What we've learned about the WBC

One game remains in the first round of the World Baseball Classic, and the eight teams are now set for round two, which begins Saturday.

In Miami: Venezuela, Puerto Rico, United States and the surprising Netherlands team will face off in a pool play round at Dolphin Stadium, home of the Marlins.

In San Diego: Japan, South Korea, Cuba and Mexico will play at Petco Park, home of the Padres. Cuba and Mexico will play Thursday to determine the seeds.

That's seven of the eight teams you'd expect to see, with only the Netherlands as the ultra-surprising party-crasher.

Other things we learned in the first round:

• The Americans didn't win in the Classic the first time around, but they still have the monster target on their backs for the rest of the world. It's a big deal to beat the U.S. team.
• Canada plays the U.S. tough, but falters against everybody else.
• Some news outlets are trying to say that The Netherlands' surprise wins have shown that Europeans can play baseball, too. (Hole in the argument: Many of the best players on this team are from Aruba and Curacao, which are part of the kingdom of the Netherlands, but not European. ...)
• The Dominican Republic had a ton of talent, but a flawed roster.
• And despite some decent promotion by Major League Baseball, the WBC isn't making much of a blip outside of the hard-core baseball fans worldwide, or even in the U.S. for that matter.