Yoan Moncada of Cuba, during the game against the Chinese Taipei team, in the Fifth World Baseball Classic, held at the Intercontinental Stadium in the city of Taichung, in Chinese Taipei, on March 12, 2023. Photo Roberto Morejón Rodriguez (Jit Inder Newspaper)

When there was a five-fold tie in group A of the World Baseball Classic, in which all the teams accumulated two victories and the same number of defeats, Cuba went first in the bracket for the fewest number of runs allowed divided between the putouts made (15 runs in 108 outs), as established by the regulations of the event.

Thus, Cuba closed with a ratio of 0.139 (15 touchdowns allowed and 108 outs), above Italy (17-108/0.157), the Netherlands (19-102/0.186), Panama (21-105/0.200) and the local Chinese Taipei (31-105/0.295), who will have to fight for their ticket to the next edition.

The second classified in section A is Italy, which beat the Netherlands this morning 7-1.

Both will leave for Japan to attend the quarterfinals.

The good news is that the Cubans will no longer face Japan, now they will probably face Australia, on Wednesday, starting at 6:00 am. The Australians are so far second in their group (B).

They beat South Korea 8-7 with three home runs, beat China 12-2, and lost to Japan 7-1.

Tonight they will face the Czech Republic. Cuba beat Panama (13-4) and Taipei (7-1), while they lost to the Netherlands (4-2) and Italy (6-3).