Topicmaster1010

QUALIFIED Source: @gymcan1/Twitter Artistic Gymnastics: +5 athletes (Women's Team All-Around) Team Canada Updated Artistic Gymnastics Team Size: 5 (0 M, 5 W) Updated Total Team Size: 5 (0 M, 5 W)

Apologies, I should've worded that better.

The pool's have officially been confirmed! Biggest surprise is that Panama was placed in the Taiwan group while Great Britain is playing in one of the US groups. Pool A Taichung Pool B Tokyo Pool C Phoenix Pool D Miami Cuba Australia Canada Dominican Republic Italy China Colombia Israel Netherlands Czech Republic Great Britain Nicaragua Panama Japan Mexico Puerto Rico Taiwan South Korea United States Venezuela Panama is definitely the biggest winner here as it seems like any of the 5 teams in Pool A can advance out of the pool. Czech Republic gets a decent pool as well. They'll basically have no chance against Japan and Korea but are capable of beating China to avoid having to go through the qualification phase in 2026. Originally thought to be in Pool A, Great Britain now finds itself in Pool C with the other 4 teams being unfavourable matchups. Of course, watch them end up beating Canada just because that's how baseball works. Nicaragua is definitely the biggest losers here. Their WBC debut will see them play in the group of death and they'll have to face off against the powerhouses of the DR, Puerto Rico, Venezuela along with Israel will be mostly the Jewish American team.

What a day of baseball! First the Philadelphia Phillies complete their upset of the defending World Series Champions, Atlanta Braves, by beating them 3 games to one. Then, the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners battle in an 18 INNING game that Houston ultimately came out on top in a pitching duel 1-0. Then, the Cleveland Guardians complete a miracle comeback scoring 3 runs in the 9th inning to beat the New York Yankees 6-5. Then, the San Diego Padres eliminate the best team in the regular season, the Los Angeles Dodgers, in 4 games. This is why I love the sport.

With the season finally under way, it's always fun to take a look at the nationalities of players that made the final rosters. Here's a breakdown for this year's rosters (including injured players). 18 nations from 3 continents are represented. Canada: 334 (1 player per 116,557 people) United States: 217 (1 player per 1,529,464 people) Sweden: 79 (1 player per 132,683 people) Russia: 44 (1 player per 3,251,242 people) Finland: 39 (1 player per 142,385 people) Czech Republic: 30 (1 player per 350,557 people) Switzerland: 10 (1 player per 863,690 people) Slovakia: 8 (1 player per 682,523 people) Germany: 7 (1 player per 11,956,490 people) Latvia: 4 (1 player per 460,557 people) Denmark: 4 (1 player per 1,480,132 people) Belarus: 3 (1 player per 3,137,835 people) Norway: 2 (1 player per 2,712,635 people) Slovenia: 1 (1 player per 2,108,708 people) Austria: 1 (1 player per 9,027,999 people) Netherlands: 1 (1 player per 17,751,900 people) Australia: 1 (1 player per 25,980,700 people) France: 1 (1 player per 67,897,000 people) Canadian Players by Birth Province/Territory: Ontario: 154 (1 player per 92,363 people) Quebec: 41 (1 player per 207,362 people) British Columbia: 39 (1 player per 128,228 people) Alberta: 32 (1 player per 133,207 people) Manitoba: 23 (1 player per 58,354 people) Saskatchewan: 17 (1 player per 66,618 people) Nova Scotia: 7 (1 player per 138,483 people) New Brunswick: 3 (1 player per 258,537 people) Prince Edward Island: 2 (1 player per 77,166 people) Newfoundland & Labrador: 2 (1 player per 255,275 people) Yukon: 1 (1 player per 40,232 people) Outside of Canada: 13 American Players by Birth State: Minnesota: 42 (1 player per 135,890 people) Michigan: 27 (1 player per 373,234 people) Massachusetts: 24 (1 player per 291,030 people) New York: 18 (1 player per 1,123,097 people) Illinois: 11 (1 player per 1,164,773 people) New Jersey: 10 (1 player per 928,899 people) Wisconsin: 9 (1 player per 654,858 people) Florida: 8 (1 player per 2,692,273 people) California: 7 (1 player per 5,597,944 people) Connecticut: 6 (1 player per 600,991 people) Missouri: 6 (1 player per 1,026,714 people) Washington: 5 (1 player per 1,577,593 people) Ohio: 5 (1 player per 2,356,003 people) Arizona: 4 (1 player per 1,787,876 people) Pennsylvania: 4 (1 player per 3,252,961 people) Texas: 4 (1 player per 7,286,376 people) Colorado: 3 (1 player per 1,924,571 people) Maine: 2 (1 player per 681,180 people) Nebraska: 2 (1 player per 980,752 people) Iowa: 2 (1 player per 1,595,185 people) Virginia: 2 (1 player per 4,327,271 people) Alaska: 1 (1 player per 736,081 people) Montana: 1 (1 player per 1,085,407 people) Rhode Island: 1 (1 player per 1,098,163 people) New Hampshire: 1 (1 player per 1,377,529 people) Utah: 1 (1 player per 3,271,616 people) Oklahoma: 1 (1 player per 3,986,639 people) Oregon: 1 (1 player per 4,246,155 people) Alabama: 1 (1 player per 5,039,877 people) South Carolina: 1 (1 player per 5,190,705 people) Indiana: 1 (1 player per 6,785,528 people) North Carolina: 1 (1 player per 10,551,162 people) Outside of the US: 5

