2013 World Baseball Classic qualification
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Countries |  GermanyFile:Flag of Panama.svg Panama File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan File:Flag of the United States (23px).png United States |
| Dates | September 19 – November 19, 2012 |
| Teams | 16 |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Games played | 24 |
| Attendance | 103,774 (4,324 per game) |
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The qualifying round of the 2013 World Baseball Classic was held from September 19 to November 19, 2012. It was the first ever qualifiers for the tournament.
Although the 2006 and 2009 editions of the World Baseball Classic were contested by the same pre-selected field of 16 teams, for the 2013 tournament only the 12 teams that won at least one game in 2009 were guaranteed a berth in the main tournament. Due a agreement with then International Baseball Federation (now World Baseball Softball Confederation), other four (Canada, Chinese Taipei, Panama, and South Africa) contested the qualifying round along with 12 additional teams invited by the confeeration.[1]
The qualifiers were organized as four independent modified double-elimination tournaments featuring four teams each. The final game was winner-take-all, even if won by the team emerging from the loser's bracket. That is, the team emerging from the winner's bracket might be eliminated despite losing only one game (as, in fact, happened to Israel in Qualifier 1).
Canada and Chinese Taipei dominated in Qualifiers 2 and 4 to advance easily. In Qualifier 1, Spain and Israel both won in the first round, then Israel beat Spain in the winner's bracket. Spain then eliminated South Africa (the only team in the qualifier to have previously contested the WBC) to earn a rematch with Israel, which was without its several Major League players due to the qualifier taking place during the MLB season. Spain won the winner-take-all final game, 9–7 in 10 innings, to advance to the main tournament.
In Qualifier 3, favorites Panama and Nicaragua lost in the first round, and Panama then eliminated Nicaragua. After both teams defeated Colombia, underdog Brazil defeated Panama 1–0 to advance to the main tournament.
Players
[edit | edit source]Under the Classic's rules, Team Israel was entitled to have non-Israeli citizens of Jewish heritage play for the team. Such players included major leaguers catcher Ryan Lavarnway, first baseman Ike Davis, second basemen Ian Kinsler and Josh Satin, third basemen Kevin Youkilis and Danny Valencia, outfielders Ryan Braun (whose father is Israeli), Sam Fuld, Ryan Kalish, and Gabe Kapler, and pitchers Jason Marquis, Scott Feldman, Craig Breslow, and John Grabow, as well as what were then recent major leaguers catcher Brad Ausmus and pitcher Scott Schoeneweis.[2][3][4][5][6][7] Kinsler said:
"Wow, I would be happy to play for Team Israel.... The truth is that if a proposal comes from Team USA to play for them, I will have a very difficult decision to make. Yuk [Kevin Youkilis], Braun [Ryan Braun], and I could make a fantastic team. I am sure that I'll talk it over with Yuk – we always laugh about things like this."[8]
Outfielder Shawn Green, who retired in 2007, was also eligible because he is Jewish. In early June 2011 he said it "would be an honor" and he "would love to" play for Israel in the Classic.[9][10]
Because they were held in September, while the Major League Baseball season was still in progress, Qualifiers 1 and 2 could not feature major league players.[11][12] Kevin Youkilis announced that he would play for the team if they made it past the qualifying round.[13]
The highest-level players involved in Qualifiers 1 and 2 were minor-league prospects ranked among the top 20 in their respective organizations.[14] Team Israel, managed by former major league All Star Brad Ausmus, included minor league pitchers Eric Berger (1–0) and Brett Lorin, first baseman Nate Freiman (.417; 4 HR in 12 AB), second baseman Josh Satin (.273), shortstops Jake Lemmerman and Ben Orloff, and outfielders Adam Greenberg, Ben Guez, Joc Pederson (.308), and Robbie Widlansky.[15][16] Retired major leaguer Shawn Green played for Israel (.333).[15]
Similarly, Joey Votto and Justin Morneau were unable to play for Canada.[17] They were led by minor league first baseman Jimmy Van Ostrand (.538; 10 RBIs in 13 at-bats).[16] Although Canada advanced easily despite the unavailability of its Major Leaguers, Israel was eliminated after narrowly losing the final game to Spain.
