World Baseball Classic 2013: Qualifiers Who Have Best Shot to Win Tournament

The 2013 World Baseball Classic qualifying rounds are underway. This time, the field has been expanded to accommodate for an additional four teams by hosting qualifying brackets that will give 16 additional teams the opportunity of appearing in the game’s biggest international tournament.

Who, though, if any of these qualifying teams has a chance at unseating the Japanese national team? Japan won the first and second editions of the tournament by convincing performances in both 2006 and 2009.

The tournament isn’t set to begin until March 2013, but that can’t stop us from projecting the best of the bunch when it comes to the qualifying teams who began play on September 19.

Israel

The Israeli team is benefiting from an exception that the MLB has made that allows for players who are not actually from Israel but who are of Jewish heritage to play for the team. Only three of the team’s players are actually from Israel, while the remaining 25 are minor leaguers who have Jewish backgrounds.

Former major leaguers Gabe Kapler and Shawn Green have come out of retirement to play for the Israelis.

Even minor league experience is enough to not count of a team in a tournament like this. There are a lot of unknowns when competing at the international level, and the Israelis will be able to use the element of surprise to their advantage.

After two games, the team has impressed to this point by defeating both South Africa (7-3) and Spain (4-2) in their first two games. They will play their final game of this double elimination tournament on Sunday against an unknown team. 

Canada

The Canadians are a completely different team than the squad who failed to record a win during the 2009 classic. They have an infusion of young talent and are currently ranked No. 5 in the world after winning the Pan-American Games.

Canada has only played one game to this point but plays again on Saturday against Germany, who completely dismantled the Czech Republic 16-1. The Canadians did themselves well by pounding Great Britain by an 11-1 margin.

Only one team between Germany and Canada can advance to the tournament because they are both a part of the second qualifying group. I’m thinking it will be the Canadians.

Chinese Taipei

The Chinese Taipei team has a ridiculously easy route to qualifying for the tournament. Ranked No. 8 in the world, the cross-strait rivals of China do not have a team full of names you will recognize. However, they have their share of talent that has WBC experience.

Sometimes experience and cohesion on a team are enough to propel them to new heights. That just might be the case for the Chinese Taipei team.

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Mike Hoag is a Trends and Traffic writer for Bleacher Report and also covers the Cleveland Browns and the NFL for the site.