What did we learn from the first two rounds of the World Baseball Classic?

Who will continue there cinderalla run heading into the final rounds of the World Baseball Classic?

Now that the first round and partially the second round are over the Baseball classic this year has been very intense and exciting. We have seen so much controversy with a big fight between Mexico and team Canada. We also have seen major upsets from the Netherlands defeating the number 1 team in the world Cuba. This lost by the Cuban team will cause some changes to happen in who will manage the ball club in the next tournament. Give credit to the Netherlands who fought very hard throughout the whole game and never gave up. They lost two key players leading up to the game and then lost their starting third baseman during the game. They had to rely on their bench which ended up being big because of the timely hitting and pitching. The Netherlands just kept grinding out the runs and stayed positive by the encouragement there leader and Major League ball player Andrew Jones gave them. The two teams that will be coming out of that side of the bracket will be team Japan and team Netherlands who will head to San Francisco for the semifinals and wait to see who will come out of the other side of the bracket between the team Italy, USA, Puerto Rico, and team Dominican Republic. Team Japan is starting to come alive and dominant competition which is very scary. They Merced ruled there last two opponents. But I have a feeling out of the other four teams who need to still battle it out will be a huge threat to beating Japan. Watching Japan they are a very fundamental team who likes to play small ball and not try to hit the massive homerun. From listening to my father in how baseball was played when he was growing up I have a lot of respect in the way they play. But I think with the time off in waiting for the semifinals it will kill their momentum.
The second round that is starting tomorrow has some incredible teams playing in it but the biggest Cinderella team in the games tomorrow is team Italy. Team Italy will be facing off with the powerhouse Dominican team who has All Stars from 1 through 7 in the batting order. They have been dominating competition from the exhibition games they played all the way through the first round of the tournament. The biggest surprise and scare was Team USA starting off slow and almost were eliminated but played impressive in the two games they needed to win. David Wright of the New York Mets was the leader of the team who came up big with the hits and plays in the field. Also Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles came up with the big hit when he hit a two run double to help Team USA take the lead and never look back. Italy showed some encouraging things compared to previous years in being blown out each game but I think it will be a quick exit from the second round. Team Puerto Rico is going to give team USA a true test tomorrow night but it will be a difficult game which they just need to play their game and continue to pitch the way they have been. I think Puerto Rico can advance to the semifinals but they got to play the way they did in the first two games in the tournament and not get frustrated to easily. If they can keep their composure and stay focused it will be them advancing and possible could take it all. This tournament has a lot I can talk about but there is so much baseball left where I am excited to continue to watch what occurs over the next few days. I think the two teams coming out of Miami will be team USA, and Dominican Republic. They can give the true test in beating Japan and taking the title from them. We will have to wait and see what happens I cannot wait till tomorrow for games especially the night matchup between Team USA and Team Puerto Rico. It will be hard for me to choose in who I will root for because of where I am from which is the United States and my heritage and my nationality which is Team Puerto Rico.

I will try to be back on tomorrow night after the matchups but depending on what time they finish it will be timely a decision.