The journey for a few more of the World Baseball Classic favorites began Saturday as Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the United States got their first taste of tournament action.

Puerto Rico kicked off Pool D play in dominant fashion in Miami at loanDepot Park with a 9-1 win over Nicaragua. The 2017 runners-up and their explosive lineup looked scary, and it looks like one of the favorites to top what is perhaps the deepest pool in the entire tournament.

A team loaded with MLB talent, Puerto Rico's nine runs came in an efficient manner on 11 hits.

Star infielders Francisco Lindor and Javier Báez, along with designated hitter Christian Vázquez, combined for six hits, four runs scored and four RBI.

Meanwhile, over in Pool A one of the tournament's heavyweights was taken down as the previously undefeated Netherlands lost to Chinese Taipei 9-5. Taipei has now won two games in a row after losing its debut match.

It now sits atop the Pool A standings.

Japan continued its hot streak, scoring double-digit runs for a second consecutive game in its 10-2 win over the Czech Republic.

While Masataka Yoshida and Shohei Ohtani were once again the stars at the plate for Japan, the real story of the game was 21-year-old pitching sensation Rōki Sasaki, who struck out eight batters in just 3.2 innings of work.

The most exciting game of the day came in the Pool C opener between Mexico and Colombia. It was a back-and-forth affair that displayed some of the best action of Pool play thus far.

It went into extra innings after Mexico managed to tie it up at four in the seventh inning. It was the second time Mexico clawed itself back into the game.

Colombia took advantage of Mexico's mistakes in the 10th inning, however, as it was able to drive in the go-ahead run on a fielding error and went on to win 5-4. The team is looking to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time ever.

Dominican Republic, one of the heavy favorites to win the entire tournament, was shocked in its tournament debut, losing to Venezuela 5-1, despite having perhaps the most talented lineup on the planet.

Finally, USA's tittle defense got off to a very good start as it overcame an early 1-0 deficit and went on to win 6-2 against Great Britain. The team rode its own very strong lineup, who showed why they are the reigning champions.

While it was the Netherlands that got on the board first on a Didi Gregorius RBI-single, the lead would be short-lived as Taipei struck back with a fury in the bottom of the second inning, sending the crowd at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium into a frenzy.

After Li Lin tied the game with an RBI single of his own, Yu Chang came up with another big-time home run, this one a monstrous grand slam to give Taipei a 5-1 lead.

The home team would never look back after that.

Taipei continued to pour it on in the following innings as it extended its lead and played excellent defense to limit the Netherlands' damage and preserve the win that led it to the top of the group.

Taipei will now look to secure its place in the quarterfinals with a win over Cuba on Saturday night.

Cuba may have played itself into the next round.

Yoán Moncada and Erisbel Arruebarrena each went deep to help give Cuba a 7-1 win over Chinese Taipei and perhaps give them the run differential needed to advance.

Cuba scored six of their seven runs in the first two innings to run starter Shih-Peng Chen out of the game in 1.1 innings.

Chinese Taipei did not score a run until the top of the ninth inning, as Cuba's pitching staff used five pitchers to go through the first eight innings scoreless. Elian Leyva got the win after striking out four batters in 2.1 innings of work.

Much like Taipei, Japan was shocked early as it fell behind in the first inning against the Czech Republic after shortstop Takumu Nakano had a throwing error to first base that allowed a run to score.

But after two innings of being held scoreless, Japan's red-hot offense came to life in the third inning as Yoshida continued his dominance at the plate, driving in two of the team's three runs in the inning to give Japan the lead.

Czech Republic couldn't keep the pace as Japan grew its lead in the fourth by tacking on four more runs. Yoshida and Ohtani were once again right at the heart of things for the home team.

Ohtani had an RBI double, and Yoshida drove in the former AL MVP with a sacrifice fly to center field for Japan's final run of the inning.

Ohtani's double nearly made it out of the park at the Tokyo Dome.

But the biggest star for Japan today started on the mound as Sasaki showed why he is so coveted by MLB teams. He struck out eight batters in a relatively short outing, showing off filthy stuff in the process.

