The World Baseball Classic got started Monday and it was the wee hours of the morning back here in America. The start time for the Israel vs. Korea bout was 4:30 a.m. ET.
The Israel team can be considered one of the biggest longshots to take the crown in the entire tournament, hitting the diminutive Blake Gailen in the three-hole and starting retired MLBer Jason Marquis on the hill.
They would take a 1-0 lead thanks to a bases loaded walk by Tyler Krieger in the second inning. The game would go into extra innings tied 1-1 and then Israel got its lead in the 10th on this hit by Scott Burcham:
In the bottom half of the 10th, Josh Zeid would seal the game:
There are, apparently, world baseball rankings, and of the teams in the 16-team WBC, Isreal is the only one not in the top 20. It’s actually not even close, ranked 41st in the world. Isreal entered the WBC with 200-to-1 odds to win it all. The biggest names on the team would be Sam Fuld, Marquis, Nate Frieman and Ryan Lavarnway.
And they’re 1-0 so far.
What an absolutely incredible game. Still can't catch my breath @ILBaseball @WBCBaseball @MLBNetwork 🇮🇱 ⚾️ 🔥 #newdaytomorrow #teamisraelwbc
— Josh Zeid (@Josh_Zeid14) March 6, 2017
The Cinderella of the World Baseball Classic? Why not? Catch the Israel fever!
