WBC fans not getting carried away after Chinese Taipei's uncomfortable win vs Italy: "Aren't going to the second round sadly"

Chinese Taipei came into the 2023 World Baseball Classic as an underdog. The team's only other World Baseball Classic appearance came in 2013 when they were eliminated in the first round after three losses.

In 2023, Chinese Taipei is in Group A. They are also hosting all of their pool matches at the Taichung Stadium in Taiwan.

In addition to Chinese Taipei, Pool A is made up of Italy, Cuba, Panama and the Netherlands. Although these competitors do not conjure up notions of baseball superiority, they play host to some pretty strong players.

The Netherlands is the team to beat in the group. The team is made up mostly of Curacao-born players, as Curacao is an overseas constituent country of the Netherlands. As such, they feature names like the recent San Diego Padres signing Xander Bogaerts and Boston Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen.

In their first game of the tournament on March 9, Taipei went down to Panama by a score of 12-5. With Panama likely to be the weakest team in the Pool, things were not looking good for Taiwan in this tournament.

On March 10th, Chinese Taipei linked up with Italy in their second game of the tournament. Although not seen as a contender for the tournament, Italy still boasts some MLB talent on their roster, including Chicago Cubs infielder Miles Mastrobuoni.

Tzu-Wei Lin got things going for Taipei in the first inning, hitting a full-count homer off former MLB starter Ryan Castellani. The team hit three home runs, with the latter being a 3-run shot by Kungkuan Giljegiljaw that extended the team's lead to three in the eighth inning and won over Italy by a score of 11-7.

"Nothing but smiles from Team Chinese Taipei as they are in the win column!" - @ World Baseball Classic

Despite the strong performance, fans are still skeptical about the ability of the team to emerge from the pool. Their next match will come against the Netherlands, who are 2-0 following wins against both Cuba and Panama.

Politics notwithstanding, some fans even compared Taipei to Team China, claiming that despite losing 8-1 to Japan in their game, is still a better team.

Despite the strong performance, cards are still stacked against Chinese Taipei

Although they are one of the host teams in the World Baseball Classic, Taipei still faces stark competition. With only two of the five teams in each pool emerging, a .500 first-round record will probably result in them missing the cut.