WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
Roenis Elías, Cuba’s leader in the World Baseball Classic
The United States are favourites against Cuba in the World Baseball Classic, but the underdogs have faith in their pitcher.
Cuba started the World Baseball Classic with two losses against the Netherlands and Italy despite the fact that Yariel Rodríguez and Roenis Elías had outstanding performances on the mound. That put the Caribbean islanders in a tricky spot, with the possibility of being eliminated in the first round.
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Pitcher Roenis Elías however assumed his role as a leader after the two defeats in their first two games and he took it upon his shoulders to do what was necessary to get the Cubans out of the group stages, which they did, to then beat Australia in the quarterfinals (4-3) and set up a semifinal in Miami, against the United States.
“Let’s play ball. I didn’t come here to lose, I came to win. We are going to get to Miami, the goal is to get to Miami” were the words of Roenis Elías after the defeats against the Netherlands and Italy. Cuba defeated Panama and Chinese Taipei in their next matches and earned the ticket to face Australia, who they defeated in Tokyo.
This Sunday, Elías will again be giving everything in pursuit of victory and a historic ticket to the final for the Cubans in the World Classic - this despite the fact that the vast majority of Cuba’s Major League players are not at the tournament, including Yordan Álvarez , Yuliesky Gurriel, among others.
Cuba back at the top after 16 years
It took 16 years for Cuba to get back to the top four in the world. In 2017, they qualified second in the first round, only behind Japan, however, in the second round, they lost to Israel, Japan and the Netherlands, and finished bottom of the group.
In 2013, Cuba qualified undefeated and surprisingly ahead of Japan. It seemed that the islanders were heading towards the semifinals, however, in the quarterfinals they would lose to the Netherlands.
In 2009 they also looked good before they lost twice to Japan and thus were left out of the semifinals. The last time they had reached the top four was in 2006, during the first edition of the World Baseball Classic.