If I told you a couple of weeks ago that only two Padres players would be remaining in the World Baseball Classic by the time most fans woke up on March 16 would you have believed me? Probably not, but that’s the reality.
Team Japan knocked off Team Italy this morning 9-3 to advance to the semifinals in Miami against Cuba. Yu Darvish came into the game out of the bullpen, pitching two innings and allowing one earned run on less than 30 pitches.
Brett Sullivan was Italy’s catcher so he now will be heading back to Peoria this week—just as Xander Bogaerts (Netherlands), Ha-Seong Kim (Korea), Nabil Crimatt (Colombia), Manny Machado (Dominican Republic), Juan Soto (Dominican Republic), Nelson Cruz and Luis Garcia (Dominican Republic) have or will be doing after failing to advance out of pool play.