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Revision as of 03:53, 26 April 2008

The 2006 World Baseball Classic was the inaugural tournament between national baseball teams that included players from Major League Baseball. It was held from March 3 - March 20 in stadiums that are in and around Tokyo (Japan), San Juan (Puerto Rico), Orlando, Phoenix, Anaheim and San Diego (United States).

A game on Mar. 13, 2006, Angel Stadium, Anaheim, USA
Countries that participated

Format

The first World Baseball Classic featured 16 teams in a round-robin tournament. Each team played the other three teams in their pool once. The top two teams of each letter-pool moved onto the second round, where the top two teams of Pools A and B (Pool 1) and the top two teams of Pools C and D (Pool 2) competed against each other in another round-robin. The top two teams from each pool entered a four-team single-elimination bracket, with the pool winners and runners-up facing each other in the semifinals. The winners of the semifinals then met to determine the World Baseball Classic champions.

Teams

The teams selected for the inaugural World Baseball Classic were chosen because they were judged to be the "best baseball-playing nations in the world and provide global representation for the event."[1] There was no official qualifying competition.

Pool A Pool B Pool C Pool D
 China  Canada  Cuba  Australia
 Chinese Taipei  Mexico  Netherlands  Dominican Republic
 Japan  South Africa  Panama  Italy
 Korea  United States  Puerto Rico  Venezuela

Venues

Round 1

Pool A

Main article: 2006 World Baseball Classic - Pool A
Team W L Tiebreaker
 Korea 3 0 -
 Japan 2 1 -
 Chinese Taipei 1 2 -
 China 0 3 -

March 3, 2006

Tokyo Dome Korea  2–0  Chinese Taipei 5,193
Tokyo Dome Japan  18–2 (F/8)  China 15,869

March 4, 2006

Tokyo Dome China  1–10  Korea 3,925
Tokyo Dome Japan  14–3 (F/7)  Chinese Taipei 31,047

March 5, 2006

Tokyo Dome Chinese Taipei  12–3  China 4,577
Tokyo Dome Korea  3–2  Japan 40,353

Pool B

Main article: 2006 World Baseball Classic - Pool B
Team W L Tiebreaker
 Mexico 2 1 1-1, 1.59 RA/9
 United States 2 1 1-1, 4.00 RA/9
 Canada 2 1 1-1, 7.50 RA/9
 South Africa 0 3 -

March 7, 2006

Chase Field Mexico  0–2  United States 32,727
Scottsdale Stadium Canada  11–8  South Africa 5,829

March 8, 2006

Chase Field Canada  8–6  United States 16,993
Scottsdale Stadium South Africa  4–10  Mexico 7,937

March 9, 2006

Chase Field Mexico  9–1  Canada 15,744

March 10, 2006

Scottsdale Stadium United States  17–0 (F/5)  South Africa 11,975

Pool C

Main article: 2006 World Baseball Classic - Pool C
Team W L Tiebreaker
 Puerto Rico 3 0 -
 Cuba 2 1 -
 Netherlands 1 2 -
 Panama 0 3 -

March 7, 2006

Hiram Bithorn Stadium Panama  1–2  Puerto Rico 19,043

March 8, 2006

Hiram Bithorn Stadium Cuba  8–6 (F/11)  Panama 6,129
Hiram Bithorn Stadium Puerto Rico  8–3  Netherlands 15,570

March 9, 2006

Hiram Bithorn Stadium Cuba  11–2  Netherlands 7,657

March 10, 2006

Hiram Bithorn Stadium Netherlands  10–0 (F/7)  Panama 6,337
Hiram Bithorn Stadium Puerto Rico  12–2 (F/7)  Cuba 19,736

Pool D

Main article: 2006 World Baseball Classic - Pool D
Team W L Tiebreaker
 Dominican Republic 3 0 -
 Venezuela 2 1 -
 Italy 1 2 -
 Australia 0 3 -

March 7, 2006

Cracker Jack Stadium Dominican Republic  11–5  Venezuela 10,645
Cracker Jack Stadium Australia  0–10 (F/7)  Italy 8,099

March 8, 2006

Cracker Jack Stadium Italy  0–6  Venezuela 10,101

March 9, 2006

Cracker Jack Stadium Italy  3–8  Dominican Republic 9,949
Cracker Jack Stadium Venezuela  2–0  Australia 10,111

