General Sports thread

[brucetiki]

Where are these games being played?

Our matches are being played at Tokyo Dome (Tokyo Giants home ground)

Other pools are being played at Hiram Bithorn Stadium (Puerto Rico), Daikin Park (Houston - Houston Astros home ground) and LoanDepot Park (Miami - Miami Marlins home ground)

 

[Daniel6]

Our matches are being played at Tokyo Dome (Tokyo Giants home ground)

Other pools are being played at Hiram Bithorn Stadium (Puerto Rico), Daikin Park (Houston - Houston Astros home ground) and LoanDepot Park (Miami - Miami Marlins home ground)

Wow, they are literally all over the world.

 

[Eagleboy2011]

Baseball is an amazing game. Always something happening, batting or fielding.

Yes, just spotted it Fox Ch510 on Thursday. I suppose it's on Kayo as well.

 

[brucetiki]

Yes, just spotted it Fox Ch510 on Thursday. I suppose it's on Kayo as well.

Correct - as well as on Fetch and Disney+

 

[Cromulant]

Cant get into baseball.

Respect the skill of the players but its a lot of hours for not much. Kinda like Curling.

 

[brucetiki]

Team Australia's warm up games.

They lost 2-0 to the Yokohama DeNA BayStars on Saturday
Their match against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (reigning NPB champions) was washed out
They beat the Tokyo Giants 5-1 today

 

[Interloperer]

Chinese Taipei actually finished last in their pool at the last WBC in 2023 (in a pool hosted in Taipei too) and had to re-qualify for this year's tournament.

To be fair, they were also equal first in that group.

 

[brucetiki]

What a game from Team Australia!

They stun Chinese Taipei 3-0!

Robbie Perkins (Brisbane Bandits) hit a 2 run homer, followed by a solo homer from Travis Bazzana (MLB 2024 number 1 pick).

The pitchers! What can I say! Alexander Wells set the game up for us as starting pitcher. Then we had some sensational pitching from the Giants own Jack O’Loughlin. Fun fact: Jack played a round of club ball for Port Adelaide in the ABL pre-season - so he’s played everywhere from club ball to the world stage in the past 4 months! Jon Kennedy then finished the game off superbly, helped by a clutch catch by Aaron Whitefield in the 9th on the warning track that would’ve tied the game had it gone a few metres higher!

Tomorrow they play the Czech Republic and a big chance to head into the game against Japan 2-0

 

[Eagleboy2011]

What a game from Team Australia!

They stun Chinese Taipei 3-0!

Robbie Perkins (Brisbane Bandits) hit a 2 run homer, followed by a solo homer from Travis Bazzana (MLB 2024 number 1 pick).

The pitchers! What can I say! Alexander Wells set the game up for us as starting pitcher. Then we had some sensational pitching from the Giants own Jack O’Loughlin. Fun fact: Jack played a round of club ball for Port Adelaide in the ABL pre-season - so he’s played everywhere from club ball to the world stage in the past 4 months! Jon Kennedy then finished the game off superbly, helped by a clutch catch by Aaron Whitefield in the 9th on the warning track that would’ve tied the game had it gone a few metres higher!

Tomorrow they play the Czech Republic and a big chance to head into the game against Japan 2-0

Great result. I forgot it was on. Is China Taipei considered any good in baseball rankings?

 

[brucetiki]

Great result. I forgot it was on. Is China Taipei considered any good in baseball rankings?

They’re ranked number 2 in the world

 

[Eagleboy2011]

They’re ranked number 2 in the world

Ahead of Japan, I assume thinking the USA is No1.

 

[brucetiki]

Ahead of Japan, I assume thinking the USA is No1.

Japan’s number 1
USA is ranked 3
Korea is ranked 4

The Czech Republic is the only side ranked lower than us in our pool (we’re ranked 11 in the world, they’re ranked 15th)

 

[Eagleboy2011]

Japan’s number 1
USA is ranked 3
Korea is ranked 4

The Czech Republic is the only side ranked lower than us in our pool (we’re ranked 11 in the world, they’re ranked 15th)

Thanks for that. Is that an amateur or similar ranking? Hard to believe the USA is 3.


edit: just looked it up. Professional club leagues like MLB (USA) are not in those rankings.

And Australia is not even in the top 10 so beating CT is a big deal.

 

[GreyCrow]

What a game from Team Australia!

They stun Chinese Taipei 3-0!

Robbie Perkins (Brisbane Bandits) hit a 2 run homer, followed by a solo homer from Travis Bazzana (MLB 2024 number 1 pick).

