2009 World Baseball Classic

As was the case for the 2006 tournament, the sixteen teams were split into four pools of four teams each.^[1] Whereas previously the teams played in round-robin competition in the first two rounds, this time they took part in a double-elimination format, similar to the U.S. College World Series sponsored by the NCAA. Under the new format, teams were only guaranteed to play two games. This change was made to eliminate the complicated tiebreaking procedures,^[2] which were required for one of the pools in each of the first two rounds in 2006.

After the first round, the tournament was held in the U.S. The top two teams from each of the four pools—seeded from the final game in their respective pools—went to the second round, with the teams from Pools A and B meeting at Petco Park in San Diego for Pool 1, and the teams in Pools C and D playing at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens for Pool 2.^[3] Again, both pools made use of double-elimination to determine the teams qualifying for the semifinals. In another change from 2006, the four qualifying teams crossed over for the semifinals, with the winner of each pool playing against the runner-up from the other pool.^[2] The championship round process was otherwise unchanged, with each semifinal being a single elimination match, the victors meeting in the final to determine the tournament champion. All three championship round games were held at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.^[3]

In the final, the team with the higher winning percentage of games in the tournament were to be the home team. If the teams competing in the final had identical winning percentages in the tournament, then World Baseball Classic, Inc. (WBCI) would conduct a coin flip or draw to determine the home team.

Each participating national federation had a deadline of January 19, 2009, to submit a 45-man provisional roster. Final rosters of 28 players, which was required to include a minimum of 13 pitchers and two catchers, were submitted on February 24. If a player on the submitted roster was unable to play, usually due to injury, he could be substituted at any time before the start of the tournament. While rosters could not be changed during a round of competition, a team that advanced to a later round could change its roster for the later round.

Seven stadiums were used during the tournament:

Pool A	Pool B	Pool C	Pool D
Tokyo, Japan	Mexico City, Mexico	Toronto, Canada	San Juan, Puerto Rico
Tokyo Dome	Foro Sol	Rogers Centre	Hiram Bithorn Stadium
Capacity: 42,000	Capacity: 26,000	Capacity: 49,539	Capacity: 18,264

Pool 1	Pool 2	Championship
San Diego, United States	Miami Gardens, United States	Los Angeles, United States
Petco Park	Dolphin Stadium	Dodger Stadium
Capacity: 42,685	Capacity: 38,560	Capacity: 56,000

The 16 teams that participated in the 2006 World Baseball Classic were all invited back for the 2009 tournament. The World Baseball Classic, Inc. (WBCI) changed the members of each pool as compared with the 2006 Classic, however, except for Pool A. There was no official qualifying competition.

Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate positions in the IBAF World Rankings at the time of the tournament.^[4][5]

Pool A	Pool B	Pool C	Pool D
China (14)	Australia (10)	Canada (7)	Dominican Republic (17)
Chinese Taipei (5)	Cuba (1)	Italy (13)	Netherlands (6)
Japan (4)	Mexico (8)	United States (2)	Panama (9)
South Korea (3)	South Africa (20)	Venezuela (15)	Puerto Rico (11)

Pool A edit

Preliminaries

Qualifiers

Seeding

–

China

0

–

Japan

4

W1

Japan

14

W2

South Korea

2

–

Chinese Taipei

0

–

South Korea

9

W4

Japan

0

W5

South Korea

1

Lower round 1

Lower final

W3

China

0

L1

China

4

L4

South Korea

14

L2

Chinese Taipei

1

Date	Local time	Road team	Score	Home team	Inn.	Venue	Game duration	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 5, 2009	18:30	China	0–4	Japan		Tokyo Dome	2:55	43,428	Boxscore
Mar 6, 2009	18:30	Chinese Taipei	0–9	South Korea		Tokyo Dome	2:48	12,704	Boxscore
Mar 7, 2009	12:30	Chinese Taipei	1–4	China		Tokyo Dome	2:51	12,890	Boxscore
Mar 7, 2009	19:00	Japan	14–2	South Korea	7	Tokyo Dome	2:48	45,640	Boxscore
Mar 8, 2009	18:30	China	0–14	South Korea	7	Tokyo Dome	2:13	12,571	Boxscore
Mar 9, 2009	18:30	South Korea	1–0	Japan		Tokyo Dome	3:02	42,879	Boxscore

