"A frog in a well criticized?"→ Stop looking for the culprit!' The other teams are too serious about the WBC to do that

*This content was translated by AI.

Korean baseball has concluded its 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) journey. Even before the pain of elimination is gone, public opinion is busy finding criminals who provided the cause of defeat with the harsh criticism that they are "frogs in the well." However, the wall of world baseball that we saw in the field was too high and solid to simply dismiss it as an internal problem. The "sincere" that the opposing teams poured into this tournament was beyond imagination. It is rather surprising that WBC's early performance before it was fully established.

The South Korean national team, led by head coach Ryu Ji-hyun (55), suffered a cold game defeat in the quarterfinals of the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) against the Dominican Republic at Rondipo Park in Miami, Florida on the 14th (Korea time).

As a result, South Korea failed to advance to the semifinals and ended the tournament with a record of the quarterfinals. Dominica's firepower, which is full of major league superstars, was stronger than expected, and the Korean batting line was pressed by the ball of the opponent's starter, so it was hard to find a clue.

Christopher Sanchez (30, Philadelphia Phillies), the starting pitcher of the Dominican Republic who completely blocked South Korean batters with eight strikeouts and no runs in five innings in the quarterfinals, had a different attitude toward the tournament. "My mindset was to play aggressively from the beginning," he said in an interview after the game. "It's really cool to represent the country, and I'll play whenever I get the opportunity to wear this uniform."

On speculation that he will return to Philadelphia shortly after against South Korea / vs. Korea, especially as he has to prepare for the 2026 season, Sanchez was adamant, saying, "I'm not leaving. He also expressed his pride as a member of the national team, declaring, "I will continue to remain in the team." Sanchez's maximum speed on the day was 96.6 miles per hour (about 155 kilometers) when he threw against Lee Jung-hoo (28, San Francisco Giants) in the top of the first inning. Moreover, the ball movement was dirty, so it was marked as a sinker, not a four-seam fastball.

The leadership of "legendary" director Albert Pujols, who leads Dominica, was also shrewd. After the game, coach Pujols said, "There was not much information about Korea, but we prepared as much as we could." Their attitude of respecting no matter who the opponent is, and pouring everything into every inning proved that this tournament was never an eventful tournament.

He also said, "Our lineup can hit opponents not only on the bat but also on the base," adding, "It's really difficult to face a lineup like ours when the pitcher starts to get tired." This is not just a mistake by Korea, but suggests that the difference between objective power and strategy has determined the outcome.

Ryu Ji-hyun, head coach of the national team, also said, "In order to increase competitiveness on the international stage, I think more pitchers should receive more opportunities and play some roles. In fact, it is undeniable that the speed of Korean pitchers in international competitions is inferior to that of other countries. We need to think about these parts a little more and build a competitive national team step by step from student baseball," he said with a cold diagnosis.

In fact, Dominica, Japan, and the United States showed more attention to recruiting and composition of the national roster ahead of the WBC. Even if Dominica is not mentioned, Japan also accepted Shohei Ohtani (32)'s condition to not take the mound as a pitcher. There are even reports that Yoshinobu Yamamoto (28, LA Dodgers) will return to his team after the quarterfinals against Venezuela on the 15th.

It is time to stop the exhausting debate of turning the arrow of criticism inside and establishing a 'criminal'. The reconstruction of Korean baseball should begin by acknowledging the world's top "sincere" rather than criticizing our players. It has come to a realistically difficult situation to reproduce the old glory of being the semi-finals of the 2006 WBC and the runner-up of the 2009 WBC. What is needed to overcome the criticism that it is a frog in a well is not finding a criminal, but a cool attitude to accept and change the flow of global baseball.

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*This content was translated by AI.