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Korea facing numbers game in final bid to make it out of WBC pool play

Published: 09 Mar. 2026, 16:04

Korean players walk off the field at Tokyo Dome after losing to Chinese Taipei 5-4 in Pool C action at the World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome in Japan on March 8. [YONHAP]

Having dropped two straight games after an opening win at the World Baseball Classic (WBC), Korea will have to balance playing with number-crunching in its final first-round game against Australia set for Monday evening.

A 5-4 loss to Chinese Taipei on Sunday dropped Korea's record to 1-2 in Pool C. Only the top two teams out of the five in the group will advance to the quarterfinals later this week in Miami, and defending champion Japan, boasting a 3-0 record so far, has already secured its ticket out of Pool C.

Along with Korea, Australia (2-1) and Chinese Taipei (2-2) are all still alive for that one remaining knockout spot.

If Korea wins Monday, all three countries will finish with the same 2-2 mark. Head-to-head records won't resolve the deadlock, so they will need to resort to a tiebreaking formula: runs allowed divided by defensive outs recorded.

For Korea, the math itself is simple. In order to win the tiebreaker and advance, Korea must defeat Australia by at least five runs while allowing two runs or fewer. For instance, a 5-0 victory will get the job done, but a 5-1 win won't be enough.

How Korea can navigate the accounting to get there may be more complicated.

Kim Do-yeong reacts after losing to Chinese Taipei 5-4 in a Pool C game at the World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, on March 8. [YONHAP]

Korea started the competition with an 11-4 win over Czechia last Thursday. The hitters felt great about themselves after launching four home runs in the win, but that wasn't so much the case for the pitchers, who surrendered nine hits — just one fewer than Korea's hit total — and a home run.

Korea served up four home runs in an 8-6 loss to Japan on Saturday. The offense still showed some life by scoring three runs in the top of the first inning and outhitting Japan 9-7. But Korea also went through a three-inning stretch in which it was held without a hit and struck out seven times.

On the following day, Korea managed only four hits in a loss to Chinese Taipei, with leadoff man Kim Do-yeong accounting for half that. Korea failed to cash in after starting the bottom of the 10th inning with a runner at second base under the tournament's extra-inning rules. The pitching staff also gave up three long balls in the loss.

In fact, Korea has given up the most home runs in the entire WBC tournament so far with eight.

For their part, Australia has pounded out six home runs in three games so far. In the days leading up to the WBC, Korean pitchers often spoke of the powerful hitters in the Australian lineup and how they needed to be careful with those sluggers. Now they will get to face them with everything at stake.

Kim Ju-won reacts after getting thrown out at home against Chinese Taipei during the teams' Pool C game at the World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, on March 8. [YONHAP]

WBC's pitching regulations are also adding to the numerical challenges.

Under pitch count rules, players who throw at least 50 pitches in a game during the first round must sit out for a minimum four days, while those who toss 30 or more pitches must rest for one day. Pitchers who appear on consecutive days must also sit out for one day.

For Korea, Ko Young-pyo and Ryu Hyun-jin, starters for the past two games who each threw over 50 pitches, and Go Woo-suk, a reliever who pitched on each of the past two days, will not be available Monday.

Left-hander Son Ju-young will get the start, and then it will be all hands on deck the rest of the way.

The offense also can't worry about breaking any unwritten rules of baseball and offending the other team. In a typical regular-season game, for instance, a team up by four runs in the ninth inning wouldn't go for a steal. However, Korea in that same situation will have to do whatever it takes to scratch out another run to tip the math in its favor.

Korea is trying to make it out of the first round for the first time since 2009.

Yonhap