Japan and Chinese Taipei face off in what will likely be one of the greatest atmospheres you’ll find in a sporting event. The Tokyo Dome fans always turn out for Samurai Japan, with the ōendan — Japan’s cheering squad — pounding taiko drums, playing horns and cheering all game long. The difference this time is that Chinese Taipei fans have turned up by the thousands, nearly selling out the first game of the tournament against Australia, with their own band coming out to play in the stands.
It will be an environment you can only find in Asian baseball and will surely make for a magical night.
Here’s what you need to know about the matchup:
How you can watch: The game will be available on FS1 in America and Netflix in Japan.
How you can listen: There is a free English-language audio stream available for every game.
Chinese Taipei needs to bounce back after a tough 3-0 loss to Australia to open their tournament. While a loss would not eliminate them mathematically, it would be nearly impossible to advance without a victory against the reigning champions.
Probable starting pitchers: RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. RHP Hao-Chun Cheng
Yamamoto is returning to the World Baseball Classic after his hero-making turn at the World Series. Of course, it’s not like he wasn’t a stud in ‘23: He struck out 12 batters in 7 1/3 innings while posting a 2.45 ERA. He’s expected to pitch three innings in this one.
Cheng pitched briefly in the affiliated Minors and the American Association, an MLB Partner League, in 2022 before returning to play for the CTBC Brothers of the CPBL. He won the 2023 CPBL Rookie of the Year Award after going 9-5 with a 3.02 ERA before missing all of 2024. He returned to make 11 starts last year, posting a 1.49 ERA in 54 1/3 innings. His fastball can reach the mid-90s, but he’ll need to be nearly perfect against a powerful Samurai Japan lineup.
Chinese Taipei needs a victory to keep a realistic chance of advancing alive.
Matchup history: The last time these two teams played, Chinese Taipei emerged with a 4-0 victory to win the Premier12 — the greatest victory in team history. The win also snapped Japan’s 27-game international winning streak. But that Japanese team didn’t have Kazuma Okamoto, Munetaka Murakami, Yamamoto or Shohei Ohtani. Quite frankly, a victory for Chinese Taipei could be considered one of the biggest upsets in WBC history.
Japan then won, 4-3, in 10 innings in the second round in 2013 — the only year that CT advanced beyond the first round. It took a ninth-inning comeback for Japan to win that one. Current manager Hirokazu Ibata singled in the game’s tying run before Sho Nakata won the game with a sacrifice fly.