By contrast, all four teams in Qualifier 3 boasted Major League players, as it took place in November and did not conflict with the MLB season. Established Major Leaguers included Carlos Ruiz, Rubén Tejada, Manny Acosta, Manny Corpas, and Carlos Lee of Panama; and Everth Cabrera and J. C. Ramírez of Nicaragua. Major League rookies and prospects included Erasmo Ramírez and Cheslor Cuthbert of Nicaragua; Yan Gomes of Brazil; and Luis Martinez and brothers Donavan and Jhonatan Solano of Colombia. Retired Major Leaguers included Ramiro Mendoza of Panama and Édgar Rentería of Colombia.[18]
Although Qualifier 4 also took place in November, it did not feature any current MLB players, as both Wei-Yin Chen and Chien-Ming Wang of Chinese Taipei elected to skip the qualifier. Chinese Taipei did feature Japanese major leaguer Yao-Hsun Yang as well as Taiwanese league players such as Peng Cheng-min and Lin Chih-sheng, and qualified easily. Both New Zealand and the Philippines included minor league players, while Thailand included former Major Leaguer Johnny Damon.[19]
Venues
[edit | edit source]Four stadiums were used during the qualifying round:[20][21]
| Qualifier 1 | Qualifier 2 | Qualifier 3 | Qualifier 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
 Jupiter, United States
|
Regensburg, Germany
|
Panama Panama City, Panama | Taiwan New Taipei City, Taiwan |
| Roger Dean Stadium | Armin-Wolf-Arena | Rod Carew Stadium | Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium |
| Capacity: 6,871 | Capacity: 10,000 | Capacity: 27,000 | Capacity: 12,500 |
| File:Roger Dean Stadium.JPG | File:Armin wolf arena wm2009.jpg | File:Rodcarew.jpg | File:新莊棒球場.JPG |
Pools composition
[edit | edit source]Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate positions in the WBSC World Rankings at the time of the tournament.[22]
| Qualifier 1 | Qualifier 2 | Qualifier 3 | Qualifier 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
 France (30)
|
File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada (6) |  Brazil (20)
|
Error creating thumbnail: Chinese Taipei (5) |
| File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel (74) |  Czech Republic (25)
|
File:Flag of Colombia.svg Colombia (19) | File:Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand (28) |
| File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa (27) | Germany (17)
|
File:Flag of Nicaragua.svg Nicaragua (15) | File:Flag of the Philippines.svg Philippines (22) |
 Spain (16)
|
 Great Britain (21)
|
File:Flag of Panama.svg Panama (14) |  Thailand (23)
|
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Qualifying round
[edit | edit source]Qualifier 1
[edit | edit source]| Preliminaries | Semifinals | Qualifier | |||||||||||
| – | File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel | 7 | |||||||||||
| – | File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa | 3 | |||||||||||
| W1 | File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel | 4 | |||||||||||
| W2 | Spain | 2 | |||||||||||
| – | France | 0 | |||||||||||
| – | Spain | 8 | |||||||||||
| W3 | File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel | 7 | |||||||||||
| W5 | Spain | 9 | |||||||||||
| Lower round 1 | Lower final | ||||||||||||
| W4 | File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa | 3 | |||||||||||
| L1 | File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa | 5 | L3 | Spain | 13 | ||||||||
| L2 | France | 2 | |||||||||||
