World Baseball Classic

The World Baseball Classic, sometimes abbreviated WBC, is an international baseball tournament, which was first held in March 2006. It will be held with the participation of the International Baseball Federation. It was initiated after negotiations of the Major League Baseball ( MLB) and other professional baseball leagues around the world. The second World Baseball Classic was held in March 2009, now the tournament is to be held every four years. Both tournaments to win the representation of Japan.

The WBC is the first international tournament attended by national teams of players from Major League. In the previously existing competitions that was not the case: the National Team at the Olympic Summer Games were often from college and minor league players because the games fall in the middle of the season of Major League; the baseball world was limited to 1996 to amateurs, had then only participants from minor leagues and achieved little interest to the public. The WBC was created as a competition, which can compete against each other the best teams of all nations and the popularity of baseball is to increase worldwide.

History

The tournament was announced in May 2005. For two years, the MLB had tried to organize a tournament in negotiations with the players association MLBPA and the team owners. The discharge time point in the season in the spring led to objections by the owners, including, in particular George Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees, who feared possible injury to their players stars and the doping controls carried out according to Olympic standards. In the end, an agreement on insurance for the players' contracts and compared to the MLB strict doping rules, after which the team owners allowed their players to participate in the tournament.

Also in the Japanese professional baseball there were clashes between the league and its teams on the participation of their players at the tournament, however, could be eliminated after four months of negotiations, on 16 September 2005, the Japanese professional league accepted the invitation of the MLB.

Prior to the proposed third World Baseball occurred in the summer of 2011, again to disputes, this time on the distribution of income: the Japanese league and the players association are threatening to cancel the Japanese participation if their shares werden.Außerdem had not increased the associations of Japan and Korea about asked to change the format of the tournament so that the same teams meet less frequently than before in the course of a tournament.

Mode

2006

For the first World Baseball Classic game mode, the following was agreed:

• In Round 1 play 16 teams in four groups (A to D) in a round- robin system, ie no series, but just a game.
• In round 2, the two first of the groups play in two groups (AB, CD) again in round-robin mode.
• The best two teams from both groups play against each other the semi-finals (each first versus second ) and the finale ( again only a game, not a series, by the format of the first two rounds, the semi-final teams had met before at least once before ).

2009

Again played 16 teams in four groups, but in rounds 1 and 2 in the double-elimination mode:

The winners of the opening games against each other. The winner of this game is already qualified for the second round. The losers of the opening matches deny a knockout game. The winner plays against the loser of the other game of the second second-round place. The two qualified teams participate in a placement game, which for the classification in the next round of the tournament has meaning.

2013

The total field of participants was expanded to 28 nations. Based on the placement at the World Baseball Classic in 2009 are directly qualified for the final 12 countries. The four participants who won in 2009 not a game in the WBC and other 12 nations contest the World Baseball Classic Qualifier in 4 tournaments. The victor then completes the 16 countries full participants.

For the 2013 World Baseball Classic game mode following was agreed:

• In Round 1 play 16 teams in four groups (A to D) in the round-robin tournament mode, ie FFA, no series, but just a game.
• In round 2, the two first of the groups play in two groups (AB, CD) in the double-elimination mode
• The best two teams from both groups play against each other the semi-finals (each first versus second ) and the finale of

Regulate

The agreed rules for the World Baseball Classic partly differ from those in the major leagues from:

• A pitcher can not run if are not passed at least four days after a game in which he completed 50 or more pitches
• At least not one day passed after a game in which he completed 30 or more pitches
• Not a day has passed after a game at least after he has pitched on two consecutive days

• 70 pitches in round 1 of the tournament (2006: 65 max. )
• 85 pitches in round 2 of the tournament ( 2006: 80 max. )
• 100 pitches in the semifinals and finals (2006: 95 max. )
• When the limit is reached, he may, until the end of the Plate Appearance ( PA) of the opposing batter stay in the game.

• A team of ten or more runs and leads the losing team has completed at least seven innings in the offensive
• A team with 15 or more runs and leads the losing team has completed at least five innings on the offensive

Results