Baseball, among those who still pay attention, takes some heat for labeling the pinnacle of its sport as the World Series. It turns out, however, that the sport has in fact gone global, establishing a reach that extends into some surprising nooks and crannies. And every four years or so (longer if there’s a pandemic), it crowns its true champion with the World Baseball Classic, baseball’s answer to the World Cup. This quick primer will allow you to carry a conversation on the matter, assuming you choose to engage in such frivolity.
The Basics
The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation—headquartered in Pully, Switzerland—in partnership with Major League Baseball—headquartered in New York City. Given baseball’s on-again-off-again relationship with the Olympics, the WBC has at this point become the sport’s premier international competition.
First held in 2006, an event won by Japan, the tournament has reappeared in 2009 (won again by Japan), 2013 (won by the Dominican Republic), 2017 (won by the United States), and 2023 (won by Japan for a third time).
Designed largely to help promote baseball on the world stage, the WBC has enjoyed at least modest success, averaging 27,796 fans over 47 games in 2023 and attracting 5.2 million US viewers for the final that year (compared to about 11 million viewers for a World Series game). The total pot of prize money has risen to $14.4 million, highlighting the fact that broadcasting companies such as Fox have found the tournament worthy of their expenditures.
How It Works
The 2023 edition was held in four locations—Taiwan (also referred to as Chinese Taipei), Japan, Phoenix, and Miami. A total of 20 teams (19 countries as the United States and Puerto Rico fielded separate squads) were divided into four pools, with all games in a given pool being played at one of the above four sites.
Within every pool, each team played the other four teams once, and the top two teams from each pool advanced to the quarterfinals. From there, a single elimination tournament held in Tokyo and Miami decided the winner.
Here’s the breakdown, with the advancing teams indicated with an asterisk:
Pool A (Taichung, Taiwan)
- Chinese Taipei
- Cuba*
- Italy*
- Kingdom of the Netherlands
- Panama
Pool B (Tokyo, Japan)
Pool C (Phoenix, USA)
- Canada
- Colombia
- Great Britain
- Mexico*
- United States*
Pool D (Miami, USA)
- Dominican Republic
- Israel
- Nicaragua
- Puerto Rico*
- Venezuela*
As above, Japan was ultimately victorious.
Other Notes
In order for the WBC to be taken seriously, the world’s best players need to participate. Not surprisingly, there has been hesitation on the part of several entities, including Major League Baseball (MLB) players and owners, concerned about the risk of injury in a March tournament that immediately precedes the start of the MLB season.
Insurance policies that pay players for time missed as a result of injury during the WBC (thus alleviating MLB teams of that burden) have taken the edge off such concerns. Still, some injury-prone players with large contracts may be deemed uninsurable. And young players who have yet to receive lucrative contracts may opt not to take any risks that could impede such opportunity. With all this in mind, the tournament has implemented relatively strict pitch counts to lower the chance of injury and fatigue.
Other quibbles worldwide have related to the manner in which sponsorship and licensing revenue is shared.
Despite these hiccups, the WBC has done an excellent job of attracting top talent, laying the foundation for a promising future.
So yes, if you’re looking to diminish your productivity, the World Baseball Classic is worth a look.
2 Responses
Lots of senior citizens with lots of time to kill.
Hahaha.