World Baseball Classic

The start of the baseball season is right around the corner and one of the major baseball events before the season starts is the World Baseball Classic. The World Baseball Classic, or WBC, is an international professional baseball tournament with the best players from around the world representing their home countries. The World Baseball Classic started on Tuesday, March 7 and concluded on Tuesday, March 21. The WBC is still growing in popularity after the pandemic postponed it in 2021. In 2017, there were 16 teams and now in 2023 there are 20 teams in the World Baseball Classic. Last year, the World Baseball Classic was won by Team USA when they beat Puerto Rico 8-0. This year team USA was in Pool C, which was played at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The semifinals and finals were held in the Miami Marlins park.

The team captain for Team USA is three-time MVP Mike Trout. The team USA roster holds 30 players. A lot of player were ready for all the fans to come and watch. The biggest competition is Japan. They won in 2006 and 2009. Also, Japan has not placed lower than 3^rd place in all 4 WBC events.

Here is the layout and rules about The World Baseball Classic. The top four teams that participated in the WBC in 2017 already have their spot in the tournament. All the other teams played in a qualifying tournament to advance to the WBC. Each team must play everyone in their pool. The top two teams go to the Quarterfinals from their pools. That leaves 8 teams to go. The quarterfinals were in Tokyo for pools A and B while pools C and D play in Miami. The Championship game was held in Miami too. All the WBC games were broadcasted on Fox Sports.

 To be on the roster, a player must have citizenship for that country. That is how Lars Nootbaar of the St. Louis Cardinals ended up on the Japan’s roster. MLB teams cannot send more than 15 players from one team to the WBC. There is up to 10 designated pitchers who can be added after each round. The WBC has strict rules about pitchers because March is usually a stress-free environment. Here are the details of the pitching rules-

• Maximum 65 pitches per game during Pool Play.
• Maximum 80 pitches per game during the Quarterfinal Round.
• Maximum 95 pitches per game during the Championship Round.
• Minimum four days of rest after a 50-pitch outing.
• Minimum one day of rest after a 30-pitch outing.
• No pitching back-to-back-to-back days at any point.

The World Baseball Classic started March 7. USA’s first game was against Great Britain. The final score was 6-2. USA is 1-0 in their pool. The next game was against Mexico. USA lost 11-5. They had two pool play games left to play and they won both against Canada (12-1) and Colombia (3-2). USA moved on to the second round. USA won against Venezuela 9-7 and defeated Cuba 14-2 in the semifinals. In the Championship game, USA lost to Japan 3-2 on Tuesday March 21.