Pool B edit

Preliminaries

Qualifiers

Seeding

–

South Africa

1

–

Cuba

8

W1

Cuba

5

W2

Australia

4

–

Australia

17

–

Mexico

7

W4

Cuba

16

W5

Mexico

4

Lower round 1

Lower final

W3

Mexico

16

L1

South Africa

3

L4

Australia

1

L2

Mexico

14

Date	Local time	Road team	Score	Home team	Inn.	Venue	Game duration	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 8, 2009	12:00	South Africa	1–8	Cuba		Foro Sol	2:37	11,270	Boxscore
Mar 8, 2009	19:00	Australia	17–7	Mexico	8	Foro Sol	3:43	20,821	Boxscore
Mar 9, 2009	20:00	Mexico	14–3	South Africa		Foro Sol	3:33	10,311	Boxscore
Mar 10, 2009	20:00	Cuba	5–4	Australia		Foro Sol	3:29	13,396	Boxscore
Mar 11, 2009	20:00	Mexico	16–1	Australia	6	Foro Sol	2:31	16,718	Boxscore
Mar 12, 2009	19:00	Mexico	4–16	Cuba	7	Foro Sol	3:33	20,149	Boxscore

Pool C edit

Preliminaries

Qualifiers

Seeding

–

Canada

5

–

United States

6

W1

United States

15

W2

Venezuela

6

–

Italy

0

–

Venezuela

7

W3

United States

3

W5

Venezuela

5

Lower round 1

Lower final

W4

Italy

1

L1

Canada

2

L3

Venezuela

10

L2

Italy

6

Date	Local time	Road team	Score	Home team	Inn.	Venue	Game duration	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 7, 2009	14:00	Canada	5–6	United States		Rogers Centre	2:55	42,314	Boxscore
Mar 7, 2009	20:00	Italy	0–7	Venezuela		Rogers Centre	3:00	13,272	Boxscore
Mar 8, 2009	20:00	United States	15–6	Venezuela		Rogers Centre	3:39	13,094	Boxscore
Mar 9, 2009	18:30	Italy	6–2	Canada		Rogers Centre	3:36	12,411	Boxscore
Mar 10, 2009	17:00	Italy	1–10	Venezuela		Rogers Centre	3:04	10,450	Boxscore
Mar 11, 2009	18:30	Venezuela	5–3	United States		Rogers Centre	3:08	12,358	Boxscore

Pool D edit

Preliminaries

Qualifiers

Seeding

–

Netherlands

3

–

Dominican Rep.

2

W1

Netherlands

1

W2

Puerto Rico

3

–

Panama

0

–

Puerto Rico

7

W4

Puerto Rico

5

W5

Netherlands

0

Lower round 1

Lower final

W3

Dominican Rep.

1

L1

Dominican Rep.

9

L4

Netherlands

2

L2

Panama

0

Date	Local time	Road team	Score	Home team	Inn.	Venue	Game duration	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 7, 2009	12:00	Netherlands	3–2	Dominican Republic		Hiram Bithorn Stadium	3:01	9,335	Boxscore
Mar 7, 2009	18:00	Panama	0–7	Puerto Rico		Hiram Bithorn Stadium	2:57	17,348	Boxscore
Mar 8, 2009	16:30	Panama	0–9	Dominican Republic		Hiram Bithorn Stadium	2:46	9,221	Boxscore
Mar 9, 2009	18:30	Netherlands	1–3	Puerto Rico		Hiram Bithorn Stadium	3:11	19,479	Boxscore
Mar 10, 2009	18:30	Dominican Republic	1–2	Netherlands	11	Hiram Bithorn Stadium	3:38	11,814	Boxscore
Mar 11, 2009	17:30	Netherlands	0–5	Puerto Rico		Hiram Bithorn Stadium	2:55	19,501	Boxscore

Pool 1 edit

Preliminaries

Qualifiers

Seeding

AR

Japan

6

BW

Cuba

0

W1

Japan

1

W2

South Korea

4

BR

Mexico

2

AW

South Korea

8

W4

South Korea

2

W5

Japan

6

Lower round 1

Lower final

W3

Cuba

0

L1

Cuba

7

L4

Japan

5

L2

Mexico

4

Date	Local time	Road team	Score	Home team	Inn.	Venue	Game duration	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 15, 2009	13:00	Japan	6–0	Cuba		Petco Park	3:33	20,179	Boxscore
Mar 15, 2009	20:00	Mexico	2–8	South Korea		Petco Park	3:43	22,337	Boxscore
Mar 16, 2009	20:00	Cuba	7–4	Mexico		Petco Park	3:09	9,329	Boxscore
Mar 17, 2009	20:00	Japan	1–4	South Korea		Petco Park	3:21	15,332	Boxscore
Mar 18, 2009	20:00	Japan	5–0	Cuba		Petco Park	3:26	9,774	Boxscore
Mar 19, 2009	18:00	Japan	6–2	South Korea		Petco Park	3:42	14,832	Boxscore