Jokes on you, I happen to be a fan of both!!! At least the Raptors won in 2019.

Why did I ever become a Blue Jays fan

Not sure how accurate this is but I saw a reddit post that the pictograms were leaked on the IOC website a couple of days ago. And oh boy, let's just say that I hope these aren't actually the pictograms.

One of the worst American Football games happened I've ever watched happened tonight . 12-9 was the final score. 7 field goals, no touchdowns, and lots and lots of bad plays.

October 4th Scores: Argentina 5-6 Nicaragua Brazil 0-4 Panama October 5th Scores: Nicaragua 3-1 Brazil Congratulations to Panama and Nicaragua on qualifying! Heartbreak for Brazil on the other hand. Prior to the start of qualification, , , , and were the teams I wanted to qualify and I can't believe they all managed to do that. Panama and Nicaragua are both smaller countries where baseball is hugely popular, Czech republic was a growing program and even though GB had a lot of heritage players, they had a lot of young and exciting players to watch. Panama is making its first appearance since 2009 and the other 3 are making their debut. So the field is officially set: Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Great Britain, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Taiwan, United States, Venezuela Pools haven't officially been confirmed but they should look something like this Pool A Taichung Pool B Tokyo Pool C Phoenix Pool D Miami Cuba Australia Canada Dominican Republic Great Britain China Colombia Israel Italy Czech Republic Mexico Nicaragua Netherlands Japan Panama Puerto Rico Taiwan South Korea United States Venezuela

Wow Nicaragua! So happy for them. They played there best game when it mattered the most. Unfortunately, it looks like they'll be placed in the pool of death but just making it probably means the world to these players and the rest of the country.

Go Jays

Argentina almost beat Nicaragua . But Nicaragua still hangs on 6-5 and will play the loser of Panama vs. Brazil. Looks like it's Panama and Brazil's qualifying spots to lose.

