World Baseball Classic
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Published: August 17, 2006
In March 2006, the World Baseball Classic showed the sheer brilliance and baseball talent that the world has to offer in the month long tournament. After two long years of working out the logistics, Major League Baseball in partnership with the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) announced in May 2005 their plans for the World Baseball Classic.
The key to the entire deal was to make the World Baseball Classic a tournament for the best players in the world to play. In other international competitions, Major League Baseball does not allow their players to participate. The World Baseball Classic makes it possible for the best players from 16 countries that play Major League Baseball to have the opportunity to represent their country.
The first round of the World Baseball Classic consisted of 4 pools of 4 teams. The top two teams in each pool advanced to the second round. The second round was also round-robin with the top two teams then advancing to the semi-finals where it would turn into single-elimination knockout games. Pool A was Japan, Korea, Taiwan Taipei, and China. Pool B was the United States, Mexico, Canada, and South Africa. Pool C was Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama, and the Netherlands. Pool D was the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Italy, and Australia.
Advancing from Pool A was Japan and Korea, the United States and Mexico moved in Pool B, Cuba and Puerto Rico in Pool C, and the Dominican Republic and Venezuela in Pool D. In the second round, the United States was outplayed in all facets by Korea and was ousted as Japan and Korea advanced to the semifinals. Cuba continued to outpitch and outhit teams and advanced along with the Dominican Republic eliminating Puerto Rico and Venezuela. In the Semifinals, Cuba shocked the world by defeating the favored Dominican Republic to move to the final against Japan who avenged a loss to Korea in first round action by powering their way into the final. In the championship game, Japan showed their muscle and beat Cuba 10-6 to win the inaugural World Baseball Classic.
The World Baseball Classic was received to mixed reviews in the United States. Many fans enjoyed the idea of seeing stars like Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Ken Griffey Jr., and Roger Clemens don the red, white, and blue and take on the best in the world. However, a lot of people didn't like that it cut into Spring Training and the players might get injured playing otherwise meaningless games. Internationally, the World Baseball Classic was all the rage. Countries from around the world finally had an opportunity to prove that they could go head to head with the best on the planet. The World Baseball Classic was everything international countries wanted, Japan showed that being fundamentally sound in all facets of the game will always beat a team of power hitters. Cuba showed that baseball is as much their pastime as America's and every country that played showed passion and pride in both wins and losses and vow to make a better showing in the next World Baseball Classic in 2009.