Undefeated so far, Japan has qualified for the quarterfinals and will likely face the runner-up from Pool A.

Ha-Seong Kim belted two home runs and Tommy Edman drove in two runs, leading Korea to a 7-3 win over the Czech Republic as both teams moved to 1-2 in pool play.

Se-woong Park was sensational on the mound, allowing only one hit and striking out eight over 4.

Korea scored five runs in the first inning and held a 6-0 lead before the Czech Republic could even get on the board. Both teams face must-win games Sunday if they hope to advance.

Pitching was the name of the game early on, as both teams struggled to get anything going with the bats. The first run didn't come until the fourth inning when infielder Isaac Paredes hit an RBI single to put Mexico on top.

Starting pitcher Julio Urías had a no-hitter going into the fifth inning until Jorge Alfaro broke it up.

But things only got worse for Urías from there on out, with Elias Díaz driving in Alfaro with another double before Reynaldo Rodriguez hit a two-run homer off the foul pole to put his team up 3-1.

Mexico refused to give up however, as it would fight its way back into the game on two occasions, once in the fifth to tie it at three and once again in the seventh inning to make it four all.

The game eventually headed into extra innings, when Colombia was able to find the winner when Mexico's shortstop Luis Urías misplayed a ball hit to him by Gustavo Campero with two outs and allowed the go-ahead run to score.

Colombia will look to continue its quest for a first quarterfinals appearance when it takes on Great Britain on Monday at 3 p.m. ET.

Call it nerves, but USA were given a bit of a shock early on after Great Britain's Trayce Thompson—who plays for the Dodgers—hit a homer off of Adam Wainwright in the first inning.

Great Britain held on for as long as it could, but USA proved to be too strong as it would take back the lead in the third inning thanks to RBI hits from Nolan Arenado and Kyle Tucker.

Kyle Schwarber would then break the game open in the next frame as he hit a monstrous three-run homer to make 5-2.

USA would tack on another run in the sixth inning on another RBI double by Arenado, who was the team's best player Saturday night. Meanwhile, Great Britain managed just one more run, which came in the seventh inning.

What's scary is that arguably team USA's two best player Mookie Betts and Mike Trout struggled mightily, going a combined 1-9 at the plate. When—not if—those two get things going, it'll be a scary sight for the rest of the teams in the tournament.

It was a quick start for Puerto Rico, as it got its first run of the tournament in the first inning. It came after infielder Emmanuel Rivera hit into a fielder's choice that scored Lindor, one of the team's biggest stars.

Puerto Rico followed that up with some impressive defense over the next few innings to keep Nicaragua off the board, but Elian Miranda tied it up at one in the top of the fifth inning, hitting a bomb off starter Marcus Stroman.

It would be Nicaragua's last run of the game, however.

The flood gates opened up for Puerto Rico in the bottom of the fifth, as the team drove in five runs in the inning to effectively put the game to bed.

Lindor and Báez were at the center of a lot of the action offensively for Puerto Rico. MJ Melendez also had a big contribution with a two-RBI single that drove in Lindor and Martin Maldonado.

The rest of the game was all Puerto Rico, as it scored three more runs in the seventh inning and finished off a dominant tournament debut. It'll look to solidify itself as one of the teams to beat in Pool D when it takes on Venezuela on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.

By far the biggest surprise of the day, the DR was shut down for most of the night at loanDepot Park in Miami aside from a first-inning run scored off a Juan Soto RBI double.

After that it was all Venezuela, who didn't allow the Dominicans to get another run across all night long and even managed to score three runs off of 2023 CY Young Award winner Sandy Alcántara.

The runs came courtesy of a solo homer by Anthony Santander in the second inning and then a two-RBI double by David Peralta in the fourth to give the team the lead.

While Venezuela managed to tack on two more runs, it really couldn't have pulled off the win without some extremely clutch pitching that saved the team on multiple occassions.

Dominican Republic will now look for its first win of the tournament Monday against Nicaragua, while Venezuela ill have another stiff test against Puerto Rico on Sunday.