Off day for the qualification tournament so it's a good time to do a roster update. World Baseball Classic MLB Player Commitment Updates (in bold) Australia: Liam Hendriks (Chicago White Sox), Curtis Mead (Tampa Bay Rays) Canada: Freddie Freeman (Los Angeles Dodgers), Josh Naylor (Cleveland Guardians), Cal Quantrill (Cleveland Guardians) Colombia: Sandy Leon (Minnesota Twins), Reiver Sanmartin (Cincinnati Reds), Donovan Solano (Cincinnati Reds), Jose Quintana (St. Louis Cardinals), Harold Ramirez (Tampa Bay Rays), Gio Urshela (Minnesota Twins) Dominican Republic: Sandy Alcantara (Miami Marlins), Genesis Cabrera (St. Louis Cardinals), Emmanuel Clase (Cleveland Guardians), Rafael Devers (Boston Red Sox), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays), Manny Machado (San Diego Padres), Starling Marte (New York Mets), Jose Ramirez (Cleveland Guardians), Gary Sanchez (Minnesota Twins), Juan Soto (San Diego Padres) Great Britain: Jazz Chisholm (Miami Marlins), Harry Ford (Seattle Mariners) Israel: Harrison Bader (St. Louis Cardinals), Jake Bird (Colorado Rockies), Richard Bleier (Miami Marlins), Jake Fishman (Miami Marlins), Dean Kremer (Baltimore Orioles), Ryan Lavarnway (Miami Marlins), Joc Pederson (San Francisco Giants), Kevin Pillar (Los Angeles Dodgers) Italy: David Fletcher (Los Angeles Angels), Trey Mancini (Houston Astros), Adam Ottavino (New York Mets), Jordan Romano (Toronto Blue Jays) Japan: Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels) Mexico: Randy Arozarena (Tampa Bay Rays), Javier Assad (Chicago Cubs), Andres Munoz (Seattle Mariners), Isaac Paredes (Tampa Bay Rays), Manuel Rodriguez (Chicago Cubs), Rowdy Tellez (Milwaukee Brewers), Julio Urias (Los Angeles Dodgers), Jose Urquidy (Houston Astros), Alex Verdugo (Boston Red Sox) Puerto Rico: Javier Baez (Detroit Tigers), Jose Berrios (Toronto Blue Jays), Carlos Correa (Minnesota Twins), Alexis Diaz (Cincinnati Reds), Edwin Diaz (New York Mets), Kike Hernandez (Boston Red Sox), Joe Jimenez (Detroit Tigers), Alex Lange (Detroit Tigers), Francisco Lindor (New York Mets), Jorge Lopez (Minnesota Twins), Seth Lugo (New York Mets), Martin Maldonado (Houston Astros), MJ Melendez (Kansas City Royals), Jose Miranda (Minnesota Twins), Jovani Moran (Minnesota Twins), Emilio Pagan (Minnesota Twins), Roberto Perez (Pittsburgh Pirates), Edwin Rios (Los Angeles Dodgers), Emmanuel Rivera (Arizona Diamondbacks), Eddie Rosario (Atlanta Braves), Marcus Stroman (Chicago Cubs), Christian Vazquez (Houston Astros) United States: Pete Alonso (New York Mets), Tim Anderson (Chicago White Sox), Nolan Arenado (St. Louis Cardinals), Mookie Betts (Los Angeles Dodgers), Paul Goldschmidt (St. Louis Cardinals), Bryce Harper (Philadelphia Phillies), Cedric Mullins (Baltimore Orioles), J.T. Realmuto (Philadelphia Phillies), Will Smith (Los Angeles Dodgers), Trevor Story (Boston Red Sox), Mike Trout (Los Angeles Angels), Kyle Tucker (Houston Astros), Trea Turner (Los Angeles Dodgers) Venezuela: Ronald Acuna Jr. (Atlanta Braves), Jose Altuve (Houston Astros), Jose Alvarado (Philadelphia Phillies), Pablo Lopez (Miami Marlins), German Marquez (Colorado Rockies), Ranger Suarez (Philadelphia Phillies)

