The World Baseball Classic has been live for about a week, and the action has not stopped since. As pool play concludes, the top two teams from each group move on to the quarterfinal round. So far, Pools A and B have wrapped up, with Cuba and Italy advancing from Pool A, and Japan and Australia from Pool B officially moving on to the second round.
As Italy was originally ranked No. 15 (of 20) in the power rankings before the tournament began, they were able to compete and hold their own in a talented pool, where every single team went 2-2.