World Baseball Classic
History - Facts - Teams
Live all the action of the first World Baseball Classic tournament with I BET IAS Sportsbook!
The World Baseball Classic is an unprecedented baseball event that will feature many of the best players in the world competing for their home countries and territories for the first time ever.
Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) have joined together to establish the World Baseball Classic. The tournament, sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), will be conducted jointly by MLB and the MLBPA in cooperation with Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), their respective players associations and other professional leagues from around the world.
This will be the first baseball tournament featuring Major League players and it will be held on March 2006, and the every four years thereafter.
The National Baseball Federations that will participate in the inaugural World Baseball Classic will participate are Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Italy, Netherlands, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, South Africa, United States, and Venezuela.
The World Baseball Classic will feature 16 teams in a four-round tournament. The 16 teams will be divided into four pools of four teams for Round 1. Round 1 pool play will be held in a round-robin format as all teams within each pool will match up one time (total of six games per pool). The top two teams by record from each of the four Round 1 pools will advance to Round 2.
These eight qualifying teams will be split into two pools for Round 2 and will again play one another in a round-robin format of games (total of six games per pool). The top two teams in each pool by record will then advance to the two single-elimination Semi-Final games. The winners of the Semi-Final games will advance to the tournament's single-elimination Final. In total, 39 games will be played. Classic will feature 16 teams in a four-round tournament.
|