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WBC Odds & Best Bets Today: Schedule, Picks for Saturday

Ryan Gilbert

Last Updated: March 11, 2023 4:30 PM EST • 3 min 21 sec read.

Sandy Alcantara #22 of the Miami Marlins pitches as we look at our WBC best bets for Saturday.
Sandy Alcantara #22 of the Miami Marlins pitches against the Tampa Bay Rays in the first inning during a Grapefruit League Spring Training game at Tropicana Field on March 06, 2023 in St Petersburg, Florida. Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images via AFP.

The World Baseball Classic really heats up on Saturday with pool play getting underway across the tournament! Read on for our WBC best bets for Saturday, March 11.

After only four games per day to start the World Baseball Classic, there are eight games throughout Saturday with two of those having been played early in the morning.

Japan maintained its dominance with a 10-2 dismantling of Czechia to start the slate. Fellow favorites Team USA and the Dominican Republic get their tournaments underway Saturday night. Chinese Taipei vs. Cuba and Czechia vs. Korea will conclude the day's action late Saturday night.

Here are our WBC best bets for Saturday (odds via DraftKings; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).

Saturday’s WBC schedule and odds

(Odds via DraftKings)

  • Czechia 2 - Japan 10
  • Netherlands 5 - Chinese Taipei 9
  • Nicaragua 1 - Puerto Rico 9
  • Colombia (+470) vs. Mexico (-625)
  • Dominican Republic (-275) vs. Venezuela (+230)
  • Great Britain vs. USA (-8000) - 9 p.m. ET
  • Czechia vs. Korea (-740) - 10 p.m. ET
  • Chinese Taipei (-135) vs. Cuba - 11 p.m. ET

Saturday’s WBC best bets

  • Total: Dominican Republic-Venezuela Under 9 (-110 via DraftKings) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Total: USA-Great Britain Over 11.5 (-135 via DraftKings ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Total: Czechia vs. Korea over 11.5 (-110 via DraftKings) ⭐⭐⭐
  • Moneyline: Cuba ML vs. Chinese Taipei (+115 via DraftKings) ⭐⭐⭐

Saturday’s WBC top picks

Total: Dominican Republic-Venezuela Under 9 (-110 via DraftKings)⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is the best pitching matchup of the young tournament and could be one of the best until close to the end. Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara takes the mound for the Dominican Republic against Venezuela’s Martin Perez.

Perez isn’t nearly as good as Alcantara, and the Dominican’s lineup is intimidating, but the southpaw had a 2.89 ERA last season with the Texas Rangers of MLB.

This game is being played at loanDepot Park, home of Alcantara’s Miami Marlins, so there’ll be no problem getting acclimated to the mound — although it may be rare for the stands to be full.

There are MLB stars on both sides so the Under may seem a bit tricky, but good pitching usually trumps good hitting early on. Take Under 9 for your Dominican Republic vs. Venezuela picks.

Total: USA vs. Great Britain Over 11.5 (-135 via DraftKings) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Team USA is loaded for this World Baseball Classic with superstars up and down the lineup. The one place they lack a true stud is in the starting pitching department with Adam Wainwright starting the opening game.

The Americans are 8.5-run favorites which means that the oddsmakers are expecting quite a lot of scoring from at least the one side.

That’s going to be very possible against former MLB pitcher Vance Worley, who had a 4.09 ERA in his eight-year MLB career, including 6.91 ERA in 2017, his last year in MLB. Worley had a 4.89 ERA in 114 innings for the independent Kane County Cougars last year.

USA should look to come out of the gates with a bang in a big win against Great Britain so the Over is our top USA vs. Great Britain pick.

Czechia vs. Korea Over 11.5 (-110 via DraftKings) ⭐⭐⭐

Both sides are looking to keep their WBC dreams alive Saturday night.

Czechia is 1-1 with a win against China before losing to Japan early Saturday morning. Meanwhile, Korea lost 8-7 to Australia in its opening game and also fell victim to Japan by a final score of 13-4.

All four games involving one of these teams have gone over 11.5 runs thus far. Granted, Japan scored 23 runs against them in two games, but Korea scored 11 runs with the Czechs scoring 10 in their two contests.

Korea can put up runs with MLB players Ha-seong Kim and Tommy Edman in the infield and last year’s KBO MVP, Jung-hoo Lee, patrolling center field. Czechia should be able to contribute a few as well.

The Over 11.5 is -115 on BetMGM and PointsBet, so we’re getting five cents of value from DraftKings.

Moneyline: Cuba ML vs. Chinese Taipei (+115 via DraftKings) ⭐⭐⭐

After losing its first two games by a combined score of 10-5, Cuba came out with a huge 13-4 win against Panama on Thursday to keep hope alive.

On the other side, Chinese Taipei has also bounced back from an opening loss—12-5 to Panama—with 20 combined runs against Italy and the Netherlands while allowing a more modest 12 runs.

The Cubans have a strong lineup with Yoan Moncada, Luis Robert Jr., and Yoenis Cespedes as the big names. The pair of White Sox sluggers combined for five hits and six runs batted in against Panama.

Cuba has its back up against the wall again and I’ll take the favorable +115 odds given the fact that other books have Cuba as low as -103 (BetRivers) and -110 (BetMGM).

WBC best bets made 03/11/2023 at 1:40 p.m. ET

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Written By:
Ryan Gilbert
Ryan Gilbert is a contributing writer at SportsbookReview.com, covering hockey and baseball. He is the lead NHL writer and editor at the Sports Gambling Podcast Network, where he also co-hosts the Hockey Gambling Podcast. Ryan covers the Philadelphia Flyers for Broad Street Hockey and co-founded Sons of Penn. His past stops include NBC Sports Regional Networks and NHL.com.