Pool 2 edit

Preliminaries

Qualifiers

Seeding

DR

Netherlands

1

CW

Venezuela

3

W1

Venezuela

2

W2

Puerto Rico

0

CR

United States

1

DW

Puerto Rico

11

W4

Venezuela

10

W5

United States

6

Lower round 1

Lower final

W3

United States

6

L1

Netherlands

3

L4

Puerto Rico

5

L2

United States

9

Date	Local time	Road team	Score	Home team	Inn.	Venue	Game duration	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 14, 2009	13:00	Netherlands	1–3	Venezuela		Dolphin Stadium	2:22	17,345	Boxscore
Mar 14, 2009	20:00	United States	1–11	Puerto Rico	7	Dolphin Stadium	2:15	30,595	Boxscore
Mar 15, 2009	19:30	Netherlands	3–9	United States		Dolphin Stadium	3:14	11,059	Boxscore
Mar 16, 2009	20:00	Venezuela	2–0	Puerto Rico		Dolphin Stadium	3:23	25,599	Boxscore
Mar 17, 2009	19:00	Puerto Rico	5–6	United States		Dolphin Stadium	3:54	13,224	Boxscore
Mar 18, 2009	19:00	United States	6–10	Venezuela		Dolphin Stadium	3:32	16,575	Boxscore

	Semifinals					Final
	1R	South Korea	10
	2W	Venezuela	2
						SF1W	South Korea	3
						SF2W	Japan	5
	2R	United States	4
	1W	Japan	9

Semifinals edit

Date	Local time	Road team	Score	Home team	Inn.	Venue	Game duration	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 21, 2009	18:00	South Korea	10–2	Venezuela		Dodger Stadium	3:22	43,378	Boxscore
Mar 22, 2009	17:00	United States	4–9	Japan		Dodger Stadium	3:15	43,630	Boxscore

Final edit

Date	Local time	Road team	Score	Home team	Inn.	Venue	Game duration	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 23, 2009	18:00	Japan	5–3	South Korea	10	Dodger Stadium	4:00	54,846	Boxscore

Organizer WBCI has no interest in the final standings and did not compute. So, it was calculated by IBAF for the IBAF Men's Baseball World Rankings.

In the final standings, ties were to be broken in the following order of priority:

1. The team allowing the fewest runs per nine innings (RA/9) in all games;
2. The team allowing the fewest earned runs per nine innings (ERA) in all games;
3. The team with the highest batting average (AVG) in all games;

Rk Team W L Tiebreaker 1  Japan 7 2 – Lost in Final 2  South Korea 6 3 – Lost in Semifinals 3  United States 6 2 – 4  Venezuela 4 4 – Eliminated in Second Round 5  Puerto Rico 4 2 1.75 RA/9 6  Cuba 4 2 4.15 RA/9 7  Netherlands 2 4 3.98 RA/9 8  Mexico 2 4 10.10 RA/9 Eliminated in First Round 9  Dominican Republic 1 2 1.57 RA/9 10  Italy 1 2 6.84 RA/9 11  China 1 2 7.43 RA/9 12  Australia 1 2 10.96 RA/9 13  Canada 0 2 6.35 RA/9 14  Chinese Taipei 0 2 7.31 RA/9 15  Panama 0 2 9.00 RA/9 16  South Africa 0 2 11.65 RA/9

2009 World Baseball Classic champions  Japan Second title

801,408 (avg. 20,549; pct. 54.5%)

First round edit

453,374 (avg. 18,891; pct. 55.6%)

• Pool A – 170,112 (avg. 28,352; pct. 67.5%)
• Pool B – 92,665 (avg. 15,444; pct. 59.4%)
• Pool C – 103,899 (avg. 17,317; pct. 35.0%)
• Pool D – 86,698 (avg. 14,450; pct. 79.1%)

