South Korea wins Pool A

South Korea took advantage of needing just one win over undefeated Japan, advancing as the top seed from Pool A in a 1-0 nail-biter in Tokyo. Despite defeating the South Korean team 14-2 in a mercy rule game just two days earlier, Japan winds up second in the pool, even with a 14-3 aggregate score over the Koreans.

As I outlined earlier, this doesn't seem fair to Japan, but with pitching limits strictly enforced in the World Baseball Classic, asking two teams to play a one-off championship after South Korea got even would seem to be a sticking point.

Now, if favored Cuba gets through Pool B in first place it could set up a second round opener between the Cubans and Japanese, a rematch of the 2006 WBC title game.