Cuba's toughest challenge could come from Japan, which is sending eight players from its major leagues. Norihiro Nakamura, one of the Pacific League's leading home run hitters, and All-Star pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka head the list. Japan might not have all of its top players, but it has enough to make it one of the favorites. Korea also is in the mix, shutting down its leagues to send its top players. The Netherlands, South Africa and Italy round out the eight-team field.
Teams play each other once in a round-robin format, and the top four finishers play for medals.
While the rest of the world cobbles together teams for the two-week tournament, Cuba will defend its title with a team that plays together all the time and wins most of the time. When a game gets close, no team has more experience to draw upon than Cuba. And they know how to win, too. The question in Sydney is whether anyone else knows how to beat them. Copyright 2000 Associated Press.