"Please let your guard down." →NO! MLB's best hitter also said, "An amazing team in South Korea will pour 100% of its Korea."" I bet everything [WBC]

*This content was translated by AI.

"Please let your guard down."

It's the earnest desire of baseball fans. It was the reaction he wanted from Shohei Ohtani (LA Dodgers) when he met Japan in the group league, but the world's best players did not let up for a single moment.

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).

In four games, he exploded with 13 home runs and 41 points, showing off his most explosive firepower in this WBC, ranking first in Group D with all four wins.

He has advanced to the quarterfinals, which was his primary goal, through the number of cases, but his opponent is the number one favorite to win. SB Nation predicted the possibility of winning the quarterfinals and picked Dominica as the top priority.

He cited the reason in the lineup. The media said, "The record shows that the team is weaker than the United States, but the batting line is really enormous." If you turn over Ketel Marte, Juan Soto comes out, and if one of them gets on base, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. comes out. Manny Machado, Junior Caminero, Julio Rodriguez. Simply summed up in two words, it's a 'home run' he stressed.

The director is different. Albert Pujols (46), who booked the Hall of Fame with a career-high 703 home runs in the Major League Baseball. Concerns are growing as South Korea, where the mound is already considered a weakness.

Baseball fans are interested in asking them to "please let your guard down," but the attitude of those who will face South Korea, which is called a relative underdog, raises more fear.

At the center of it is Juan Soto (28), the world's most expensive baseball star, who signed a 15-year, $765 million (1.1403 trillion won) contract with the New York Mets ahead of last season.

In this competition, Soto is batting .333 (5 hits in 15 at-bats), two home runs, four RBIs, four runs, five walks, four strikeouts, an on-base percentage of .500, a slugging percentage of .733 and an on-base percentage of 1.233 (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) in four games.

Nevertheless, he does not let go of his heart. Soto, who held a press conference after winning against Venezuela, said, "There is no such thing as relief. There is no weak opponent. All the teams that have made it to the quarterfinals are talented and can be a threat at any time. That's why we don't let our guard down, he said. "We just feel like we're going to face a great team called Korea. I'm going to pour 100%. We will never let our guard down in any way or form," he stressed.

Fernando Tatis Jr. (27, San Diego Padres), who was a former teammate of Kim Ha-sung (Atlanta Braves) and shared a tie with Song Sung-moon, is also showing off a stronger batting average of 0.462 (6 hits in 13 at-bats), two home runs, nine RBIs, six runs, five walks, three strikeouts, an on-base percentage of 0.611 and a slugging percentage of 0.923 and an OPS of 1.534.

"Obviously the motivation continues," said Tatis Jr., who signed a 14-year, $340 million (W507 billion) extension with San Diego in 2021. But as Soto said, there is no weak opponent. "We can't let our guard down," he said. "It's such a short tournament and everyone knows how quickly the atmosphere can change in a baseball game. So we have to keep preparing, maintain a strong mentality, and trust our team," he stressed.

Coach Pujols, who leads these players, is so confident. "Our batters are batters who can pose a threat to anyone from the first to the last. The good thing is that every batter is making good at-bats. He is steadily getting on base with a walk. "We don't try to force ourselves to play," he said of the against South Korea / vs. Korea, adding, "We don't know them well, but the Korean national team won't know us well either. So we will try to prepare in the same way with hitters and pitchers as we have done so far and try to get a good result in the game," he said.

It's clear that he's a fearful opponent. However, ahead of the 2023 WBC finals, we should reflect on the meaning of Ohtani's words to his Japanese teammates, saying, "Let's not go to Seoul." The ball is round, and Korea also has a memory of complete victories over the U.S. in 2006 and Venezuela in 2009. If you play more desperately with the idea of burning everything down, it will not be impossible to head higher.

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*This content was translated by AI.