Moon Dong-ju of Hanwha's 'Miracle in the Quarter-Finals' Can he join the Korean national team as a Korea? → If he goes to the U.S., he will have another ace of 'Cheongunmanma'! [WBC]

*This content was translated by AI.

The Korean national baseball team wrote a miraculous drama about the quarterfinals. Now, we are starting to create myths in the United States. And attention is being paid to whether South Korean right-hander ace Moon Dong-joo (23, Hanwha Eagles) will rejoin the national team.

The South Korean baseball team, led by head coach Ryu Ji-hyun (55), won 7-2 against Australia in the final 4th Group C match of the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) at Tokyo Dome, Japan, at 7 p.m. on the 9th.

With this victory, South Korea tied Australia and Taiwan with two wins and two losses, but advanced to the quarterfinals dramatically, ranking second in the group by leading in the loss rate between the teams. Now, South Korea will head to Miami, where the quarterfinals will be held. The opponent is likely to be the Dominican Republic, which ranks first in Group D.

In this group stage, South Korea struggled without an ace named Moon Dong-ju, who suffered a shoulder injury, and O'Brien, who suffered a calf injury. And the result was a dramatic advance to the quarterfinals.

Attention is focusing on joining new additional forces. In February, MLB.com , the official website of the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB), released a list of each country's "Designed Pitcher Pool (hereinafter referred to as DPP)" participating in the WBC.

Moon Dong-ju and Bae Chan-seung are registered on the DDP list. On top of that, four people were registered, including Yoo Young-chan and Kim Taek-yeon, and the two have already joined the national team.

DPP is a regulation that has been established since the 2017 WBC competition. Unfortunately, the South Korean national team was eliminated every time in the first round stage, so there was no opportunity to use it.

According to the WBC tournament regulations, up to four DDP registered pitchers can be replaced after the first round. Then, after the quarterfinals, up to two players can be replaced by pitchers in the existing entry.

As a result, there was a prospect that if Moon Dong-ju's recovery situation was okay, he could join Miami in the U.S. when South Korea advanced to the WBC quarterfinals.

If Moon Dong-ju can join, it is expected to be a truly great battle for the Korean national team, which lacks a clear starting ace.

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*This content was translated by AI.