World Baseball Classic: previewing the remaining quarterfinal and semifinal games

Today there is more activity in the World Baseball Classic. In the evening, Mexico will face Puerto Rico in Miami. The winner will face Japan on Monday. On Saturday, the United States will face Venezuela to decide Cuba's semifinal opponent on Sunday.

Not all teams are having the best time despite qualifying for the final rounds. Puerto Rico is concerned about Edwin Diaz and his injury. He had to have knee surgery following an Injury suffered while celebrating a victory of the Dominican Republic. His wife shared on social media that everything went well with the operation. The Mets star thanked all the messages of support sent to him. His recovery is expected to be about eight months, meaning he would miss the rest of the MLB season.

There are several questions for the next few days, for example, Cuba. With its first team featuring MLB players, will they finally claim victory at the WBC? In 2006, the Cuban national team had a roster of mostly unknown players and still finished second behind Japan. That team featured Yuli Gurriel and Alexei Ramírez, who would later go on to the big leagues. Now, Cuba is again in the semifinals and has to win two more games. With two victories, they make history as only the fourth country to win the tournament.

Another question is: can anyone stop Japan? They are undefeated in five games and have crushed their opponents. They have one of the world's premier stars, Shohei Ohtani, and have a lineup full of sluggers. If Japan wins both of their matches, they would be the winners of three of the last five editions of the WBC.