2017 World Baseball Classic – Qualification

2017 World Baseball Classic – Qualification
Tournament details
Host countries  Australia
 Mexico
 Panama
 United States
Dates February 11 – September 25, 2016
Teams 16
Tournament statistics
Games played 18
Attendance 99,949 (5,553 per game)
← 2013
2021 →

The Qualifying Round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic will be held from February 11 to September 25, 2016. Teams which participated at the 2013 World Baseball Classic were automatically qualified for the 2017 tournament except the four nations which ended up last in their respective groups-Australia, Brazil, Mexico and Spain which had to play in the qualifiers along with 12 other national teams. 16 teams will participate, divided into four groups of four teams each. The winners of each of the four groups will qualify for the 2017 World Baseball Classic.[1]

The qualifiers will be organized as four independent modified double-elimination tournaments featuring four teams each. The final game will be 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.

Australia, Mexico and Colombia won their qualifiers and will participate in the 2017 tournament. In their respective brackets, both Australia and Mexico were top seed (signified by home-field advantage) as well as the team that had competed in the 2013 tournament. However, Colombia defeated top seed Panama as well as 2013 participant Spain to advance.

Qualifier 4 will take place in September 2016 in the United States. Top seed and 2013 participant Brazil will take on Israel, Great Britain, and Pakistan.

Players

Minor league players

Qualifier 1 featured 16 players who are affiliated with Major League clubs. Nine MLB-affiliated players were on the Australia roster, three on the South Africa roster, two on the New Zealand roster, and two on the Philippines roster.[2]

Qualifier 2 featured 34 players who are affiliated with Major League clubs. Sixteen MLB-affiliated players were on the Mexico roster (representing 57% of the Mexico roster), eleven on the Nicaragua roster, six on the Germany roster, and one on the Czech Republic roster.[3]

Qualifier 3 featured 31 players who are affiliated with Major League clubs. Sixteen MLB-affiliated players were on the Colombia roster (representing 57% of the Colombia roster), ten on the Panama roster, four on the Spain roster, and one on the France roster.[3]

Experienced Major League players

Only a few experienced Major Leaguers participated in the qualifiers. These included relief pitcher Peter Moylan of Australia, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and pitcher Óliver Pérez, both of Mexico,[3] and catcher Carlos Ruiz of Panama.

Qualifier 4 will take place in September, after the end of the minor league season but during the Major League season, and thus it is unlikely that active Major League players will be able to participate. Although Brazil now has a few young Major League players, Israel is the team most likely to be adversely affected by this circumstance. In 2013, Israel also was placed in a qualifier that took place during the Major League season and thus was unable to include a number of players of Jewish descent who had expressed interest in playing for Israel.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Without these players, Israel narrowly lost its 2013 qualifier to Spain.

Venues

Four stadiums will be used during the qualification round:[1]

Qualifier 1 Qualifier 2 Qualifier 3 Qualifier 4
Australia Sydney, Australia Mexico Mexicali, Mexico Panama Panama City, Panama United States New York City, United States
Blacktown Baseball Stadium Estadio B'Air Rod Carew Stadium MCU Park
Capacity: 3,000 Capacity: 19,500 Capacity: 27,000 Capacity: 7,500
No Image

Pools composition

Qualifier 1 Qualifier 2 Qualifier 3 Qualifier 4
 Australia  Mexico  Colombia  Brazil
 New Zealand  Czech Republic  France  Great Britain
 Philippines  Germany  Panama  Israel
 South Africa  Nicaragua  Spain  Pakistan

Pakistan is the only team in the 2017 qualifiers that is participating in the World Baseball Classic for the first time. It replaces Thailand, which participated in the 2013 qualifiers.

Qualifying round

Qualifier 1

Australia won all three of its games to advance easily. South Africa defeated New Zealand in the opening round and again in the losers' bracket to reach the final game, but lost to Australia 12–5.