| Date | Local time | Road team | Score | Home team | Inn. | Venue | Game duration | Attendance | Boxscore |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 19, 2012 | 19:00 | Israel File:Flag of Israel.svg | 7–3 | File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa | Roger Dean Stadium | 3:16 | 1,581 | Boxscore | |
| Sep 20, 2012 | 19:00 | France
|
0–8 | Spain
|
Roger Dean Stadium | 2:51 | 975 | Boxscore | |
| Sep 21, 2012 | 13:00 | Israel File:Flag of Israel.svg | 4–2 | Spain
|
Roger Dean Stadium | 2:43 | 814 | Boxscore | |
| Sep 21, 2012 | 19:00 | South Africa File:Flag of South Africa.svg | 5–2 | France
|
11 | Roger Dean Stadium | 3:57 | 922 | Boxscore |
| Sep 22, 2012 | 19:00 | Spain
|
13–3 | File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa | Roger Dean Stadium | 3:11 | 1,183 | Boxscore | |
| Sep 23, 2012 | 17:00 | Spain
|
9–7 | File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel | 10 | Roger Dean Stadium | 4:50 | 4,463 | Boxscore |
Qualifier 2
[edit | edit source]| Preliminaries | Semifinals | Qualifier | |||||||||||
| – | Great Britain | 1 | |||||||||||
| – | File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada | 11 | |||||||||||
| W1 | File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada | 16 | |||||||||||
| W2 | Germany | 7 | |||||||||||
| – | Czech Republic | 1 | |||||||||||
| – | Germany | 16 | |||||||||||
| W4 | File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada | 11 | |||||||||||
| W5 | Germany | 1 | |||||||||||
| Lower round 1 | Lower final | ||||||||||||
| W3 | Great Britain | 1 | |||||||||||
| L1 | Great Britain | 12 | L4 | Germany | 16 | ||||||||
| L2 | Czech Republic | 5 | |||||||||||
| Date | Local time | Road team | Score | Home team | Inn. | Venue | Game duration | Attendance | Boxscore |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 20, 2012 | 19:00 | Great Britain
|
1–11 | File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada | 7 | Armin-Wolf-Arena | 2:28 | 3,704 | Boxscore |
| Sep 21, 2012 | 19:00 | Czech Republic
|
1–16 | Germany
|
6 | Armin-Wolf-Arena | 2:15 | 3,019 | Boxscore |
| Sep 22, 2012 | 13:00 | Great Britain
|
12–5 | Czech Republic
|
Armin-Wolf-Arena | 3:10 | 1,806 | Boxscore | |
| Sep 22, 2012 | 19:00 | Canada File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg | 16–7 | Germany
|
Armin-Wolf-Arena | 4:00 | 4,085 | Boxscore | |
| Sep 23, 2012 | 14:00 | Germany
|
16–1 | Great Britain
|
7 | Armin-Wolf-Arena | 2:35 | 1,452 | Boxscore |
| Sep 24, 2012 | 19:00 | Germany
|
1–11 | File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada | 8 | Armin-Wolf-Arena | 2:33 | 3,120 | Boxscore |
Qualifier 3
[edit | edit source]| Preliminaries | Semifinals | Qualifier | |||||||||||
| – | Brazil | 3 | |||||||||||
| – | File:Flag of Panama.svg Panama | 2 | |||||||||||
| W1 | Brazil | 7 | |||||||||||
| W2 | File:Flag of Colombia.svg Colombia | 1 | |||||||||||
| – | File:Flag of Nicaragua.svg Nicaragua | 1 | |||||||||||
| – | File:Flag of Colombia.svg Colombia | 8 | |||||||||||
| W3 | Brazil | 1 | |||||||||||
| W5 | File:Flag of Panama.svg Panama | 0 | |||||||||||
| Lower round 1 | Lower final | ||||||||||||
| W4 | File:Flag of Panama.svg Panama | 9 | |||||||||||
| L1 | File:Flag of Panama.svg Panama | 6 | L3 | File:Flag of Colombia.svg Colombia | 7 | ||||||||
| L2 | File:Flag of Nicaragua.svg Nicaragua | 2 | |||||||||||
| Date | Local time | Road team | Score | Home team | Inn. | Venue | Game duration | Attendance | Boxscore |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 15, 2012 | 20:00 | Brazil
|
3–2 | File:Flag of Panama.svg Panama | Rod Carew Stadium | 3:23 | 13,728 | Boxscore | |
| Nov 16, 2012 | 20:00 | Nicaragua File:Flag of Nicaragua.svg | 1–8 | File:Flag of Colombia.svg Colombia | Rod Carew Stadium | 3:31 | 4,028 | Boxscore | |