October 2nd Scores: Pakistan 0-12 Nicaragua F/7 New Zealand 1-4 Argentina Pakistan and New Zealand are eliminated from qualification. In the first game, no surprises as Nicaragua is in a completely different tier than Pakistan. Much different story in the 2nd game though. New Zealand was shutting out Argentina through 6 innings but had a complete meltdown in the 7th inning and allowed Argentina to score 4 runs. Nicaragua and Argentina will now play for the right to play for the final qualification spot. Brazil vs. Panama will be the first qualification matchup. October 4th Schedule: Nicaragua vs. Argentina , 12:00 CDT Brazil vs. Panama , 19:00 CDT Opening Round Semifinals Qualifier Winners Bracket Game 3 Game 1 Nicaragua 1 Game 8 New Zealand 7 Brazil 12 Brazil 4 Brazil Game 4 Panama Game 2 Panama 11 Pakistan 4 Argentina 7 Argentina 0 Lower Round 1 Lower Round 2 Lower Final Lower Bracket Game 5 Game 7 Pakistan 0 Nicaragua 12 Nicaragua Game 9 Game 6 Argentina Loser Game 8 New Zealand 1 Argentina 4 Winner Game 7

October 1st Scores: Brazil 4-1 Nicaragua Argentina 0-11 Panama F/7 Huge win by Brazil. Nicaragua looked pretty sloppy on the other hand so it'll be interesting to see if they can rebound if they end up playing again. In the other game, Panama clearly showed why they're the class of this qualifying group. October 2nd Schedule: Pakistan vs. Nicaragua , 12:00 CDT New Zealand vs. Argentina , 19:00 CDT Opening Round Semifinals Qualifier Winners Bracket Game 3 Game 1 Nicaragua 1 Game 8 New Zealand 7 Brazil 12 Brazil 4 Brazil Game 4 Panama Game 2 Panama 11 Pakistan 4 Argentina 7 Argentina 0 Lower Round 1 Lower Round 2 Lower Final Lower Bracket Game 5 Game 7 Pakistan Nicaragua Winner Game 5 Game 9 Game 6 Winner Game 6 Loser Game 8 New Zealand Argentina Winner Game 7

September 30th Scores: New Zealand 7-12 Brazil Pakistan 4-7 Argentina No surprises today. October 1st Schedule: Brazil vs. Nicaragua , 12:00 CDT Argentina vs. Panama , 19:00 CDT Opening Round Semifinals Qualifier Winners Bracket Game 3 Game 1 Nicaragua Game 8 New Zealand 7 Brazil 12 Brazil Winner Game 3 Game 4 Winner Game 4 Game 2 Panama Pakistan 4 Argentina 7 Argentina Lower Round 1 Lower Round 2 Lower Final Lower Bracket Game 5 Game 7 Pakistan Loser Game 3 Winner Game 5 Game 9 Game 6 Winner Game 6 Loser Game 8 New Zealand Loser Game 4 Winner Game 7

Thoughts and prayers for Tua The fact that he was allowed to play after what suffering what looked like a concussion 4 days ago is completely disgusting. He literally had trouble walking after he took that hit and he was cleared to play the following quarter. Now he's going to have what will likely be life altering brain damage. There needs to be consequences for this stuff.

