Taipei Timnes
Date: Feb 24, 2017
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter
The Taiwanese baseball team arrived in Kobe, Japan, yesterday afternoon after the team
Taiwan players ride a train in Japan’s Kansai area yesterday after they arrived in Kobe for a week of training ahead of the World Baseball Classic in South Korea. Photo courtesy of Chinese Taipei Baseball Association
indicated who their starting pitchers might be for their first two games at the World Baseball Classic (WBC), with their pool games to be played at the Gocheok Sky Dome in South Korea next month.
Manager Kuo Tai-yuan conferred with coaches and outlined a plan to start pitchers at the tournament who play for Japanese clubs: lefty Chen Kuan-yu, who plays for the Chiba Lotte Marines, and righty Kuo Chun-lin, who is with the Saitama Seibu Lions in the Nippon Professional Baseball league.
Taiwan face stern tests against Israel on March 7 and the Netherlands the following day in Pool A. They need least one win to have any realistic chance of advancing to the next round.
Kuo said he knows it will be tough going, as both opponents are packed with Major League Baseball players.
The decisive contest could be their March 9 game at the Seoul stadium against South Korea, with the hosts tough to beat at major tournaments anywhere, let alone in front of their home crowd. [FULL STORY]
