Colombia vs. USA – World Baseball Classic Preview
Where: Marlins Park, Miami, FL
When: Friday, March 10, 2017, 6:00 PM ET
Line: Colombia (+400) at USA (-500) – view all World Baseball Classic lines
TV Broadcast: MLB Network
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Betting on Colombia (+400)
Welcome to the World Baseball Classic, Colombia! This will be the first-ever WBC appearance for the South-American team, which qualified for the tournament by getting past France, Spain and host-country Panama in the qualifiers pool.
Perhaps the most-notable name on the Colombians’ roster is Chicago White Sox lefty Jose Quintana, who became a first-time MLB All-Star last season with career-highs of 181 strikeouts and a 3.20 ERA. Behind Quintana is another big-league starter in the Atlanta Braves’ Julio Teheran (7-10, 3.21 ERA; fifth in the National League with a 1.05 WHIP in 2016), giving team Colombia a nice one-two punch in the starting rotation.
Unfortunately, that’s where Colombia’s evident talent ends in terms of experience in the majors. There are only four other players on the team’s roster that are currently signed to MLB teams, and none of them are noteworthy enough to merit a significant benefit for the Colombians’ chances at advancing past Group C of the tournament – a “group of death” of sorts which features talent-heavy rosters like reigning WBC champs Dominican Republic and Colombia’s opponent in its debut, the United States.
Do note that Quintana and Teheran’s pitch counts will each be limited to just 65 pitches in the first round of the tournament per WBC rules, so it’s not as if the team could milk these two pitchers to go the distance in games. Having said that, Colombia’s lack of depth will surely be exposed, beginning with this Friday’s contest against a true heavyweight.
Betting on USA (-500)
Despite having a mere 10-10 overall record and having failed to advance past the second round of the WBC, team USA is still an easy pick to win its first-ever WBC title.
Helmed by three-time Manager of the Year and former World Series champion Jim Leyland, the United States, obviously, has a bunch of weapons from the majors at its disposal. For starters, the team’s pitching corps already trumps that of Colombia’s. Even with two-time Cy Young awardee Max Scherzer opting out of the tournament with an injured finger, the Americans will be glad to have the services of surefire aces Chris Archer and Marcus Stroman in the starting rotation. Meanwhile, 2016 breakout reliever Andrew Miller will also be waiting in the wings to close out games.
Team USA’s bats are no jokes, either. Yard-men such as Giancarlo Stanton, Adam Jones, Andrew McCutchen and Paul Goldschmidt bring prolific oomph to the lineup, while the likes of Nolan Arenado, Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford are some of the finest fielders in the big leagues to cover the defensive end of things.
In general, we could just go on and on name-dropping MLB players’ names for this United States squad. Having so much proven talent on the roster, it’s no wonder then why the team’s confidence is at its highest in this year’s installment of the WBC; let alone the popular belief that it’ll make minced meat out of Colombia in its tournament opener this Friday.
Writer’s Prediction
Team USA (-500) with an emphatic 8-1 victory.
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