March 10, 2006

Cracker Jack Stadium Australia  4–6  Dominican Republic 11,083

Round 2

Pool 1

Main article: 2006 World Baseball Classic - Pool 1
Team W L Tiebreaker
 Korea 3 0 -
 Japan 1 2 1-1, 2.50 RA/9
 United States 1 2 1-1, 2.64 RA/9
 Mexico 1 2 1-1, 3.50 RA/9

March 12, 2006

Angel Stadium Japan  3–4  United States 32,896
Angel Stadium Mexico  1–2  Korea 42,979

March 13, 2006

Angel Stadium United States  3–7  Korea 21,288

March 14, 2006

Angel Stadium Japan  6–1  Mexico 16,591

March 15, 2006

Angel Stadium Korea  2–1  Japan 39,679

March 16, 2006

Angel Stadium United States  1–2  Mexico 38,284

Pool 2

Main article: 2006 World Baseball Classic - Pool 2
Team W L Tiebreaker
 Dominican Republic 2 1 1-0
 Cuba 2 1 0-1
 Venezuela 1 2 1-0
 Puerto Rico 1 2 0-1

March 12, 2006

Hiram Bithorn Stadium Cuba  7–2  Venezuela 13,697
Hiram Bithorn Stadium Puerto Rico  7–1  Dominican Republic 19,692

March 13, 2006

Hiram Bithorn Stadium Dominican Republic  7–3  Cuba 6,594
Hiram Bithorn Stadium Venezuela  6–0  Puerto Rico 19,400

March 14, 2006

Hiram Bithorn Stadium Venezuela  1–2  Dominican Republic 13,007

March 15, 2006

Hiram Bithorn Stadium Cuba  4–3  Puerto Rico 19,773

Finals

Main article: 2006 World Baseball Classic - Finals
 
SemifinalsFinal
 
      
 
2006-03-18 - PETCO Park
 
 
 Cuba3
 
2006-03-20 - PETCO Park
 
 Dominican Republic1
 
 Japan10
 
2006-03-18 - PETCO Park
 
 Cuba6
 
 Japan6
 
 
 Korea0
 

March 18, 2006

PETCO Park Cuba  3–1  Dominican Republic 41,268
PETCO Park Japan  6–0  Korea 42,639

March 20, 2006

PETCO Park Japan  10–6  Cuba 42,696

Final Standings

Attendance

737,112 (avg. 18,900; pct. 67.3%)

Round 1

326,629 (avg. 13,609; pct. 55.4%)

  • Pool A - 100,964 (avg. 16,827; pct. 40.1%)
  • Pool B - 91,205 (avg. 15,200; pct. 52.8%)
    • Chase Field - 65,464 (avg. 21,821; pct. 44.5%)
    • Scottsdale Stadium - 25,741 (avg. 8,580; pct. 100.9%)
  • Pool C - 74,472 (avg. 12,412; pct. 69.0%)
  • Pool D - 59,988 (avg. 9,998; pct. 105.2%)

Round 2

283,880 (avg. 23,656; pct. 75.0%)

  • Pool 1 - 191,717 (avg. 31,952; pct. 70.9%)
  • Pool 2 - 92,163 (avg. 15,360; pct. 85.3%)

Finals

126,603 (avg. 42,201; pct. 99.4%)

All-WBC team

Position Player
MVP Japan Daisuke Matsuzaka
C Japan Tomoya Satozaki
1B South Korea Seung Yeop Lee
2B Cuba Yulieski Gourriel
SS United States Derek Jeter
3B Dominican Republic Adrian Beltre
OF United States Ken Griffey, Jr.
South Korea Jong-Beom Lee
Japan Ichiro Suzuki
DH Cuba Yoandry Garlobo
P Cuba Yadel Martí
Japan Daisuke Matsuzaka
South Korea Chan Ho Park

Statistics

Team Batting

Ordered by batting average [2]

Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG OPS
 Japan 8 270 60 84 9 3 10 57 129 32 39 13 2 .390 .478 .311 .868
 United States 6 197 33 57 7 2 9 32 95 19 26 1 1 .359 .482 .289 .841
 Puerto Rico 6 203 32 58 9 0 8 31 91 24 34 7 3 .365 .448 .286 .813
 Cuba 8 279 44 79 12 1 8 41 117 24 51 3 4 .357 .419 .283 .776
 Canada 3 104 20 29 10 4 2 17 53 23 24 2 2 .419 .510 .279 .928
 Netherlands 3 102 15 27 3 0 0 11 30 11 22 0 0 .342 .294 .265 .636
 Chinese Taipei 3 102 15 27 9 0 1 11 39 7 21 3 1 .342 .382 .265 .724
 Dominican Republic 7 23 36 61 8 0 9 28 96 33 33 6 4 .364 .412 .262 .776
 South Africa 3 87 12 22 3 1 0 11 27 7 34 0 2 .330 .310 .253 .640
 Korea 7 218 26 53 13 1 6 26 86 16 51 2 0 .305 .394 .243 .699
 Mexico 6 189 23 44 11 1 5 21 72 15 36 2 0 .292 .381 .233 .673
 Italy 3 95 13 19 8 2 2 13 37 11 24 0 0 .290 .389 .200 .679
 Venezuela 6 188 22 35 6 0 7 20 62 35 40 2 1 .323 .330 .186 .653
 China 3 92 6 17 4 0 2 5 27 9 33 0 2 .286 .293 .185 .579
 Panama 3 91 7 15 3 0 1 7 21 10 16 0 1 .276 .231 .165 .507
 Australia 3 80 4 9 2 0 0 3 11 7 32 3 2 .191 .138 .113 .329

Batting Leaders

(minimum 2.7 plate appearances/game)[3]

Batting Average

Hits

Runs

Doubles

Triples

  • 15 players tied with 1

Home Runs

Grand Slams

Runs Batted In

Total Bases

Walks

Strikeouts

Stolen Bases

On-Base Percentage

Slugging Percentage

OPS

Team Pitching

Ordered by ERA [4]

Team W L ERA G CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR HB BB SO WHIP HLD GF
 Korea 6 1 2.00 7 0 1 4 63.0 45 14 14 7 4 18 50 1.00 8 7
 Puerto Rico 4 2 2.08 6 0 0 1 52.0 33 17 12 3 5 22 28 1.06 5 6
 Japan 5 3 2.49 8 0 1 2 68.2 52 21 19 7 8 11 62 0.92 3 8
 Dominican Republic 5 2 2.57 7 0 0 3 63.0 56 26 18 3 4 23 53 1.25 6 7
 Mexico 3 3 2.77 6 0 0 1 52.0 41 16 16 4 3 17 37 1.12 4 6
 Venezuela 3 3 3.06 6 0 3 1 53.0 39 20 18 6 0 20 55 1.11 7 6
 United States 3 3 3.75 6 0 2 1 48.0 43 20 20 4 3 17 48 1.25 4 6
 Cuba 5 3 4.13 8 0 0 4 72.0 66 43 33 7 6 41 51 1.49 2 8
 Italy 1 2 4.30 3 0 1 0 23.0 21 14 11 4 2 8 16 1.26 0 3
 Panama 0 3 5.19 3 0 0 0 26.0 33 20 15 2 5 13 17 1.77 0 3
 Netherlands 1 2 6.48 3 1 1 0 25.0 30 19 18 5 3 8 14 1.52 0 2
 Chinese Taipei 1 2 6.84 3 0 0 0 25.0 31 19 19 1 2 14 22 1.80 0 3
 Australia 0 3 6.85 3 0 0 0 23.2 24 18 18 3 2 26 16 2.11 0 3
 Canada 2 1 7.33 3 0 0 2 27.0 32 23 22 3 3 13 18 1.67 2 3
 China 0 3 9.72 3 0 0 0 25.0 48 40 27 6 4 10 16 2.32 0 3
 South Africa 0 3 13.50 3 0 0 0 22.0 42 38 33 5 2 22 13 2.91 0 3

Pitching Leaders

(minimum 0.8 innings pitched/game)[5]

Wins

Losses

Saves

Innings Pitched

Hits Allowed

Runs Allowed

Earned Runs Allowed

ERA

Walks

Strikeouts

WHIP

No-hit no-run

Controversies

Main article: Controversies at the 2006 World Baseball Classic

Team Cuba
In an effort to enforce the United States Government's embargo on Cuba, the Cuban team was initially denied a license to play in the United States.[6] Puerto Rico threatened to pull out as hosts,[7] IBAF said they would rescind its sanctioning of the tournament,[8] and the IOC suggested that such a development would influence the ability of American cities to successfully bid to host future Olympic Games.[9] Financing was restructured and the U.S. government relented.[10]

Republic Of China (Taiwan)
The Republic Of China (Taiwan) baseball team was originally listed as "Taiwan" and bearing the national flag (Taiwan), but according to the One China Policy of People's Republic of China, was later changed to Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) and bearing the Chinese Taipei Olympic Flag (Chinese Taipei).

