# 2023 World Baseball Classic Pool A

The 2023 World Baseball Classic Pool A was the first of four pools of the 2023 World Baseball Classic that took place from March 8–12 at Taichung Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan. The top two teams automatically qualified for the top eight knockout stage, beginning with the quarterfinals in Tokyo and the remaining of the bracket in Miami. The teams in this pool consisted of hosts Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Italy, Netherlands, and Panama.
After all games were completed, the five teams tied at 2–2. This resulted in the standings being determined by the fewest runs allowed per defensive out recorded. Cuba won the pool and advanced to the quarterfinals, along with Italy as runners-up, and Chinese Taipei fell to last place and was relegated to the qualifiers for the 2026 World Baseball Classic, despite scoring the most in the pool.
Yu Chang of Chinese Taipei was named the most valuable player of Pool A.

## Teams

| Draw position | Team | Pot | Confederation | Method of qualification | Date of qualification | Finals appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance | WBSC Rankings |
| A1 | Chinese Taipei | 1 | WBSC Asia | Hosts + 2017 participants | March 6, 2017 | 5th | 2017 | Quarterfinals (2013) | 2 |
| A2 | Netherlands | 2 | WBSC Europe | 2017 participants | March 6, 2017 | 5th | 2017 | Fourth place (2013, 2017) | 7 |
| A3 | Cuba | 3 | WBSC Americas | 2017 participants | March 6, 2017 | 5th | 2017 | Runners-up (2006) | 8 |
| A4 | Italy | 4 | WBSC Europe | 2017 participants | March 6, 2017 | 5th | 2017 | Quarterfinals (2013) | 16 |
| A5 | Panama | 5 | WBSC Americas | Qualifiers Pool B winners | October 4, 2022 | 3rd | 2009 | Pool stage (2006, 2009) | 12 |

## Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | RF | RA | PCT | GB | Qualification |
| 1 | Cuba | 4 | 2 | 2 | 25 | 15 | .500 | — | Advance to quarterfinals Qualification for 2026 World Baseball Classic |
| 2 | Italy | 4 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 17 | .500 | — | Advance to quarterfinals Qualification for 2026 World Baseball Classic |
| 3 | Netherlands | 4 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 19 | .500 | — | Qualification for 2026 World Baseball Classic |
| 4 | Panama | 4 | 2 | 2 | 19 | 21 | .500 | — | Qualification for 2026 World Baseball Classic |
| 5 | Chinese Taipei (H) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 26 | 31 | .500 | — | |
* 1 2 3 4 5 Runs allowed per defensive out recorded: Cuba .139, Italy .157, Netherlands .186, Panama .200, Chinese Taipei .295

### Tiebreaker

As all five teams tied at 2–2, WBC's tiebreakers went into effect. The first tiebreaker, head-to-head record, was unnessary because all five teams were tied. The final standings were determined by the fewest runs allowed per defensive out recorded. Based on the calculation, Cuba won the pool, while Italy advanced as the runner-up.
* Pool A Tiebreaker
* Cuba – 15 runs allowed / 108 outs recorded = .139 runs/out
* Italy – 17 runs allowed / 108 outs recorded = .157 runs/out
* Netherlands – 19 runs allowed / 102 outs recorded = .186 runs/out
* Panama – 21 runs allowed / 105 outs recorded = .200 runs/out
* Chinese Taipei – 31 runs allowed / 105 outs recorded = .295 runs/out