| Nov 17, 2012 | 14:00 | Colombia File:Flag of Colombia.svg | 1–7 | Brazil
|
Rod Carew Stadium | 3:33 | 2,952 | Boxscore | |
| Nov 17, 2012 | 20:00 | Nicaragua File:Flag of Nicaragua.svg | 2–6 | File:Flag of Panama.svg Panama | Rod Carew Stadium | 3:46 | 8,531 | Boxscore | |
| Nov 18, 2012 | 19:00 | Panama File:Flag of Panama.svg | 9–7 | File:Flag of Colombia.svg Colombia | Rod Carew Stadium | 3:30 | 5,317 | Boxscore | |
| Nov 19, 2012 | 20:00 | Panama File:Flag of Panama.svg | 0–1 | Brazil
|
Rod Carew Stadium | 2:38 | 10,638 | Boxscore |
Qualifier 4
[edit | edit source]| Date | Local time | Road team | Score | Home team | Inn. | Venue | Game duration | Attendance | Boxscore |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 15, 2012 | 11:30 | Philippines File:Flag of the Philippines.svg | 8–2 | Thailand
|
Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium | 3:10 | 923 | Boxscore | |
| Nov 15, 2012 | 18:30 | New Zealand File:Flag of New Zealand.svg | 0–10 | Error creating thumbnail: Chinese Taipei | 7 | Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium | 2:29 | 9,788 | Boxscore |
| Nov 16, 2012 | 11:30 | New Zealand File:Flag of New Zealand.svg | 12–2 | Thailand
|
8 | Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium | 3:05 | 1,168 | Boxscore |
| Nov 16, 2012 | 18:30 | Chinese Taipei Error creating thumbnail: | 16–0 | File:Flag of the Philippines.svg Philippines | 7 | Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium | 2:56 | 10,911 | Boxscore |
| Nov 17, 2012 | 14:00 | New Zealand File:Flag of New Zealand.svg | 10–6 | File:Flag of the Philippines.svg Philippines | Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium | 3:13 | 503 | Boxscore | |
| Nov 18, 2012 | 14:00 | New Zealand File:Flag of New Zealand.svg | 0–9 | Error creating thumbnail: Chinese Taipei | Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium | 3:31 | 8,163 | Boxscore |
Attendance
[edit | edit source]103,774 (avg. 4,324; pct. 30.7%)
- Qualifier 1 – 9,938 (avg. 1,656; pct. 24.1%)
- Qualifier 2 – 17,186 (avg. 2,864; pct. 28.6%)
- Qualifier 3 – 45,194 (avg. 7,532; pct. 27.9%)
- Qualifier 4 – 31,456 (avg. 5,243; pct. 41.9%)
Statistics leaders
[edit | edit source]Additional rules
[edit | edit source]A pitcher threw no more than 85 pitches per game in the qualifying round unless the pitcher needed more to complete a batter's plate appearance.
A pitcher must:
- Not pitch until a minimum of four days have passed since he last pitched, if he threw 50 or more pitches when he last pitched;
- Not pitch until a minimum of one day has passed since he last pitched, if he threw 30 or more pitches when he last pitched;
- Not pitch until a minimum of one day has passed since any second consecutive day on which the pitcher pitched;
A mercy rule came into effect when one team led by either fifteen runs after five innings, or ten runs after seven innings.
An alternative version of the IBAF's extra inning rule was also used. If after 12 innings the score was still tied, each half inning thereafter would have started with runners on second and first base. The runners would have been the eighth and ninth hitters due in that inning respectively. For example, if the number five hitter was due to lead off the inning, the number three hitter would have been on second base, and the number four hitter on first base. However, this rule was never actually employed in this year's qualifiers, as the two extra-inning games in the qualifying round ended prior to a 13th inning.
References
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