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World Baseball Classic Predictions are coming in fast and furious with the tournament coming in less than three weeks. With rosters all but final, teams are beginning to take shape and the picture is getting clearer.
It should be an exciting and rather unpredictable tournament, but here are a few things viewers can expect to happen when baseball takes the world stage in March.
World Baseball Classic Predictions: Will the United States be able to defend the title?
5) The Dominican Republic will win it all
The Dominican Republic sports a dominant roster from top to bottom. Their offense may not match the United States' starpower, but it's easily the second-best lineup. They also have a much better cohort of pitchers than the USA and arguably any other country. They're the betting favorites right now and there's a good reason for that.
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4) Team USA struggles with pitching
The USA already had a weak pitching staff for the WBC. Then they lost Nestor Cortes Jr. and Clayton Kershaw. Their offense will be good enough to carry them, but they'll have to do it in shootouts with other countries.
3) Puerto Rico won't make it out of group play
Puerto Rico is a strong baseball country, but they won't make it out of their group. They're in a group with the Dominican Republic, which is essentially an automatic bid. The next spot can go to any team, but Venezuela is in the same pool. Puerto Rico is good, but they're likely the third-best team there and won't move on.
2) Shohei Ohtani will be the best player in the tournament
This isn't much of a bold prediction for the World Baseball Classic, but it's a good one. Ohtani is arguably the best player in the MLB, so on the world stage, he should be the best player in the world. No one does what he does and few do in each aspect as well as he does.
1) The United States won't make the finals
The United States won it all in 2017, but they aren't getting back to the finals. Both Japan and the Dominican Republic are major threats and the United States just doesn't have the pitching to go all the way this time.
