Team USA will wrap up Wednesday’s World Baseball Classic pool game against Colombia. With a win, the Americans advance to the quarterfinals of the WBC. So far, the US has defeated Great Britain and Canada in billiards and lost to Mexico.
Colombia, meanwhile, beat Mexico and Canada but were angered by Britain. Upon completion of round-robin pool play, the top two teams in each five-team pool advance to an eight-team, single-elimination tournament. The Americans are the defending WBC champions, having won the tournament when it was last held in 2017.
You can see the full tournament schedule by clicking here. Now let’s move on to how you can watch the match between Team USA and Colombia.
Team USA vs. Colombia as you watch
Date: Wednesday March 15 | Time: 10:00 p.m. ET
Location: Hunting Field (Phoenix)
TV channel:FS1 | Live broadcast: fuboTV (try for free)
Opportunities: US -5000; COL +1600; O/U: 11.5 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
Starting pitchers: RHP Merrill Kelly (USA) vs. LHP Luis De Avila (Colombia)
to see players
The Team USA rotation was a source of much hand-wringing during and before the WBC. Lance Lynn flipped that particular script against Canada and now 34-year-old Merrill Kelly has a chance to further allay those concerns and propel the Americans through to the Quarters. Kelly has a 3.96 ERA/107 in his four-year career with the Arizona Diamondbacks ERA+ with a ratio of 3.01 K/BB. In 2022, Kelly was better from a running prevention perspective with a 3.37 ERA/119 ERA+ in NL-leading 33 starts. Kelly has below-average fastball speed, but he keeps hitters off-balance with a five-pitch repertoire and good spin on turns and fastball.
On the Colombian side, infielder Gio Urshela remains the most compelling talent in the squad. In addition to Urshela’s Plus Gauntlet at several locations, he has one OPS+ of 119 on the plate in MLB since his 2019 breakout season with the Yankees.
forecast
The stakes are high for Team USA and on paper they have by far the superior line-up in this clash – especially when it comes to line-up. Those attackers and the US Reliefs’ impressive corps should lead them to a fairly comfortable victory over Colombia and a place in the Final Eight.
Choose: Team USA 8, Colombia 3