## Summary

| Date | Local time | Road team | Score | Home team | Inn. | Venue | Game duration | Attendance | Boxscore |
| Mar 8, 2023 | 12:00 NST | Cuba | 2–4 | Netherlands | | Taichung Stadium | 3:07 | 6,501 | Boxscore |
| Mar 8, 2023 | 19:00 NST | Panama | 12–5 | Chinese Taipei | | Taichung Stadium | 4:02 | 15,540 | Boxscore |
| Mar 9, 2023 | 12:00 NST | Panama | 1–3 | Netherlands | | Taichung Stadium | 2:45 | 6,048 | Boxscore |
| Mar 9, 2023 | 19:00 NST | Italy | 6–3 | Cuba | 10 | Taichung Stadium | 3:43 | 6,217 | Boxscore |
| Mar 10, 2023 | 12:30 NST | Cuba | 13–4 | Panama | | Taichung Stadium | 4:09 | 7,023 | Boxscore |
| Mar 10, 2023 | 19:00 NST | Italy | 7–11 | Chinese Taipei | | Taichung Stadium | 3:58 | 18,799 | Boxscore |
| Mar 11, 2023 | 12:00 NST | Panama | 2–0 | Italy | | Taichung Stadium | 2:57 | 7,732 | Boxscore |
| Mar 11, 2023 | 19:00 NST | Netherlands | 5–9 | Chinese Taipei | | Taichung Stadium | 3:34 | 18,826 | Boxscore |
| Mar 12, 2023 | 12:00 NST | Chinese Taipei | 1–7 | Cuba | | Taichung Stadium | 3:21 | 18,852 | Boxscore |
| Mar 12, 2023 | 19:00 NST | Netherlands | 1–7 | Italy | | Taichung Stadium | 3:00 | 4,985 | Boxscore |

## Matches
### Cuba vs Netherlands

March 8, 2023 12:00 PM TWT at Taichung Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan 24 °C (75 °F), fair :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Cuba | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Netherlands | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | X | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| WP: Eric Méndez (1–0) LP: Onelki García (0–1) Sv: Wendell Floranus (1) Attendance: 6,501 (32.5%) Umpires: HP – Nic Lentz, 1B – Shoji Arisumi, 2B – Dan Iassogna, 3B – Serge Makouchetcher Boxscore |||||||||||||

### Panama vs Chinese Taipei

March 8, 2023 19:00 PM TWT at Taichung Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan 18 °C (64 °F), clear :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Panama | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 14 | 0 |
| Chinese Taipei | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 1 |
| WP: Randall Delgado (1–0) LP: Chih-Wei Hu (0–1) Home runs: PAN: None TPE: Nien-Ting Wu (1) Attendance: 15,540 (77.7%) Umpires: HP – Roberto Ortiz, 1B – Trent Thomas, 2B – Chris Segal, 3B – Ki Talk Park Boxscore |||||||||||||

### Panama vs Netherlands

March 9, 2023 12:00 PM TWT at Taichung Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Panama | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| Netherlands | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| WP: Shairon Martis (1–0) LP: Jaime Barría (0–1) Sv: Wendell Floranus (2) Home runs: PAN: None NED: Xander Bogaerts (1), Jurickson Profar (1) Attendance: 6,048 Umpires: HP – Larry Vanover, 1B – Roberto Ortiz, 2B – Trent Thomas, 3B – Shōji Arisumi Boxscore |||||||||||||

### Italy vs Cuba

March 9, 2023 19:00 PM TWT at Taichung Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E |
| Italy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 1 |
| Cuba | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| WP: Matthew Festa (1–0) LP: Raidel Martínez (0–1) Attendance: 6,217 Umpires: HP: Ki Talk Park, 1B: Mark Carlson, 2B: Chris Segal, 3B: Serge Makouchetev Notes: Extra inning rule was used in 10th inning. Boxscore ||||||||||||||

### Cuba vs Panama

March 10, 2023 12:30 PM TWT at Taichung Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Cuba | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 21 | 0 |
| Panama | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 0 |
| WP: Miguel Romero (1–0) LP: Matt Hardy (0–1) Home runs: CUB: None PAN: Rubén Tejada (1) Attendance: 7,023 Umpires: HP – Dan Iassogna, 1B – Serge Makouchetev, 2B – Mark Carlson, 3B – Trent Thomas Boxscore |||||||||||||

