Maybe it’s Team Israel’s mascot, The Mensch on the Bench, but whatever it is, Team Israel doesn’t want the magic to stop. In a game played today between two teams assured of moving on to Tokyo and Pool E in the second round, Israel and the Netherlands playing simply for seeding purposes squared off at noon local time in Seoul, South Korea, at Gotcheok Skydome.
It didn’t take long for Israel to get going, as they put three runs on the board, the big hit an RBI double from Nate Frieman, and then held off the Netherlands 4-2 to sweep all three games in Pool A. Starting hurler Jason Marquis pitched the first inning for Israel and got the win, with Josh Zeid getting a 5-out save.
The three wins in Seoul, coupled with their three-game sweep in September’s qualifier in Brooklyn, N.Y., makes it six wins in a row for this plucky team skippered by Jerry Weinstein.
Team Israel leaves Seoul to move on to second-round action in Pool E on Sunday in Tokyo at noon locally (Saturday at 10 p.m. EST in the U.S.). While Pool B is not yet finished, the winner of Pool A will play the second-place finisher in Pool B.
It looks likely that Cuba will serve as the first opponent in Pool E play.
All games of the WBC are being broadcast live on the MLB Network (859 on Comcast Xfinity).
Israeli-Americans Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin talked about the pain of losing their 23-year-old son, who was kidnapped and later murdered in the Oct. 7th tragedy.
The remaining 6,000 members of the community are expected to immigrate by 2030.
Israel is increasingly reliant on foreign workers, hundreds of whom moved into the dilapidated building during the Iran war.
Colorectal cancer rates are climbing among young people and Ashkenazi Jews.