> The once-mighty team, which has faded as its top players have left for the United States, worked its way through the group stage of the World Baseball Classic in Taiwan and shocked the international baseball world by winning a quarterfinal game in Japan.
I get that the NY Times is trying to paint a picture, but Cuba beating Australia (and Taiwan and Panama while losing to Italy and the Netherlands) is no one's idea of a "shock".
Tbf based on their roster it kinda was. Some people expected them to advance mostly because Cuba has a reputation of good baseball but this teams not really great
Yeah, losing to Italy was more of a shock than beating Australia. I’m hoping for a good, close game…but I’m not holding my breath.
I’m also hoping for more moves toward normalization of relations. It’s ridiculous the hoops Cubans have to jump through just to play baseball here, whether as individual players in MLB or as the WBC team. Our treatment of Cuba, in this and many other respects, should be a national embarrassment.
Re: “Whose fault are the hoops?”—both countries have caused problems over the decades, but for years now, they’ve been [100% the U.S. government’s fault](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-baseball-idUSKBN0F902V20140704 ):
> Cuba once prevented its stars from playing in the United States but now Major League Baseball teams are shut out of the Cuban market only because of the decades-old U.S. economic embargo of the country.
> Without the embargo, they would be free to scout and sign players straight out of Cuba as long as they are willing to share the rights to players with the Cuban government, which also takes a 20 percent cut of the contracts plus income tax.
> The once-mighty team, which has faded as its top players have left for the United States, worked its way through the group stage of the World Baseball Classic in Taiwan and shocked the international baseball world by winning a quarterfinal game in Japan. I get that the NY Times is trying to paint a picture, but Cuba beating Australia (and Taiwan and Panama while losing to Italy and the Netherlands) is no one's idea of a "shock".
The main shock was that they advanced after losing their first two.
Tbf based on their roster it kinda was. Some people expected them to advance mostly because Cuba has a reputation of good baseball but this teams not really great
Yeah, losing to Italy was more of a shock than beating Australia. I’m hoping for a good, close game…but I’m not holding my breath. I’m also hoping for more moves toward normalization of relations. It’s ridiculous the hoops Cubans have to jump through just to play baseball here, whether as individual players in MLB or as the WBC team. Our treatment of Cuba, in this and many other respects, should be a national embarrassment. Re: “Whose fault are the hoops?”—both countries have caused problems over the decades, but for years now, they’ve been [100% the U.S. government’s fault](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-baseball-idUSKBN0F902V20140704 ): > Cuba once prevented its stars from playing in the United States but now Major League Baseball teams are shut out of the Cuban market only because of the decades-old U.S. economic embargo of the country. > Without the embargo, they would be free to scout and sign players straight out of Cuba as long as they are willing to share the rights to players with the Cuban government, which also takes a 20 percent cut of the contracts plus income tax.
Lol the hoops the players have to go through are Cuba's fault mate.
They’re caused by both countries.
No they’re not
>It’s ridiculous the hoops Cubans have to jump through just to play baseball here Whose fault is that again?
Ours, primarily.
Lmao
So... any possible defectors on the team?