Australia has produced 30 major league ballplayers, including All-Stars Dave Nilsson and Grant Balfour, and won the silver medal in baseball at the 2004 Olympics. It even hosted the opening games of the 2014 MLB regular season at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Yet Australia has never advanced past the first round of the World Baseball Classic. In fact, the Aussies are just 1-8 in WBC play, with fewer wins than even China (2-7), which has yet to have a single native ethnic player reach the majors. Australia went winless and scored only two runs in the last WBC in 2013.
"We go into every WBC optimistic, and the last one in 2013 was such a disappointment," pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith said. "We were 0-3 and underprepared."
As a result, Australia had to make it through the qualifying round just to get into the field for the 2017 WBC, which begins next week. The Aussies are in a first-round pool in Tokyo along with two-time champion Japan, Cuba and China.
"I feel like we're the best prepared we've ever been when it comes to scouting," said Rowland-Smith, 34, who pitched in five major league seasons with the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks. "Our veteran guys are healthy, and we have some really good young guys you're going to see in the big leagues the next couple years.
"It's a good mix and I feel like our preparation, knowing who we're playing, is night and day compared to 2013. That's a big deal."
Like Rowland-Smith, infielders Luke Hughes and Brad Harman, outfielder Trent Oeltjen and reliever Chris Oxspring are former major leaguers on the Aussie roster.
Three of the four Australians who played in the majors last year also are on the WBC squad: Minnesota Twins infielder James Beresford, Kansas City Royals pitcher Peter Moylan and Detroit Tigers pitcher Warwick Saupold. They are joined by Travis Blackley, who hasn't pitched in the majors since 2013 but is active on a minor league deal with the Tigers.
Oakland Athletics reliever Liam Hendriks, however, backed out after having been put on the Australia roster. He told reporters it was a tough decision, but he didn't want to risk his upcoming season with the Athletics. He says he will consider playing in the second round should Australia advance.
Can Australia finally do so? Japan will be a very tough opponent, though Australia did beat the baseball-passionate country twice during the 2004 Olympics. Cuba will be a challenge, though it has been hurt by recent defections. China also will be looking to advance past the first round for the first time.
Rowland-Smith says Australia's bullpen and team chemistry are strong, and the offense is showing improvement.
"I feel we do have a little more thump in the lineup," he said. "This year is probably the best team we've produced and had together at a tournament. When you have these three-game tournaments and you get a three-run inning and your bullpen can hold the other team off, that's it -- that's where upsets have happened. If we have that three-run inning and have a two-run lead in the fifth or sixth inning, we'll be good to go.
"Talent-wise and the way this team is structured, it's the best chance we have to get to Round 2."
Among Australia's young major league prospects on the WBC team are 20-year-old twin brothers Lachlan and Alex Wells, left-handed pitchers in the Twins and Baltimore Orioles organizations, respectively. Another is 20-year-old outfielder and converted softball player Aaron Whitefield, also in the Twins system.
It remains to be seen how many young Australians will go on to successful big league careers. Hendriks said last fall that Australia goes through peaks and valleys with players coming over to the U.S. Rowland-Smith, who runs a baseball training company in Australia with Oeltjen, says that he feels the passion for the game within his country's baseball community. But overall, he says, the sport is on a downswing Down Under.
"I just feel that baseball is slipping," Rowland-Smith said. "Participation is slipping. And especially the Australian Baseball League -- from a media and commercial standpoint, it has no bearing."
Just last week, veteran sports administrator Cam Vale, who had most recently been CEO of Hockey Australia, was named the ABL's CEO.
"Hopefully," Rowland-Smith said, "that structure will change and the new league CEO will come in and be a businessman and start creating some opportunities for baseball."
Australia's winning a couple of games in the WBC and finally getting past the first round certainly would help.