TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan exited the 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC) after losing all three group-stage games, leading to its rock-bottom finish in Pool A in South Korea last month.
▲圖／翻攝自中國郵報
This means the team will have to go through the qualifiers for a shot at competing in the next edition of the WBC — another disappointment for Taiwan, where baseball is widely seen as the national pastime.
Among Taiwan's three losses, going down in its tournament opener to baseball minnows Israel 15-7 was the most stinging and least expected. It was followed by defeats at the hands of baseball powerhouses the Netherlands and South Korea.
The humiliating loss was also an all-time low for the team at the WBC; its previous worst performance was a 14-0 thrashing by Cuba in 2013.
It wasn't luck that the Israelis beat Taiwan, which is ranked No. 4 in the world. It also crushed the remaining two teams in the first round to finish atop the pool, defeating South Korea (ranked No. 3 in the world), and the Netherlands (No. 9).
The Cinderella story took Israel to the next round in Tokyo, where the team's remarkable run was ended by two-time WBC champs Japan.
Before the WBC began, Team Israel was considered the weakest team in Pool A. Ranked 41st in the world, it was the only side in the 16-team WBC outside the top 20. It entered the tournament with 200-to-1 odds to win it all.
Some have argued that the side — made up almost entirely of Americans of Jewish descent, with only one native Israeli — was not a real national team at all. Regardless, these players, bound only by their heritage and a love for the sport, formed a tight-knit unit before and during the tourney, as they were playing not only for Israel but to defy expectations.
Tick Two Boxes and You're in
Asked about the team's success in the WBC, the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, which represents the country's interests in Taiwan in the absence of formal ties, said the country had no problem with the fact that almost no players on the team were Israelis.
"Israel is open to anyone with Jewish heritage as long as he or she recognizes Israel," the office's media and public affairs officer, Frances Tsai (蔡佳芳), told The China Post.
Tsai, who is a Taiwan native, said it was true that before the WBC, few people in Israel were familiar with the sport. But with the success, she said, Israelis had started flocking to the sport
Before the event, only around 1,000 people played the sport countrywide — from Little League to adult competition, according to the Israel Association of Baseball.
But now, the number looks certain to rise. In addition, Tsai said, the underdog success story has boosted a campaign for a stadium to be built in Israel, which she said would help promote the sport further and cultivate more baseball talent in the country.
The Beit Shemesh stadium project, one of several baseball fields being built in Israel through the Jewish National Fund's Project Baseball, has received an influx of donations since the WBC wins, with its crowdfunding campaign closing in on its goal of US$850,000.
What makes Tsai believe baseball might grow in the (baseball) desert?
There's a special trait common among Israelis, she says: once they set their mind on something, they make sure it happens.
The Story of the Haifa Lions
To demonstrate this, Tsai cited an Israeli team's participation in an annual Taiwan dragon boat race.
Before the Kaohsiung City Government invited the Israeli city of Haifa to send a team to take part in the southern city's dragon boat competition in 2011, Tsai said these Israelis paddlers didn't even know what a dragon boat was.
The team, the Haifa Lions, soon fell in love with the sport in general and the Kaohsiung competition in particular, which it has participated in every year since.
Plus, to promote bilateral cultural and sports exchanges, the Taipei government donated two traditional dragon boats to Haifa in late 2013 — a generous donation that enabled the city to start holding its own races, Tsai said. And now people in Israel are beginning to pick up the sport.
With dedication like that of the Lions, Tsai said, there's little doubt the sport of baseball will keep growing in Israel for much time to come.
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