World Baseball Classic

150px World Baseball Classic logo
Sport	Baseball
Founded	2005
No. of teams	16 (Finals)
Continent	International
Most recent champion(s)	Japan
Most titles	Japan (2)

The World Baseball Classic is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and created by Major League Baseball (MLB), the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), and other professional baseball leagues and their players associations around the world. It is the main tournament sanctioned by the IBAF, which names its winner the "World Champion."^[1] It previously coexisted with Olympic Baseball (until 2008) and the Baseball World Cup (until 2011) as IBAF-sanctioned tournaments,^[2] but the other two have been discontinued. The 2009 Classic, the second edition of the event, was won by Japan for the second tournament in a row.^[3]

The tournament is the first of its kind to have national baseball teams feature professional players from the major leagues around the world including Major League Baseball; the Summer Olympics had regularly featured college and minor-league players because the Games conflict with the major league seasons in both North America and Asia, and the Baseball World Cup historically did not have major leaguers participate. In addition to providing a format for the best baseball players in the world to compete against one another while representing their home countries, the World Baseball Classic was created in order to further promote the game around the globe.

After a 3-year gap between the first two installments of the tournament, plans call for the World Baseball Classic to be repeated every four years following the 2009 event, with the third installment of the Classic to occur in 2013.

Results[link]

Year	Final Host		Final				Semifinalists
			Champions	Score	Runners-up		3rd place	4th place
2006	San Diego		Japan	10–6	Cuba		South Korea	Dominican Republic
2009	Los Angeles		Japan	5–3 (F/10)	South Korea		Venezuela	United States
2013

Medal table[link]

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Japan	2	0	0	2
2	South Korea	0	1	1	2
3	Cuba	0	1	0	1
4	Venezuela	0	0	1	1

Players in WBC editions[link]

In 2006, many high caliber players participated in the World Baseball Classic. Amongst the players that made the All-WBC team were Americans Derek Jeter and Ken Griffey Jr. From Japan, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Ichiro Suzuki and Tomoya Satozaki were on the team. Other internationals included players from Cuba—Yulieski Gourriel, Yoandy Garlobo and Yadel Martí; and from Dominican Republic—Albert Pujols, Pedro Martinez and Jose Bautista. However, it was Matsuzaka who was crowned the MVP of the first ever World Baseball Classic after Japan defeated Cuba 10–6. Matsuzaka pitched 13 innings and finished with a 3–0 record. Soon after this performance, Matsuzaka received a multi-million dollar contract to join the Boston Red Sox of America's Major League Baseball.^[4]

Again in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, Matsuzaka was a member of the Japanese team which successfully defended their title. Matsuzaka again received the world classic MVP, finishing with a record of 3–0 and an ERA of 2.54.

Most Valuable Player awards[link]

• 2006: Daisuke Matsuzaka
• 2009: Daisuke Matsuzaka

All-WBC teams[link]

In 2009, the all-star World Baseball Classic team included only one player from the USA. The rest of the all star team was made up of three Cubans, three Japanese, four South Koreans and one player from Venezuela, José López.^[5]

• 2006 All-WBC Team
• 2009 All-WBC Team

Eligibility rules[link]

A player is eligible to participate on a World Baseball Classic team if:

• The player is a citizen of the nation the team represents.
• The player is qualified for citizenship or to hold a passport under the laws of a nation represented by a team, but has not been granted citizenship or been issued a passport, then the player may be made eligible by WBCI upon petition by the player or team.
• The player is a permanent legal resident of the nation or territory the team represents.
• The player was born in the nation or territory the team represents.
• The player has one parent who is, or if deceased was, a citizen of the nation the team represents.
• The player has one parent who was born in the nation or territory the team represents.^[6]

Rules of play[link]

In addition to the standard rules of baseball, the World Baseball Classic employs the following additional rules:

Pitch counts[link]

A pitcher cannot pitch until:

• a minimum of three days have passed since he last pitched, if he threw 50 or more pitches when he last pitched
• a minimum of one day has passed since he last pitched, if he threw 30 or more pitches when he last pitched
• a minimum of one day has passed since any second consecutive day on which the pitcher pitched

