Ryu Hyun-jin, of the Hanwha Eagles, will return to the mound for the South Korean national team after an extended absence of 17 years to face Taiwan in the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC). Ryu, selected as a starting pitcher for the match scheduled on March 8 at 12 PM, previously participated in the WBC back in 2009. During that tournament, he made five appearances, securing one win with a commendable earned run average of 2.57. He aims to repeat a strong performance against Taiwan, where he previously pitched three scoreless innings.

The match takes on added significance due to prior performances in the tournament, where South Korea faced challenges, particularly in a recent game against Japan where they allowed four home runs. Ryu is conscious of the need to prevent home runs given the characteristics of the Tokyo Dome. Acknowledging the power hitters present in the Taiwan lineup, Ryu emphasized the importance of his daily condition on game day and plans to focus on producing weak contact to manage the offensive threat posed by Taiwan.

Taiwan, after suffering losses to Australia and Japan, managed a resounding 14-0 victory against the Czech Republic, thereby reviving their hopes in the tournament. Taiwan's coach, Cheng Hao-chiu, expressed intentions to mobilize all available players for the upcoming clash with Korea, seeing it as a critical matchup for their chances of progressing to the quarterfinals. The Taiwanese starting pitcher, Kuo Lin-Rui Yang, comes with experience from both the Japanese professional league and the recent Asian Games, where he demonstrated effective pitching.