WBC Pool B teams held their official practice day Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s openers. This year more than ever with the expansion from 16 to 20 teams, the tournament is even more of a baseball melting pot of the sport’s universe that exists beyond MLB’s boundaries.

The idea of some of the best players from the world’s best major leagues representing their countries and competing on the same level playing field against teams made up of guys for whom baseball is a passion but not a profession.

Because of that mix, we get a tasty smorgasbord of stories, and today we’ve got a sampler.

Some like those one gets at all-star games where elite players mingle with former stars, but others are about guys, like Ray Chang, whose playing career was over only to be recalled by China and thrown into competition against the the world’s best.