Participation
A number of Major League baseball players chose not to participate, some backing out at the last minute. Without players such as Barry Bonds, Vladimir Guerrero (who pulled out because 3 cousins died in a car accident right before World Baseball Classic), Manny Ramírez, Hideki Matsui, and Jose Vidro, some questioned whether the event would be credible. Cuba barred from its team players such as Orlando Hernández, his half-brother Liván Hernández, and José Contreras, Cubans who had previously defected. Italy was criticized for a roster made up almost entirely of second-generation Italian Americans such as Mike Piazza.

Format
Korea completed the first two rounds undefeated (6-0) but was still forced to play Japan, a team it had already beaten twice, in the semifinal round. Other international sporting competitions, such as the FIFA World Cup, are formatted so as to make it impossible that teams play each other three times. They can only face twice at most - in round robin group play and then again for the championship or 3rd-place match. In addition, the regional grouping of teams was called into question, for the groups were perceived to be unevenly distributed.

Drug Testing
The World Anti-Doping Agency criticized IBAF's drug testing program and threatened to withdraw sanction of the event.[11] One athlete, South Korean pitcher Park Myung-hwan, tested positive for a banned substance during the event, and he was subsequently kicked out of the WBC.[12]

Umpires
WBC organizers were unable to reach an agreement with the MLB umpires' union and so the tournament was overseen by umpires from the minor leagues. American umpire Bob Davidson made two questionable calls at critical moments in two different games that each directly benefited the American team.

Additional rules

There were several rule changes from normal major league play. Pitchers were held to a pitch count of 65 pitches in the first round, 80 pitches in the second round, and 95 in the semifinals and championship rounds. If a pitcher reached his maximum pitch count in the middle of an at-bat, he could continue to pitch to that batter, but was required to be replaced once that at-bat ended. A 30-pitch outing needed to be followed by one day off, and a 50-pitch outing by four days off. No one would be allowed to pitch on three consecutive days. A mercy rule would come into effect with one team leading by either fifteen runs after five innings, or ten runs after seven innings in the first two rounds of play. In addition, ties could be called after fourteen innings of play.

The designated hitter rule was in place for all games.

Success of tournament

Many members of the United States press were skeptical of the Classic since its inception. The event proved to be quite popular, however, providing many memorable moments including a first round game between Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. Attendance was higher than expected at several sites, including the 19,000-seat Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, which was sold out for every Puerto Rico game in the first two rounds. Though international ratings figures are not yet available, viewership is expected to be high, ESPN spokeswoman Diane Lamb said. In addition, there were 4,000 media credentials issued — more than the World Series and the Olympic Games — which bodes well for the stated goal of internationalizing the sport. Sports Illustrated writer Tom Verducci reported that "[m]ore merchandise was sold in the first round than organizers projected for the entire 17-day event." [13] He also reported that, at one point, jerseys for the Venezuelan team were selling at the rate of one every six seconds.

The US television ratings on ESPN were stronger than initially expected, drawing in more than one million television sets for some games, more than almost any other ESPN program in the month of March. This occurred despite less than stellar airing times for the games. Most were not aired live but taped, and sometimes with innings cut, as the WBC was organized well after ESPN had committed to much of its programming. These ratings all but assure the next WBC, in 2009, will be awarded more live broadcasts during prime time.

However, outside US, the tournament was very successful. In Latin America, a first round game between the United States and Mexico, was the third most watched game in the history of ESPN Dos, one of the three spanish-language channels of ESPN in Latin America.

The allocation of earnings

The total earnings of WBC is divided into net profit (53%) and prize money (47%).[14] U.S. Hurricane Katrina victims will receive the 7% of money earned by the Cuban team.

Net profit (53%)

  • World Baseball Classic Inc.: 17.5%
  • Baseball Players Union: 17.5%
  • Japanese Baseball Organization: 7%
  • Korean Baseball Organization: 5%
  • International Baseball Federation: 5%
  • Miscellaneous expenses: 1%

Prize money (47%)

  • Japan (Champions): 10%
  • Cuba (Runners-up): 7%
  • Korea and Dominican Republic (Semifinalists): 5% each
  • The 4 teams that drop out of the Round 2: 3% each
  • The 8 teams that drop out of the Round 1: 1% each

External links

References

See also

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