WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL B - CHINA VS AUSTRALIA

March 11, 2023

Dean Treanor

Tokyo Dome

Team China

Postgame Press Conference

Australia 12, China 2

DEAN TREANOR: Well, I don't feel very good to be honest with you. Today was a disappointing day but it showed what we struggled with in the three games is our starting pitching. We have been unable to -- you know, we need to -- when you're down every game early in the game, it's very tough to keep trying to come back.

But I think we showed today that we tried to fight back in that game. We were down 5-0, came back, made it 5-2, had a chance to get it closer, left the bases loaded. But again, it just shows the fight of this team.

Q. (No translation.)

DEAN TREANOR: Again, it's going to be a challenge for us. Team Korea is a very good team. We just had a meeting in the clubhouse, we talked about pride, pride in who we are, pride in Team China what we accomplished so far and I know that we are 0-3 but the 0-3 record and the scores in these games is really not indicative of how we played and what we are capable of and how far we have come. I think that if you look in the stands now and see, there's a lot of people here with a lot of Team China banners with red on, and I know some of those are from Japan, and I can't say enough about that.

I think we have people from China here now for this tournament, and I think that the love that not only is China shown, but Japan; I know that FOX Sports is showing us love. All that means a lot to me and it means a lot to us.

As far as we've come, it's not time to let go of how far we've come. We are going to come out ready to play on Monday against Korea and hopefully make another statement about team China.

Q. (No translation.)

DEAN TREANOR: Obviously way just said, it's going to be a challenge for us. We have to come out with the attitude that we have to win on Monday. We'll come out tomorrow, have a light workout. I want the guys to enjoy the day off and kind of refresh their minds and get ready for Monday. Tokyo is a great city. I want these guys to get out and enjoy the city. We are going to have that work out tomorrow, and get ready for Monday. But I just want them to take a little breather and get their minds off yesterday and today and get ready for Monday and enjoy Tokyo.

I want to enjoy Tokyo. I haven't enjoyed it very much yet (laughs).

Q. How important is it to have Ray Chang on this team and to see him still hustling, hitting doubles and then having him in the dugout as another coach for you as well?

DEAN TREANOR: It's huge. I can't even, tell you how big it is of the with his past history in the WBC and his career in America, but more importantly, WBC and representing China, Team China, he can mentor these guys. He's been mentoring and he's a huge part of the advancement that this team has made since we started training this year.

So yeah, having that influence here on the guys, I know that they look up to him and respect him as they should and he's been a big help to them and hopefully advancing some of their careers. Been huge for me, too.

Q. (No translation.)

DEAN TREANOR: You know, we are not looking to The Asian Games yet. We have a game Monday upon day but I think in talking about The Asian Games, this experience in the WBC is going to help team China. These guys have grown tremendously. Are there some things that we probably need to put in place for The Asian Games? Yes.

You know, I think it's shown so far in these first three games in the lack of depth with our pitching, that's an area that we are going to have to really look at and address but I think just the heart of this team and moving forward, this is only going to help us and it's going to make us stronger going into The Asian Games.