, Don MONEY goes to third.

Ken GRIFFEY Jr. flies out to George SPRINGER, Don MONEY tags up and scores.
USA Mid-Atlantic 2, USA New England 1

B6
None out, none on.
Reggie JACKSON walks, takes 1st.

Ken, Jr. GRIFFEY TRIPLES to left, Reggie JACKSON scores.
USA Mid-Atlantic 3, USA New England 1

Chris CARPENTER balks! Ken, Jr. GRIFFEY scores. Al KALINE advances to second.
USA Mid-Atlantic 4, USA New England 1

T7
George SPRINGER SINGLES to center.

Paul KONERKO SINGLES; beats out infield hit, George SPRINGER to 2nd.

Richie HEBNER grounds out, Dick ALLEN to Paul GOLDSCHMIDT. George SPRINGER goes to third, Paul KONERKO advances to second.

Mike MUSSINA issues an intentional base on balls, A.J. POLLOCK advances 1 base

Lineup Change: Jay JOHNSTONE for Mark BELANGER

Jay JOHNSTONE SINGLES over second driving in George SPRINGER and Paul KONERKO. A.J. POLLOCK ran through the third base coach’s stop sign but he gets to third.
USA Mid-Atlantic 4, USA New England 3

USMA Lineup Change: Sparky LYLE for Mike MUSSINA

Davey LOPES flies out to Ken, Jr. GRIFFEY. A.J. POLLOCK scores after tagging up. Jay JOHNSTONE holds.
USA Mid-Atlantic 4, USA New England 4

B7
USNE Lineup Changes:
SS Dick McAULIFFE for Paul KONERKO
Jay JOHNSTONE moves to LF

None out, none on
Cal RIPKEN SINGLES to right.
USNE Lineup Change: Bob STANLEY for Chris CARPENTER

T8
None out, none on
Jeff BAGWELL SINGLES to right.

Mo VAUGHN grounds to Paul GOLDSCHMIDT who throws to Sparky LYLE covering; Mo VAUGHN is out. Jeff BAGWELL to second.

George SPRINGER hits HOMERUN over center field fence, Jeff BAGWELL scores.
USA New England 6, USA Mid-Atlantic 4

B8
None out, none on.
Ken, Jr. GRIFFEY hits HOMERUN over right field fence.
USA New England 6, USA Mid-Atlantic 5

T9
None out, none on
USMA Lineup Change: Bruce SUTTER for Sparky LYLE

B9
None out, none on
USNE Lineup Change: Jeff REARDON for Bob STANLEY

Mark TEIXEIRA pops out to Davey LOPES.

Cal RIPKEN strikes out.

Lance PARRISH strikes out.

GAME OVER. USA New England (1-1) USA Mid-Atlantic (0-1)

[Honus1908]

POOL A - Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan

The Dominican Republic (4-1) avenged their opening game loss to the Americas (3-2) to advance to the WBC quarterfinals. Two-run homers by Manny Ramirez and Sammy Sosa and a five-hit shutout from Pedro Martinez provided the kind of dominance that made them a pre-tournament favorite.

On deck, Europa (Charlie Lea) vs. Venezuela (Anibal Sanchez), from Toronto.

[Honus1908]

POOL B - Rogers Centre, Toronto, Canada

Venezuela (1-2) kept their slim hopes of advancement alive, beating Europa (0-3). Carlos Zambrano and Francisco Rodriguez combined on a three-hitter and Salvador Perez knocked in two runs.

[Honus1908]

POOL D - Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona

Bryce Harper took Bob Gibson deep – twice – as USA Mountain (1-1) upset USA Midwest (0-1). John Denny hurled a complete game, allowing seven hits and two walks with nary a strikeout to be found on his ledger.

[Honus1908]

POOL C - LoanDepot Park, Miami, Florida

The Great Lakes (2-0) put on the biggest offensive display of the tournament thus far pounding out nine runs on 14 hits to defeat the Southeast (1-1). Scott Rolen and Mike Schmidt homered and Ted Simmons knocked in three runs to lead the charge.