"The U.S.-Venezuela has also won." Dominica is unfamiliar, and '4G 13 home runs and 41 points' is expected to be another match against Australia

*This content was translated by AI.

He made it to the quarterfinals by writing a miracle, but he met an opponent who was too difficult. I met the Dominican Republic, which has the strongest firepower, with no batters to rest from No. 1 to No. 9.

The Dominican Republic defeated Venezuela 7-5 in the final Group D match of the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) first round at Rondipo Park in Miami, Florida on the 12th (Korea time).

Dominica, who won all four games, became the second-ranked team in Group C. In the world baseball rankings, South Korea is far ahead of Dominica, which is only 11th with fourth place, and after forming a national team with professional players, South Korea has a 7-1 advantage over Dominica in international competitions. Recently, he was dragged 0-6 in the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 group stage and scored nine points to win from behind.

However, he has yet to meet at WBC, where all major leaguers are out. Korea has beaten strong teams in the WBC.

At the first competition in 2006, he made a miracle by defeating the world's strongest U.S. 7-3, writing the myth of the semifinals. At that time, Son Min-han started and caused a full base crisis from the first inning, but he went on offense after finishing the inning without losing a point with a seasoned pitch.

Dontrell Willis, the best left-handed pitcher of the time, started, and he was a pitcher who boasted that he would catch South Korea in 50 pitches earlier. However, Lee Seung-yeop opened the door with a two-run shot from the first inning. Son Min-han silenced "Yeonbong King" Alex Rodriguez with three strikeouts with his main weapon change-up, and nuclear submarine Kim Byung-hyun also helplessly returned the big leaguers.

In the fourth inning, the U.S. sent out Lee Seung-yeop, who gave up a home run earlier, with four pitches on purpose, and Choi Hee-seop, who took the batter's box, hit a three-run shot that effectively sealed the victory and eventually won a miraculous victory.

In 2009, he met Venezuela in the semifinals. Choo Shin-soo scored five points, including a three-run home run from the first inning, and Kim Tae-kyun hit a two-run shot in the second inning to smash the first half. Starting pitcher Yoon Seok-min, who was supported by a strong lineup of 10 points, pitched two runs in six ⅓ innings to lead South Korea to the finals. In the end, Korea finished second that year, writing a more surprising myth than the previous tournament.

It was 17 years ago, but even then, it was not easily expected until the results came out. It was a game that found confidence that Korean baseball could never be pushed anywhere.

On this day, Dominica set up a batting order with Fernando Tatis Jr. (right fielder), Ketel Marte (second baseman), Juan Soto (left fielder), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (first baseman), Manny Machado (third baseman), Junior Caminero (designated hitter), Julio Rodriguez (middle fielder), Austin Wells (catcher), and Heraldo Perdomo (striker).

All of them are players who have experienced more than 20 home runs in a single season in the big league, and any batter can fully play the role of the fourth hitter in the Korean national team.

In this competition, Dominica showed off the world's strongest firepower. He hit as many as 13 home runs in four games and exploded 41 runs. The mound was also stable with an average of 2.5 runs in four games, but all eyes were on the batters.

On the other hand, the weakness of the Korean national team lies in the mound. Moon Dong-ju (Hanwha) and Won Tae-in (Samsung) were injured even before the start, and Riley Jun-young O'Brien (St. Louis) was finally canceled. To make matters worse, he will play in the quarterfinals without a substitute for Son Joo-young (LG), who was injured in the last group game.

I have no choice but to have a pleasant imagination like the match against Australia. South Korea had to play more than five points and two runs or less ahead of the match against Australia, but above all, tying Australia to two runs or less was considered the biggest task, but even when starter Son Joo-young stepped down early after taking responsibility for only one inning, he played a bullpen day and won with seven points and two runs, achieving a miraculous quarterfinal.

From now on, every game is like the final. With no promise of the next, we need to put everything into the game against Dominica right away. Coach Ryu Ji-hyun also expressed confidence, saying, "If we advance to the quarterfinals, no one can guarantee the result in a single match."

South Korea also has nothing to lose in its momentum. The batters are also exploding. There is a hint of victory over the U.S. and Venezuela in the past. If the batters shake the opposing pitcher and score multiple points early in the game, Dominica may shrink from losing momentum like the U.S. and Venezuela. It seems that the only solution is to pour all your energy from the beginning of the game with a life-or-death decision.

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*This content was translated by AI.