After a comfortable win over Great Britain in the opener of the 2023 World Baseball Classic on Saturday, Team USA faces a tougher challenge on Sunday. Their second game is against a Mexican side that boasts plenty of veteran major league talent – including Randy Arozarena, Alex Verdugo, Rowdy Tellez and Luis Urías. While the USA are proving to be favorites in Pool C, thanks in no small part to an all-star roster, Mexico is seen as the toughest competition.
The Americans are guaranteed to play at least four games in the tournament, one against each of the teams in their pool (Britain, Mexico, Canada and Colombia). After that, the top two teams in each pool will 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. Will the fate of this year’s squad be so kind? We’ll know more after the big game on Sunday. You can see the full tournament schedule by clicking here. Now let’s move on to how to watch Team USA vs Mexico clash.
Team USA vs. Mexico how to watch
Date: Sunday March 12 | Time: 10:00 p.m. ET
Location: Jagdfeld (Phoenix, AZ)
TV channel:FS1 | Live broadcast: fuboTV (try for free)
Opportunities: TBD (via Caesars Sportsbook)
Starting pitchers: RHP Nick Martinez vs LHP Patrick Sandoval
players to watch
Sandoval, the Angels’ 26-year-old left-hander, gets the nod for Mexico and he will face a major challenge navigating the US line-up. But he is a good slingshot. Over the past two seasons, Sandoval has served to a 3.17 ERA/132 in 41 starts and 235 2/3 innings ERA+ with a K/BB ratio of 2.55. He has a five-pitch repertoire and throws the fastball, the change, or the slider more than three-quarters of the time. He also has pretty strong groundball tendencies.
In the US, all of those platoon-advantageous righty-bats will be worth watching, and that game will likely depend on how well Sandoval keeps them at bay. These right-handed bats include imposing figures like Mike Trout, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, and Tim Anderson. Sandoval has had some pretty extreme platoon splits in his MLB career, and Team USA is very well positioned to capitalize on that trend.
forecast
Given the strength of each lineup, we’ll say this is a modestly scoring affair. The US attack with all those mighty right-handed bats gets the nod.
Choose: Team USA 7, Mexico 4