One day before the end of the preliminary round at the Olympics Baseball Tournament, the four spots in the semi-finals are set. Only the exact classification of the top four teams has to be determined.
Today Japan and the USA followed Cuba and Korea into the playoffs with wins against China and Taiwan. Korea nearly clinched first place in the standings, after beating Cuba in a duel between undefeated teams. Each will play a 1-5 squads with China and the Netherlands on Thursday and anything others than wins for the two favorites would be a surprise.
So with the top two seeds set, the game between Japan and Team USA is going to be interesting for the fact that the winner could be the possible loser, as he faces Cuba in the semis on Friday. But with the performance by Korea these days it is not a given that this would be the easier matchup.
Results:
August 18:
Canada – Japan 0-1 Recap
Taiwan – Korea 8-9 Recap
Netherlands – Cuba 3-14 (8) Recap
USA – China 9-1 Recap
August 19:
Netherlands – Canada 0-4 Recap
Korea – Cuba 7-4 Recap
Japan – China 10-0 (7) Recap
USA – Taiwan 4-2 Recap
Schedule:
10:30 Cuba – China
11:30 Netherlands – Korea
18:00 Canada – Taiwan
19:00 Japan – USA
Standings:
- Korea 6-0
- Cuba 5-1
- Japan 4-2
- USA 4-2
- Canada 2-4
- China 1-5
- Netherlands 1-5
- Taiwan 1-5