Second round edit

206,180 (avg. 17,182; pct. 42.3%)

• Pool 1 – 91,783 (avg. 15,297; pct. 35.8%)
• Pool 2 – 114,397 (avg. 19,066; pct. 49.4%)

Championship round edit

141,854 (avg. 47,285; pct. 84.4%)

• Semifinals – 87,008 (avg. 43,504; pct. 77.7%)
• Final – 54,846 (avg. 54,846; pct. 97.9%)

Players named to the All-WBC Team (from left to right);
Catcher – Iván Rodríguez of Puerto Rico
Second baseman – José López of Venezuela
Shortstop – Jimmy Rollins of the United States
Outfielder – Norichika Aoki of Japan
Outfielder – Yoenis Céspedes of Cuba
Pitcher – Hisashi Iwakuma of Japan

Note: The tournament Most Valuable Player was Daisuke Matsuzaka.^[6]

Position	Player
C	Iván Rodríguez
1B	Tae-kyun Kim
2B	José López
3B	Bum-ho Lee
SS	Jimmy Rollins
OF	Norichika Aoki
	Frederich Cepeda
	Yoenis Céspedes
DH	Hyun-soo Kim
P	Jung-keun Bong
	Hisashi Iwakuma
	Daisuke Matsuzaka

As was the case for the 2006 Classic, several rules were announced for the 2009 tournament that modified the existing rules for international baseball set out by the IBAF.^[7][8]

Once again there were limits on the number of pitches thrown in a game, though the limits themselves were changed from the previous tournament:

• 70 pitches in First Round (up from 65 in 2006)
• 85 pitches in Second Round (up from 80 in 2006)
• 100 pitches in Championship Round (up from 95 in 2006)

If a pitcher reached his limit during an at bat, he was allowed to finish pitching to the batter, but was removed from the game at the end of the at bat.

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. As the championship round was played over three consecutive days, a so-called "pitcher rest equalization" rule was added: a pitcher making 30 or more pitches in a semifinal was ineligible to pitch in the final. This negated an advantage the winners of the first semifinal would have had in the final.

A mercy rule came into effect when one team led by either fifteen runs after five innings, or ten runs after seven innings in the first two rounds.

Instant replay was also available to umpires during the tournament. As was introduced in Major League Baseball during the 2008 season, replays were only used to adjudicate on home run decisions, to determine whether the ball was fair or foul, over the fence or not, and the impact of fan interference.

An alternative version of the IBAF's extra inning rule was also introduced. 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 Classic, as the two extra-inning games in the tournament ended prior to a 13th inning.

All base coaches were required to wear protective helmets, in the aftermath of the death of Mike Coolbaugh and participating teams were required to announce the next day's starting pitcher. Additionally, a modified early termination rule was in effect for the first two rounds; had a team been ahead by 15 or more runs after five innings or ten or more runs after seven or eight innings, the game ended at that point.

USD 14,000,000

By final standings edit

• Champions – USD 2,700,000
• Runners-up – USD 1,700,000
• Semifinalists – USD 1,200,000 (x 2 teams)
• Eliminated in Second Round – USD 700,000 (x 4 teams)
• Eliminated in First Round – USD 300,000 (x 8 teams)

Bonus for pool winners edit

• First Round – USD 300,000 (x 4 teams)
• Second Round – USD 400,000 (x 2 teams)

In the United States, ESPN and the MLB Network shared the rights, with ESPN broadcasting 23 of the games, including the Finals, while MLB Network showed the remaining 16.^[9] Spanish language telecasts in the U.S. were handled by ESPN Deportes telecasting all games. Internationally, it was broadcast to 167 countries by ESPN International.

In Canada, Rogers Sportsnet aired all 39 games.^[10]

In the Dominican Republic, CDN (Cadena de Noticias) and CDN2 broadcast all games live (except for games played in Tokyo, shown on tape delay)^{[citation needed]}

In Japan, J Sports broadcast all 39 games. TV Asahi (Round 1) and TBS (Round 2 and Finals) broadcast all games featuring Japan. For all games featuring Japan, they gained viewing ratings of at least 20%. The final game gained ratings in the range 30-45%.^[11]

World Baseball Classic 2009 has licensed three video games, all only released in Japan: Pro Yakyuu Spirits 6,^[12] Baseball Heroes 2009^[13]and Jikkyou Pawafuru Major League 2009^[14]

• Official website