A quick look at the World Baseball Classic - Feature
The third edition of the World Baseball Classic will be taking place this year in four different countries including Japan, Taiwan, Puerto Rico and the US. Japan is the two time defending champion at the event.
World Baseball Classic is currently the world’s top event involving various countries that play baseball. The event was conceived in 2005, as a response after the International Olympic Committee had removed the game from Olympics.
It is a sanctioned event by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and was planned by a number of baseball leagues all over the world including Major League Baseball. It is one of the more followed sporting events in the world though it has not been
able to break into the US market with great success.
It coexisted with Olympic Baseball until 2008 and with the Baseball World Cup until 2011. Both events have now been discontinued and the World Baseball Classic is considered as the world championship. The current event has a qualifying round and a total
of 16 teams participate.
The first edition took place in 2006. Japan defeated South Korea in the Semi-final and Cuba got the better of Dominican Republic. Interestingly South Korea, which eventually finished third, had not lost a single game until the semis.
Japan had lost twice to South Korea before the semis in the earlier round of the event. Eventually Japan went on to lift the trophy by defeating Cuba 10-6 in the final that took place in San Diego.
The second edition of the event took place in 2009. The event had a new format which was preferred by many opposed to the previous edition’s format. Eight teams were to advance from the first round and all heavy weights moved forward. Netherlands was the
only unexpected team to make it to the next round after they defeated the Dominican Republic.
In the semi finals, the Koreans defeated the Venezuelan team while Japan got the better of United States. Korea and Japan came face-to-face in the final this time around. The game went to the wire and the Japanese team made it home with a 5-3 victory in
the 10th inning in Los Angeles.
Although Japan has won both editions of the World Baseball Classic, South Korea is the more successful team in terms of matches won.
The third edition of the tournament will have its semifinals and the final played in the US. The final will be played in San Francisco. There are a number of strong teams that will be participating in the event and it would certainly be a competitive event.
Japan and Cuba will certainly be contenders along with Korea and the Dominican Republic. A number of players from the Major League will also be participating in the event like the two previous editions. They will be playing not just for the US team but for
a number of other teams that will be participating.
It’s an excellent event that provides some of the best teams in baseball with an opportunity to play each other at the world stage. It is certainly very important for the promotion of the game and creating its global appeal. We hope that the 2013 event will
be another cracker jack show and fans will thoroughly enjoy it.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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