World Baseball Classic schedule for watching Orioles and former Orioles

After months of talking about it, the 2023 edition of the World Baseball Classic is finally about to get under way on Tuesday night, with an 11 o’clock at night Eastern time first pitch for the opening game between Cuba and the Netherlands.

You will have to be very dedicated if you want to watch former Oriole Jonathan Schoop and his brother, former Orioles farmhand Sharlon Schoop in that opening game, or in any of their Pool A games. The tournament’s first round is divided into four pools of five teams each. Every team plays every other team in its pool once, with the top two finishers advancing into the quarterfinals.

The tournament rosters are not full of current Orioles. There are a whole lot of former Orioles floating around, though. Here’s when you can find some former favorites:

Pool A

This pool is being hosted in Taichung, Taiwan. Note that for political reasons, Taiwan is officially referred to as Chinese Taipei in international competitions. Teams in the pool are the Netherlands, Cuba, Panama, Italy, and Chinese Taipei.

Netherlands

• Great former Oriole: Jonathan Schoop
• Other former Orioles: Jair Jurrjens, Pedro Strop
• Schedule (Eastern Time): 3/7 vs. Cuba, 11pm, FS1; 3/8 vs. Panama, 11pm, FS2; 3/10 vs. Italy, 11pm, FS1; 3/11 vs. Chinese Taipei, 6am, FS2

Other former Orioles in this pool are Matt Harvey (Italy) and Jonathan Araúz (Panama). This list is not so thorough to list every one of their games if you care that much.

Pool B

This pool consists of Japan, the Republic of Korea (South Korea), Australia, China, and Czechia (Czech Republic). Its games are being played in Tokyo, Japan.

This is not a pool that is flush with former Orioles. Hyun-soo Kim is on the Korean team, and that’s it. The Czechia team has 2018-19 minor leaguer Martin Cervenka. These games begin at either 10pm or 5am Eastern time.

The winner and runner-up of Pool A and Pool B will play in quarterfinal games in Tokyo on March 15 and 16 at 7pm Tokyo time.

Pool C

This pool is hosted in the United States, based in Phoenix. Pool C teams are the USA, Mexico, Colombia, Canada, and Great Britain.

United States of America

• Current Oriole: Cedric Mullins
• Schedule (Eastern Time): 3/11 vs. Great Britain, 9pm, Fox; 3/12 vs. Mexico, 10pm, FS1; 3/13 vs. Canada, 10pm, FS1; 3/15 vs. Colombia, 10pm, FS1

Dillon Tate was originally supposed to pitch for Team USA, but his injury that’s going to cost him at least the first month of the regular season knocked him out of the running. The original plan also called for Ramón Urías to play for Team Mexico. He was left off the roster due to some kind of insurance complication leaving him not cleared to play, stemming from his knee injury last year. Too bad.

Team Great Britain has former Oriole Vance Worley and Orioles farmhand Ryan Long. Long, a 17th round pick in 2021, pitched for Low-A Delmarva last year.

Pool D

This pool is also hosted in the United States, with games in Miami. Its participants are Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Israel, and Nicaragua. With three teams made up almost entirely of MLB players, this is almost certainly the toughest pool in the competition.

Venezuela

• Current Oriole: Anthony Santander
• Former Orioles/prospects: Robinson Chirinos, Eduardo Rodriguez
• In the Orioles minors: Darwinzon Hernández
• Schedule (Eastern Time): 3/11 vs. Dominican Republic, 7pm, FS1; 3/12 vs. Puerto Rico, 7pm, FS1; 3/14 vs. Nicaragua, 12pm, FS2; 3/15 vs. Israel, 12pm, FS2

Israel

• Current Oriole: Dean Kremer
• Former Oriole: Ryan Lavarnway
• In the Orioles minors: Daniel Federman
• Schedule (Eastern Time): 3/12 vs. Nicaragua, 12pm, FS2; 3/13 vs. Puerto Rico, 7pm, FS1; 3/14 vs. Dominican Republic, 7pm, FS1; 3/15 vs. Venezuela, 12pm, FS2

Dominican Republic

• Former Orioles: Manny Machado, Nelson Cruz, César Valdez
• Schedule (Eastern Time): 3/11 vs. Venezuela, 7pm, FS1; 3/13 vs. Nicaragua, 12pm, FS2; 3/14 vs. Israel, 7pm, FS1; 3/15 vs. Puerto Rico, 7pm, FS1

Recent former Oriole Jorge López is on the Puerto Rican team.

The winner and runner-up of Pool C and Pool D will play in quarterfinal games in Miami on March 17 and 18 at 7pm. Eastern Time. Semifinals are also in Miami on March 19 and 20 at 7pm Eastern Time, with the final set for March 21 in Miami at 7pm Eastern Time.