World Baseball Classic: Quarterfinals Results & Key Players | Ohtani, Soto & USA

CNN Español
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After an intense week of pure hitting and home runs, where there was logic but also some surprising results, the World Baseball Classic has already defined its eight classified for the quarterfinals, which will begin this Friday, after a day of rest.

In it Group Asurprised by the low level of Cuba, eliminated, and the excellent performance of Canada, which took the lead in the area and sent Puerto Rico to second place. However, the prize for the Canadians will be none other than facing one of the great candidates to lift the trophy. Colombia and Panama also said goodbye to the tournament.

The Canadians will face the United States, second in the Group Bwho were walking on the cliff all Wednesday after losing to Italy on Tuesday, which forced them to wait for a Mexico defeat against the Italians, something that finally happened. Italy was one of the big surprises of the first phase, winning all four of its matches, including one against the Stars and Stripes team. Your rival will be Puerto Rico. Mexico, semi-finalist in 2023, Great Britain and Brazil said goodbye.

In it Group C Logic prevailed and it had an undisputed king: Japan. The Asians, who are going for their third title in the World Classic, were a steamroller and won their four games led by Shohei Ohtani and a team reminiscent of the Real Madrid galacticos or the “Dream Team” of American basketball. South Korea advanced as runner-up, benefiting from a three-way tie over Australia and Taiwan. Czech Republic never had a chance.

Few doubted that the Dominican Republic and Venezuela will take the first two places in the Group Dand those who bet against him lost by a landslide. The two selected teams won their first three games and came into the head-to-head confrontation with first place in their sights. Finally it was for Juan Soto and company, who won 7-5 in a game that kept suspense until the last inning.

Unlike the group stage, which was played in Houston, Miami, San Juan (Puerto Rico) and Tokyo (Japan), the quarterfinals will be played only in Texas and Florida, so there will not be such a wide range of schedules. After a restful Thursday for everyone, the action will return twice on Friday and Saturday.

South Korea vs. Dominican Republic

United States vs. Canada

Puerto Rico vs. Italia

Venezuela vs. Japan