Men's Baseball WBSC European Championship 2025

[copravolley 635]

1 minute ago, Gianlu33 said:

It will be difficult to beat the Czech Republic, so I think this is a good result.

So what's the balance of power here? Ned, Czech Republic, Spain/Italy?

[copravolley 635]

So, Phelps was recently wrote that we would play so poorly here, but it's not that bad... I only hope that we don't finish in 4th place, because I'm tired of us finishing 4th in most of sports

[Antoricci87 32]

3 hours ago, copravolley said:

So, Phelps was recently wrote that we would play so poorly here, but it's not that bad... I only hope that we don't finish in 4th place, because I'm tired of us finishing 4th in most of sports

Yes, but after the last ec, being back in the top 4 it’s almost enough

[copravolley 635]

7 minutes ago, Antoricci87 said:

Yes, but after the last ec, being back in the top 4 it’s almost enough

But in our first squad we probably will win easy?

[phelps 8,685]

2 minutes ago, copravolley said:

But in our first squad we probably will win easy?

this is our squad, the team with the best players from the Italian league

 

WBC is just another beast, with different rules on the players' eligibility

 

there we could field a dream team, but that's the only event where it's possible

 

still, also in WBSC tournaments we could field some better (US born) players from the American minor leagues, but we usually try to use at least half the team of Italian born players, which makes Italy a modest team

 

however, no...also other European teams (NED, ESP above all) can fill their rosters with players from the major leagues and still beat us

[copravolley 635]

Esp- UK 7-0Spain is truly a phenomenon in team sports in the 21st century...

[phelps 8,685]

4 minutes ago, copravolley said:

Esp- UK 7-0Spain is truly a phenomenon in team sports in the 21st century...

ESP is basically a DOM + VEN team, that's why they're good (like ITA when using top US born players)

[copravolley 635]

10 minutes ago, phelps said:

ESP is basically a DOM + VEN team, that's why they're good (like ITA when using top US born players)

But they lost here to Czechia 1-9... Czechia lost to Germany... We won to Germany... So, we have a big chance against Czechia? Czechia and Germany and Spain looks like a similar level teams, right? Czechia consist on local players?

Edited September 25, 2025 by copravolley

[phelps 8,685]

23 minutes ago, copravolley said:

But they lost here to Czechia 1-9... Czechia lost to Germany... We won to Germany... So, we have a big chance against Czechia? Czechia and Germany and Spain looks like a similar level teams, right? Czechia consist on local players?

yes, Czechia only play with local players (even if a few of them normally play in the US college system)

 

as I told you, it's the nature of baseball

 

any team can always win or lose against anybody in a single match

 

the pitching performance on a given day is always the key, you can have the strongest lineup in the world on paper, but if your pitchers have a bad day, you're done and dusted

 

that's why the main leagues play 144/162 games in RS and best-of-7 series in the playoffs decisive rounds, that's the only way for the best to emerge

[Noorderling29 237]

12 hours ago, phelps said:

ESP is basically a DOM + VEN team, that's why they're good (like ITA when using top US born players)

🇳🇱 no Dutch-Americans (anymore), but a significant element of players from what was formerly the Netherlands Antilles, and are now several separate entities. These players have a Dutch passport, since these entities are all part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. As I wrote on another thread, their inclusion in our Baseball team is the reason that team self-identifies as The Kingdom Of The Netherlands and not simply The Netherlands.