World Baseball Classic

The 2009 World Baseball Classic is scheduled for the beginning of March. Baseball’s attempt at a true international competition, it is a follow up to the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic won by Japan over Cuba.

The format: 16 teams have been split into 4 pools of 4 teams each. In a change from last time, the teams will forego round-robin competition and instead shift over to a double-elimination format. This means countries are only guaranteed of playing two games before possible elimination.

The top two countries from each pool in the first round will advance and form two new groups. These new groups will again make use of double-elimination to determine the four teams qualifying for the semifinals.

MLB Network will televise 16 World Baseball Classic games, along with a nightly studio show dedicated to the tournament. ESPN will televise 23 games of the Classic in the U.S., including the semifinal and final games, across ESPN and ESPN2 and on its Spanish-language platform, ESPN Deportes.

The semifinals and final will be held at Dodger Stadium, in Los Angeles, as well as earlier games in Miami, San Diego, San Juan and Toronto.

The first round opens in Tokyo, with defending champion Japan facing China. Mexico City,
Toronto and San Juan, Puerto Rico, host the other three first-round brackets, as follows:

• Tokyo (March 5-9): Japan, China, Chinese Taipei, Korea

• Toronto (March 7-11): USA, Canada, Venezuela, Italy

• San Juan, P.R. (March 7-11): Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Netherlands, Panama

• Mexico City (March 8-12): Mexico, Cuba, South Africa, Australia

This time, the tournament will be run in a double-elimination format in the first two rounds, with the winners from Toronto meeting the winners from Puerto Rico in the second round at Miami's Dolphin Stadium. The winners from Tokyo will meet the winners from Mexico City in San Diego's PETCO Park.

The semifinals and final will be played March 21 and 23 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

World Baseball Classic Results

The players from Japan and Korea lined up on the dugout rail, from the first pitch to the last.

Fans of each side clapping ThunderStix and chanting for four hours straight.

Japanese cleanup hitter, Kenji Johjima, who has exactly one sacrifice in three years in the major leagues, trying to lay down a sac bunt because he so wanted his team to get on the board first.

Japanese starter Hisashi Iwakuma so in command of Korean hitters through the first three innings that I wondered if maybe I'd be writing my first no-hitter story.

Korean right fielder Shin-Soo Choo driving a ball so hard over the center field wall in the fifth inning that thoughts of a no-no seemed an absurd and distant memory.

Japan collecting 13 singles and 15 total hits, but Korea making them strand 29 runners, twice stemming the tide with critical 5-4-3 double plays, the second of which featured a stout, quick turn and was, in the words of one of my colleagues in the press box, "a legitimate 180-footer like you almost never see."

Two strike-'em-out-throw-'em-out double plays, one by Korea in the fifth and one by Japan in the sixth.

Japan taking the lead four times and Korea battling back to tie the game on three separate occasions.

Team Japan manager Tatsunori Hara riding young stud Yu Darvish late in the game for a second straight night and being rewarded when the kid hit 100 mph on the gun and pitched two complete innings to earn the win.

Team Korea manager In-Sik Kim deciding to have reliever Chang Yong Lim pitch to Ichiro with first base open in the top of the 10th and paying the price when the Mariners right fielder laced a ball up the middle to drive in the deciding runs.

Players from Team Japan, basking in the postgame moment, jogging up and down the third base line with an unfurled Japanese flag, saluting the thousands of fans who lingered more than 30 minutes after the last out.

Japan 5, Korea 3 for what it was: A great night of baseball, a great night for baseball.

World Baseball Classic Betting Information:

World Baseball Classic Specials: World Baseball Classic Sports Betting Bonus.
World Baseball Classic Betting Odds: Live Odds on World Baseball Classic Betting.

Sports Betting Help: How to get sportsbook help.
Sportsbook Rules: The Sports Betting Rules.
Sports Betting deposits: View World Baseball Classic Betting Deposit options.

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