We have seen many games of baseball played between many different countries in just the past six days. Some teams have been good and some have been very bad this year. And with pool play coming to a close and the quarterfinals all but set at this point I think it is time to discuss the teams that I believe can win the whole thing for their respective country. To me there are three teams that can win it all this year and those are the United States, Japan, and the Dominican Republic.

JAPAN

Japan in the last tournament won it all beating the United States in a very close game that came down to the last out. Japan this time around is showing no signs of slowing down dominating in pool play against their opponents. They went 4-0 in pool play this year clinching a spot in the quarterfinals. They are very strong on the offensive side of the ball with four time MVP Shohei Ohtani leading the way for them. They are very good on that side of the ball. But their pitching leaves a lot to be desired. While not terrible it will need to be stronger against better opponents if they have any hope of winning the tournament once again. Especially if they are going to play one of the two other favorites who are also juggernauts on offense.

USA

The United States are playing with a chip on their shoulders this time around coming up just short in the previous tournament to Japan. In response to that loss many players who did not play in the tournament last time including Aaron Judge, Paul Skenes, Bryce Harper, and many more. They not only added many bats but many arms as well, as last time the pitching was subpar and many pitchers have joined this years roster including the best pitcher on the planet in my opinion in Paul Skenes. They will need to get more out of their starting pitchers though they have been giving up too many runs thus far. The United States can be powered by their offense but will it be enough to get past the other two.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

The Dominican Republic or the DR as I will call them from now on is one of the best teams in this years tournament. Eight of their nine lineup starters have been an MLB all star at one point or another in their careers. These include players like Fernando Tatis Jr, Juan Soto, Julio Rodriguez, and their best player in my opinion in Manny Machado. They are a very complete team and like Japan have clinched a spot in the quarterfinals having dominated the competition in pool play. Their pitching has also been very good but they will need to be perfect if they want to beat the other two teams.

CONCLUSION

While there are other teams like Puerto Rico and Venezuela who are very good in their own right, they just do not impress me like these other three teams do. This year will be a very good competition and I believe that any of these three teams can win the whole tournament , it will just be a matter of who will come out on top.