The World Baseball Classic really heats up on Saturday with pool play getting underway across the tournament! Read on for our WBC best bets for Saturday, March 11.
After only four games per day to start the World Baseball Classic, there are eight games throughout Saturday with two of those having been played early in the morning.
Japan maintained its dominance with a 10-2 dismantling of Czechia to start the slate. Fellow favorites Team USA and the Dominican Republic get their tournaments underway Saturday night.
Here are our WBC best bets for Saturday (odds via DraftKings; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).
Saturday's WBC schedule and odds
(Odds via DraftKings)
- Czechia 2 – Japan 10
- Netherlands 5 – Chinese Taipei 9
- Nicaragua – Puerto Rico
- Colombia (+470) vs. Mexico (-625)
- Dominican Republic (-275) vs. Venezuela (+230)
- Great Britain vs. USA (-8.5 runs) – 9 p.m. ET
- Czechia vs. Korea – 10 p.m. ET
- Chinese Taipei vs. Cuba – 11 p.m. ET
Saturday's WBC best bets
- Total: Dominican Republic-Venezuela Under 9 (-110 via DraftKings) ????
- Total: USA-Great Britain Over 11.5 (-135 via DraftKings ????
Saturday's WBC top picks
This is the best pitching matchup of the young tournament and could be one of the best until close to the end. Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara takes the mound for the Dominican Republic against Venezuela's Martin Perez.
Perez isn't nearly as good as Alcantara, and the Dominican's lineup is intimidating, but the southpaw had a 2.89 ERA last season with the Texas Rangers of MLB.
This game is being played at loanDepot Park, home of Alcantara's Miami Marlins, so there'll be no problem getting acclimated to the mound – although it may be rare for the stands to be full.
There are MLB stars on both sides so the Under may seem a bit tricky, but good pitching usually trumps good hitting early on.
Team USA is loaded for this World Baseball Classic with superstars up and down the lineup. The one place they lack a true stud is in the starting pitching department with Adam Wainwright starting the opening game.
The Americans are 8.5-run favorites which means that the oddsmakers are expecting quite a lot of scoring from at least the one side.
That's going to be very possible against former MLB pitcher Vance Worley, who had a 4.09 ERA in his eight-year MLB career, including 6. 91 ERA in 2017, his last year in MLB. Worley had a 4.89 ERA in 114 innings for the independent Kane County Cougars last year.
USA should look to come out of the gates with a bang in a big win against Great Britain.
WBC best bets made 03/11/2023 at 1:40 p.m. ET
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