A pitcher cannot pitch more than

• 70 pitches per game in Round One of the tournament
• 85 pitches per game in Round Two of the tournament
• 100 pitches per game in the Semifinals and Final of the tournament

A pitcher can still finish a batter's plate appearance even if the limit is reached, but must come out after completing the plate appearance

Mercy rule[link]

A game will be a called if the leading team is ahead by

• 10 or more runs when the opposing team has batted in at least seven innings
• 15 or more runs when the opposing team has batted in at least five innings

Mercy rules do not apply during the semi-finals and finals.

Designated hitter[link]

The Designated Hitter rule applies for all games.^[7]

Established process[link]

The tournament was announced in May 2005.^[8] Major League Baseball had been attempting to create such a tournament for at least two years; negotiations with the players' union (MLBPA) and with the team owners had held the plan back. Owners, notably New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, had been concerned about their star players being injured in international play before the beginning of spring training, and the professional season. This was a concern for the MLBPA as well, but their primary objection was with drug testing. MLB wanted the stricter Olympic standards in place for the tournament, while the union wanted current MLB standards in place. Eventually, a deal was reached on insurance for player contracts and a fairly tough drug testing standard. MLB teams would not be able to directly block their players from participating.

Similarly, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and its players' association had a disagreement over participation in the tournament. While the owners initially agreed to the invitation, the players' union was concerned about the time of year the tournament was scheduled to take place, as well as their right to be better represented for the 2009 tournament. On September 16, 2005, after four months of negotiations, NPB officially notified the IBAF and MLB they had accepted the invitation.

Field[link]

The countries that have participated in WBC showing their highest result achieved, and the countries to participate in the qualifying tournament for 2013.

The 2006 and 2009 tournaments each had the same 16-team field, chosen by invitation:  Australia,  Canada,  China,  Chinese Taipei,  Cuba,  Dominican Republic,  Italy,  Japan,  Mexico,  Netherlands,  Panama,  Puerto Rico,  South Africa,  South Korea,  United States, and  Venezuela.

Plans for the 2013 World Baseball Classic include expanding the number of competing teams through the use of a qualifying tournament to maintain the same numbers in the main tournament.^[9] The twelve teams that won at least one game in the 2009 WBC will receive a bye and automatically qualify for the main tournament in 2013, while the four teams first eliminated in 2009 –  Canada,  Chinese Taipei,  Panama, and  South Africa – will take part in the qualifying tournament, to be held in November 2012 in Taiwan. In addition to these will be an additional 12 teams participating in the World Baseball Classic for the first time:  Brazil,  Colombia,  Czech Republic,  France,  Germany,  Great Britain,  Israel,  New Zealand,  Nicaragua,  Philippines,  Spain, and  Thailand. The four top teams from the qualifying tournament will join the twelve automatic qualifiers to compose a 16-team field for the main tournament in spring 2013.^[10][11]

The first pool, which will take place at Armin-Wolf-Arena in Regensburg, Germany, in September 2012, will feature Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany and Great Britain. The next group will play in November 2012 at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida, and will feature France, Israel, South Africa and Spain. The third group will play at XinZuang Stadium in Taipei, Taiwan, will pit Chinese Taipei, New Zealand, Thailand and the Philippines against each other. And finally, the fourth pool will feature Panama, Colombia, Nicaragua and Brazil, playing at Rod Carew Stadium in Panama City, Panama.^[12]

See also[link]

Baseball portal

• Baseball World Cup
• Women's Baseball World Cup
• Intercontinental Cup (International Baseball Federation (IBAF))
• World Port Tournament
• Baseball at the Summer Olympics
• World University Baseball Championship
• World Junior Baseball Championship (IBAF) (national teams; under 18)
• World Youth Baseball Championship (IBAF) (national teams; under 16)
• Junior League World Series champions (community teams; ages 13–15)
• Little League World Series champions (community teams; ages 11–13)
• World Series
• Baseball awards
• World Cup (all sports)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: World Baseball Classic

• World Baseball Classic

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