San Francisco Giants: World Baseball Classic Preview

The World Baseball Classic starts today (Monday), and with that we have a few San Francisco Giants players that will be leaving spring training to join their respective teams.

Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey have already left to go join team USA, while Johnny Cueto’s status for the WBC is in question after going home because of a serious health scare with his dad.

Since coming back Cueto has said that he definitely won’t play in the first round of the WBC, but that he might pitch for the Dominican Republic if they advance to the second round.

The plan for Cueto right now is to let him progress in big league camp during spring training and then see how he feels. It’s not like he’s been dealing with an injury, he’s just a little behind at this point of spring.

Even his participation in the second round of the WBC is in question, which might be a good thing for San Francisco Giants fans as Cueto can focus on getting ready to pitch for the Giants this season, and Giants fans can just focus on cheering for team USA.

It would also be pretty awkward in pool play because the Dominican Republic and team USA are grouped together. Also in that group is Columbia and Canada.

Obviously team USA and the Dominican Republic are the favorites to come out of pool C, but if one of them were to slip up and lose to Columbia or Canada, the game between the Dominican Republic and team USA on March 11 would be very crucial.

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Crawford, Posey and team USA will open things up on Friday, March 10 at 6 p.m. EST as they play Colombia at Marlins Park in Miami. Then they will play the aforementioned game against the Dominican Republic on March 11 before wrapping up pool play against team Canada on March 12.

There is a possible tiebreaker game scheduled for March 13 if necessary.

Also, the game between team USA and the Dominican Republic has already been sold out. That should be a fun one game to watch.

Then the two teams that advance out of Pool C will be placed in another round robin with the two teams that advance from Pool D, which includes Mexico, Italy, Venezuela and Puerto Rico.

Crawford is the only true shortstop listed on the team USA roster, so I expect him and Posey to get a lot of playing time during the WBC.

Next: San Francisco Giants: Stock Up and Stock Down After First Full Week of Spring Training

Whatever your feelings of the WBC are, I hope you plan to tune in and cheer on your respective country, as well as your San Francisco Giants.