SAN DIEGO — Even with Cuba's decades-long history of international success, its players kept hearing people doubt they could do it against teams loaded with major league talent.

They wound up a surprising finalist in the first World Baseball Classic — against a Japanese team boasting just two major leaguers.

"We have played in World Cups, world championships and Olympics," Cuban outfielder Frederich Cepeda said. "The message is already out there. ... In Cuba, baseball is the No. 1 sport. People in Cuba had their doubts about us coming and about the results."

Now, they're making their mark in the United States playing in a fancy new downtown stadium.

The virtually unknown Cubans, with their deep pitching staff and undeniable spirit, have won all but two of their last 24 games in international play — with one of those losses coming to Japan in the 2004 Athens Olympics.

The Cubans are a confident bunch who consider themselves amateurs despite their fame back home. They advanced to Monday night's championship with an emotional 3-1 victory over the Dominican Republic on Saturday while wearing their lucky red uniforms for the second time this tournament. Japan then avenged two earlier WBC losses to South Korea and won 6-0 in the second semifinal.

"In terms of Cuba, I have no idea what to expect," said Japan's Ichiro Suzuki, the Seattle Mariners' star leadoff hitter and right fielder. "I don't know any of their names. The fact they've come this far shows they are a team with serious potential."

And credentials. Cuba won last year's World Cup, the 2004 Olympic title and the 2003 Pan American Games championship.

But upstaging the United States' superstar roster featuring highly paid New York Yankees Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez? Not to mention defeating the Dominican squad with reigning NL MVP Albert Pujols and AL Cy Young award winner Bartolo Colon.

"This was very unexpected," Cuba's Yoandy Garlobo said. "Everything is possible. Nothing is impossible."

There was a flurry of speculation Sunday that a Cuban player had defected, though Major League Baseball and Cuban officials quickly nixed that.

"No, there is no defection," Cuban spokesman Pedro Cabrera said after the team went through informal weight training and drills at Petco Park. "The Cuban team is in very high spirits. The aspirations from when we left Havana have been multiplied."

MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said he visited the Cuban clubhouse Sunday and saw no signs of disarray, though acknowledged "I didn't count heads."

The teams waited to settle on their starting pitchers until the last possible moment.