By Amy McGinnis

Tonight, something will happen in Miami that we rarely get to see: there will be an estimated 30,000 baseball fans inside Marlins Park.

Team USA is set to take on Dominican Republic at 7 pm est, and the winner will advance to the semi-finals at AT&T Park in San Francisco.  Team USA manager Joe Torre and pitching coach Greg Maddux will send R.A. Dickey to the mound for tonight’s matchup.  The USA-DR game is a highly anticipated one … allow me to rephrase that … the USA-DR game is highly anticipated by baseball nerds who have been following the World Baseball Classic and actually care about the games.  For me, baseball is baseball.  If there’s a game, I’ll watch it, and that includes my nephew’s little league team. Sure, it doesn’t actually mean anything to win the WBC, but like I said … baseball is baseball.

When asked why Team USA is the team to beat, Dominican Republic manager Tony Pena replied, “Well, because it is.” So … there’s that.

Torre says he expects it “to be a good game,” because “you’ve got two teams that are talented.”  The two teams have a combined 21 All-Stars, so there will be plenty of familiar faces.  Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes, Nelson Cruz are each batting .350 and above in the tournament.  The biggest threat at the plate, though, is Robinson Cano.  Thus far he’s 12 for 19 (that’s .632, if you’re wondering), with 2 dingers, and 6 RBIs.  Ross Detweiler is available to pitch if R.A. Dickey and his knuckleball start to get lit up.

I predict that whichever team strikes first will take the game, and I’ll be cheering for Team USA.  I think the World Baseball Classic just might start to get interesting.

Tags: Dominican Republic, Greg Maddux, Joe Torre, R.A. Dickey, Robinson Cano, Team USA, WBC, World Baseball Classic