It was big news in Taiwan when they beat Cuba in Rotterdam, Holland on Sunday to win the World Port tournament.
If they can pull off the same accomplishment this week and win the World Baseball Challenge, the team officially known as Chinese Taipei will be getting a hero's welcome when they go back home.
"Cuba is the top team here and if we beat them here, everybody on this team will be famous in Taiwan," said Chinese Taipei manager Chen Wei Chen.
"We beat Cuba three teams at the World Port tournament and all the players have confidence we can beat Cuba again. Everybody will be watching [the Internet webcasts] from here on their computers. People back home really care about this team and they were very happy when we won. "
The difference this time around is the Cuban team they beat in Holland is not the same team they will meet on the field Sunday night in the feature game of the day. Recognizing the calibre of the WBC, with teams from Japan, China, and Canada, which all rank among the top 10 baseball nations, Cuba saved its top team for the Prince George tournament. None of the players who lost to Chinese Taipei in the World Port final are with the Cuban team.
Chinese Taipei is probably the youngest of the six teams in the WBC, averaging about 23 years. The team is made up of amateur and university players and it has a handful players with international experience at the World Cup and Asian Games. But nothing could prepare them for the 15-hour time difference between Taiwan and Prince George.
"I'm a little worried about the time difference for them, I'm hoping they can adjust to that quickly and get used to the conditions," said Chen, whose team went 8-1 in Rotterdam. "They are really young and they have patience and the pitching is really good on this team."
Lin Han was the game-breaker in the World Port tournament. He was the top hitter, the tournament MVP and the most popular player. Han finished with an astronomical .538 batting average with 14 hits and one home run.
"He's been with the national team for a few years and he has a lot of international experience and he can teach the players to have the right attitude for the ball games," said Chen.
Chinese Tapei beat Cuba three times in Holland, including an extra-innings win in the final, and team interpreter Lin Ting Yi said it's not out of the question for them to pull off an upset this week against Cuba's A team.
"They are ready for this tournament and they are in good condition," said Lin. "They are a young team and they concentrate in all of the ball games.
"This tournament is really high-calibre, stronger than the World Port tournament. Cuba has players that were in the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic. Cuba is probably the best team here."
On Wednesday, Chinese Taipei will play the Beijing Tigers, a game that could have political reverberations in the homeland of both teams. China claims sovereignty over the island nation and the government in Tapei requires the team to compete under the Chinese Taipei banner.
"It's really disappointing to us that we can't use the Taiwanese name to the world, but because we play great baseball, I think everybody knows Taiwan is its own country," said Lin. "There is definitely a difference. In Taiwan, everybody thinks we are Taiwanese, we are not from China. We have a different culture and we are so independent from them, but we can't change that. In the future we hope we have a chance to change that."
But from a players' perspective, Chen predicts the dispute between the two countries will take a back seat to baseball.
"A ball game is a ball game and politics is not meaningful to sports, we don't make that connection," said Chen.