2nd and last qualification pool starts this Friday! This time from Panama City. This qualifier features teams from the Americas, Asia and Oceania and features Argentina, Brazil, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Pakistan, and Panama. Unlike the 1st qualification pool, this pool is a bit more top heavy. On paper, Brazil, Nicaragua and Panama are the 3 clear favourites competing for 2 spots in the World Baseball Classic with Panama being biggest favourite of the 3. Personally I'm hoping for Panama and Nicaragua to qualify here since they are countires where baseball is the number 1 sport in the country but they haven't had qualification success in past tournaments. Opening Round Semifinals Qualifier Winners Bracket Game 3 Game 1 Nicaragua Game 8 New Zealand Brazil Winner Game 1 Winner Game 3 Game 4 Winner Game 4 Game 2 Panama Pakistan Argentina Winner Game 2 Lower Round 1 Lower Round 2 Lower Final Lower Bracket Game 5 Game 7 Loser Game 2 Loser Game 3 Winner Game 5 Game 9 Game 6 Winner Game 6 Loser Game 8 Loser Game 1 Loser Game 4 Winner Game 7 Day 1 Schedule New Zealand vs. Brazil , 12:00 CST Pakistan vs. Argentina , 19:00 CST And as I did for the 1st qualification pool, here's a breakdown of each roster by birth countries. Looks a bit more like national teams this time. Argentina Argentina: 20 Venezuela: 7 United States: 1 Brazil Brazil: 21 United States: 5 Japan: 1 Venezuela: 1 New Zealand New Zealand: 17 United States: 5 Australia: 2 Japan: 2 Italy: 1 South Africa: 1 Nicaragua Nicaragua: 27 United States: 1 Pakistan Pakistan: 15 United States: 9 Canada: 3 Japan: 1 Panama Panama: 26 United States: 2

So since Ben Titley's contract wasn't renewed, things haven't gone so well at Swimming Canada. First Kayla Sanchez decides to represent the Philippines. Ryan Mallette is officially named head coach of the Toronto High Performance Centre instead of bringing in a more experienced and successful coach. Then there's the underperformance at the Junior Pan-Pacs where it seems like there was a lack of preparation especially for the relays. A few weeks ago, Martyn Wilby, head coach of the Olympic program, also decided to move on from Swimming Canada. Another coach, Brad Dingey (who coached swimmers like Hilary Caldwell and Ryan Cochrane) was also named the Singapore National Training Centre Head Coach a few days ago. Then yesterday, news came out that Yuri Kisil is moving from the Toronto training centre to the Calgary one. He's not the only notable name to leave the Toronto High Performance Centre though. Maggie MacNeil is at LSU, Josh Liendo committed to the University of Florida, Sydney Pickrem is at Texas A&M, Taylor Ruck is at Stanford, Kylie Masse is apparently in Spain training with Ben Titley, and Summer McIntosh and some of the other girls are training in Sarasota. Something is definitely going on and it's safe to say that the Toronto HPC is starting to fall apart. John Atkinson definitely needs to go. Hopefully things can fix itself before the next Olympics.

One of the greatest hitters of all time, Albert Pujols, hit his 700th career home run tonight, the 4th player in MLB history to do so!

The tournament schedule was released yesterday. I put the full schedule on the first post of this thread. You can find game times in Local Time, Eastern Time, Central European time and Japanese Time. Enjoy!

September 21st Final Scores: Czech Republic 3-1 Spain Amazing run by the Czech Republic to qualify for their first WBC tournament after getting thrashed 21-7 by the same team they beat tonight! Even though I'm not sad they missed out, you do have to feel for Spain a little bit. They were two outs away from qualifying yesterday before Great Britain came back and then they lost again tonight. Reminds me a bit of the 2011 MLB World Series in game 6 between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers. On another note, it hasn't officially been confirmed but I'm seeing from multiple sources that these are the updated pools. Taichung Tokyo Phoenix Miami Pool A Pool B Pool C Pool D Cuba Australia Canada Dominican Republic Great Britain China Colombia Israel Italy Czech Republic Mexico Puerto Rico Netherlands Japan United States Venezuela Taiwan South Korea TBD TBD If this is true, then both Great Britain and Czech Republic have good chances of winning a game and staying in the tournament for 2026. Miami Marlins superstar Jazz Chisholm has already committed to playing for Great Britain which is a huge boost for them. The pool is pretty open so I wouldn't be surprised if they go on a surprise run like Israel did in 2017. Wins winning against Australia, Japan and South Korea will be almost impossible for the Czechs, they do have the luxury of being in a pool with China who in my opinion is the worst of the 16 pre-qualified teams.

Panama is definitely the favourite but I think the 2nd spot will be a battle between Nicaragua and Brazil. Argentina isn't as strong as those 3 teams in my opinion.