The pitchers! What can I say! Alexander Wells set the game up for us as starting pitcher. Then we had some sensational pitching from the Giants own Jack O’Loughlin. Fun fact: Jack played a round of club ball for Port Adelaide in the ABL pre-season - so he’s played everywhere from club ball to the world stage in the past 4 months! Jon Kennedy then finished the game off superbly, helped by a clutch catch by Aaron Whitefield in the 9th on the warning track that would’ve tied the game had it gone a few metres higher!

Tomorrow they play the Czech Republic and a big chance to head into the game against Japan 2-0

 

[Interloperer]

Chinese Taipei is not the 2nd best national baseball team. not even close. The rankings are an artifact of how little international baseball is played.

But still should be beating a team like Australia due to their much larger potential talent pool given the sports popularity.

They don't have a solid professional league though. It's 6 teams, and has dropped as low as 4 recently (just like Australia).

 

[Eagleboy2011]

Great TV. The strike zone, especially.

 

[Interloperer]

Another relatively easy win, despite a brain fade in the top of the 9th that kept the game more alive than it should have been for the final inning.

2-0 record.

the two strong teams in the group to come though.

 

[brucetiki]

The equation for Australia to qualify is simply win 1 of their remaining 2 matches.

If we drop both, however, we end up tied with Chinese Taipei and Korea on 2-2. The tiebreaker is then fewest runs conceded. We lead this at the moment, but we also haven’t played Japan yet. Kinda has a vibe of going to play Sturt at Unley as an opposition supporter. You know you’ll get your arse kicked but you’ll have fun along the way with a great atmosphere.

Also hearing there’s an 8 hour long queue just to get into the Team Japan merchandise shop at Tokyo Dome

And Shohei Ohtani is on pretty much anything they can put his face on in Japan

I’m about to head over to Tokyo Dome as gates open at 5:00pm and I suspect it will be manic, even for Japanese standards. Excited is an understatement about tonight, no matter the result.

Tonight’s starting pitchers are truly a tale of two worlds.

Team Japan: Tomoyuki Sugano. Currently plays for Colorado after a decorated NPB career where he won the Central League MVP 3 times and an 8 time NPB All-Star.

Team Australia: Connor MacDonald. One of the starting pitchers for the Brisbane Bandits this season.

 

[Daniel6]

Pretty good if the Football Federation of Australia to completely ignore Adelaide and South Australia with the scheduling of zero Asian Cup women matches.

Absolutely ridiculous scheduling by giving an entire state zero game. What a joke.

 

[Eagleboy2011]

Pretty good if the Football Federation of Australia to completely ignore Adelaide and South Australia with the scheduling of zero Asian Cup women matches.

Absolutely ridiculous scheduling by giving an entire state zero game. What a joke.

Fair enough, but if Australia weren't playing in a match, no one would show up. That's the guarantee the SA people would want for a match here. The Tillies at AO would be close to sell out.

 

[Eagleboy2011]

The highest non-Australian match so far has been
China vs. Bangladesh (Western Sydney Stadium) — 6,006. That is a big migrant area.

Probably if it were the men's competition it would be higher.

The Matildas have pulled in very good crowds.
Gold Coast Stadium) — 22,398 fans
Australia vs. Philippines (Perth Stadium) — 44,379 fans

 

[Interloperer]

Australia hosted the first womens Asian Cup after they were admitted to the AFC. The entire thing was held in Adelaide.

This time, not a single game.

 

[brucetiki]

Team Australia put up a gallant effort tonight against Japan.

At one stage, we even lead 1-0, but Japan hit 4 runs in the 7th and 8th innings.

We hit 2 homers in the 9th to make it 4-3.

A valiant effort against the best team in the world. Should go into tomorrow’s game against Korea full of confidence

 

[Cromulant]

Australia hosted the first womens Asian Cup after they were admitted to the AFC. The entire thing was held in Adelaide.

This time, not a single game.

I remember that, the Matildas weren't really the media juggernaut they are now.

Crowds were..... limp at best.

Pretty sure this was an FA decision rather than anything out govt did.

 

[Eagleboy2011]

I remember that, the Matildas weren't really the media juggernaut they are now.

Crowds were..... limp at best.

Pretty sure this was an FA decision rather than anything out govt did.

The most important issue is that South Australia didn't bid for a match, so it's really a non-issue. Venues, I think, were chosen in late 2024. Victoria also did not express interest, but I suppose it was at a time they relinquished the Commonwealth Games.