### Italy vs Chinese Taipei

March 10, 2023 19:00 PM TWT at Taichung Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Italy | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 11 | 2 |
| Chinese Taipei | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | X | 11 | 16 | 0 |
| WP: Yen-Ching Lu (1–0) LP: Stephen Woods Jr. (0–1) Sv: Chia-Hao Sung (1) Home runs: ITA: None TPE: Tzu-Wei Lin (1), Yu Chang (1), Kungkuan Giljegiljaw (1) Attendance: 18,799 Umpires: HP – Chris Segal, 1B – Nic Lentz, 2B – Shoji Arisumi, 3B – Ki Talk Park Boxscore |||||||||||||

### Panama vs Italy

March 11, 2023 12:00 PM TWT at Taichung Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Panama | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| Italy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| WP: Harold Arauz (1–0) LP: Michele Vassalotti (0–1) Sv: Javy Guerra (1) Home runs: PAN: José Ramos (1) ITA: None Attendance: 7,732 Umpires: HP – Shoji Arisumi, 1B – Larry Vanover, 2B – Trent Thomas, 3B – Chris Segal Boxscore |||||||||||||

### Netherlands vs Chinese Taipei

March 11, 2023 19:00 PM TWT at Taichung Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| Chinese Taipei | 0 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | x | 9 | 11 | 1 |
| WP: Tzu-Peng Huang (1–0) LP: Lars Huijer (0–1) Sv: Chia-Hao Sung (2) Home runs: NED: Ray-Patrick Didder (1) TPE: Yu Chang (2) Attendance: 18,826 Umpires: HP – Mark Carlson, 1B – Ki Talk Park, 2B – Dan Iassogna, 3B – Serge Makouchetev Boxscore |||||||||||||

### Chinese Taipei vs Cuba

March 12, 2023 12:00 PM TWT at Taichung Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Chinese Taipei | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Cuba | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 7 | 13 | 0 |
| WP: Elián Leyva (1–0) LP: Shih-Peng Chen (0–1) Home runs: TPE: None CUB: Erisbel Arruebarrena (1), Yoán Moncada (1) Attendance: 18,852 Umpires: HP – Nic Lentz, 1B – Ki Talk Park, 2B – Larry Vanover, 3B – Shoji Arisumi Boxscore |||||||||||||

### Netherlands vs Italy

March 12, 2023 19:00 PM TWT at Taichung Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Netherlands | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| Italy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | x | 7 | 12 | 0 |
| WP: Matt Harvey (1–0) LP: Mike Bolsenbroek (0–1) Home runs: NED: Chadwick Tromp (1) ITA: None Attendance: 4,985 Umpires: HP – Roberto Ortiz, 1B – Dan Iassogna, 2B – Serge Makouchetev, 3B – Trent Thomas Boxscore |||||||||||||

## Statistics

Source:

### Leading hitters
#### Power

| SLG | Team | 1B | 2B | 3B | HR | AB |
| .504 | Chinese Taipei | 30 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 139 |
| .454 | Cuba | 31 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 141 |
| .377 | Italy | 28 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 138 |
| .370 | Panama | 28 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 135 |
| .328 | Netherlands | 23 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 125 |

#### Efficiency

| OBP | Team | H | BB | HBP | AB | SF |
| .392 | Chinese Taipei | 44 | 14 | 4 | 139 | 1 |
| .390 | Cuba | 45 | 15 | 2 | 141 | 1 |
| .372 | Panama | 37 | 18 | 3 | 135 | 0 |
| .359 | Italy | 39 | 16 | 1 | 138 | 1 |
| .331 | Netherlands | 28 | 15 | 5 | 125 | 0 |

### Leading pitchers

| WHIP | Team | BB | H | IP | K |
| 1.14 | Cuba | 10 | 31 | 36 | 38 |
| 1.42 | Italy | 13 | 38 | 36 | 26 |
| 1.53 | Netherlands | 19 | 33 | 34 | 19 |
| 1.77 | Panama | 15 | 47 | 35 | 24 |
| 1.86 | Chinese Taipei | 21 | 44 | 35 | 29 |