Team USA’s stacked World Baseball Classic lineup was on full display in their opener against Brazil on Friday night.
The Americans knocked in 15 runs with 10 hits and a ridiculous 17 walks en route to a 15-5 victory, getting their tournament run off to a hot start.
And that could’ve been a lot more if Aaron Judge didn’t ground into a double play with the bases loaded one at-bat after going yard in his WBC debut.
They’ll have a quick turnaround Saturday when they take on Great Britain in Houston, who should present another easy-ish match up for these bats to go off for the second straight day.
After facing a stable of quad-A type pitchers that can’t quite stick it in the big leagues Friday, Team USA gets the UK’s Tyler Viza, who has 816 career minor league innings under his belt without ever reaching the majors since being drafted in 2013.
Great Britain’s pitching staff comes into this game a little gassed after airing it out during a much more winnable game against Mexico on Friday, sending seven different pitchers to the mound without a day off between games.
In that contest, they allowed eight runs, including seven in their final two frames in the field, to lose 8-2.
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It’s only going to get tougher Saturday against a lineup that’s lightyears deeper than Mexico’s.
Look for the Americans to have another big night offensively, and perhaps even flirt with the WBC’s mercy rule.
The play: Team USA Over 12.5 runs against Great Britain (-110, FanDuel Sportsbook)
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Dylan Svoboda is a versatile writer and analyst across many sports. He’s particularly knowledgeable about the big three — MLB, the NFL and the NBA.