  Preliminaries Semifinals Qualifier
                             
–   South Africa 7  
–   New Zealand 1  
  W1   South Africa 1  
  W2   Australia 4  
–   Philippines 1
–   Australia 11  
  W4   Australia 12 Q1W
  W5   South Africa 5 –
L1   New Zealand 17  
L2   Philippines 7  
  W3   New Zealand 2
  L4   South Africa 9  
Date Local Time Road Team Score Home Team Inn. Venue Game Time Attendance Boxscore
Feb 11, 2016 13:00 South Africa  7–1  New Zealand   Blacktown Baseball Stadium 2:58 529 Boxscore
Feb 11, 2016 19:30 Philippines  1–11  Australia 7 Blacktown Baseball Stadium 2:56 1,442 Boxscore
Feb 12, 2016 13:00 Philippines  7–17  New Zealand 8 Blacktown Baseball Stadium 3:18 623 Boxscore
Feb 12, 2016 19:30 South Africa  1–4  Australia   Blacktown Baseball Stadium 2:46 2,237 Boxscore
Feb 13, 2016 18:30 South Africa  9–2  New Zealand   Blacktown Baseball Stadium 3:32 1,367 Boxscore
Feb 14, 2016 14:00 South Africa  5–12  Australia   Blacktown Baseball Stadium 3:29 1,766 Boxscore

Qualifier 2

Mexico won all three of its games to advance easily. Nicaragua defeated both of the other two teams but lost by wide margins in both of its games against Mexico. The Czech Republic performed surprisingly well, giving close games to both Mexico and Nicaragua and defeating Germany by a wide margin.

  Preliminaries Semifinals Qualifier
                             
–   Germany 4  
–   Nicaragua 5  
  W1   Nicaragua 0  
  W2   Mexico 11  
–   Czech Republic 1
–   Mexico 2  
  W4   Mexico 12 Q2W
  W5   Nicaragua 1 –
L1   Germany 3  
L2   Czech Republic 15  
  W3   Czech Republic 6
  L4   Nicaragua 7  
Date Local Time Road Team Score Home Team Inn. Venue Game Time Attendance Boxscore
Mar 17, 2016 12:30 Germany  4–5  Nicaragua 10 Estadio B'Air 3:34 3,773 Boxscore
Mar 17, 2016 19:30 Czech Republic  1–2  Mexico   Estadio B'Air 2:29 14,711 Boxscore
Mar 18, 2016 12:30 Czech Republic  15–3  Germany 8 Estadio B'Air 2:59 2,187 Boxscore
Mar 18, 2016 19:30 Nicaragua  0–11  Mexico 7 Estadio B'Air 2:32 12,715 Boxscore
Mar 19, 2016 18:00 Nicaragua  7–6  Czech Republic 11 Estadio B'Air 3:57 6,558 Boxscore
Mar 20, 2016 19:00 Nicaragua  1–12  Mexico 7 Estadio B'Air 2:48 16,521 Boxscore

Qualifier 3

In the opening round, host Panama defeated France while 2013 participant Spain fell to Colombia. France then eliminated Spain while Colombia defeated Panama. Panama eliminated France to gain a rematch against Colombia, which won the final game 2–1.

  Preliminaries Semifinals Qualifier
                             
–   Colombia 9  
–   Spain 2  
  W1   Colombia 6  
  W2   Panama 3  
–   France 2
–   Panama 9  
  W4   Colombia 2 Q3W
  W5   Panama 1 –
L1   Spain 3  
L2   France 5  
  W3   France 4
  L4   Panama 7  
Date Local Time Road Team Score Home Team Inn. Venue Game Time Attendance Boxscore
Mar 17, 2016 13:00 Colombia  9–2  Spain   Rod Carew Stadium 3:42 2,145 Boxscore
Mar 17, 2016 20:00 France  2–9  Panama   Rod Carew Stadium 2:41 11,744 Boxscore
Mar 18, 2016 13:00 France  5–3  Spain   Rod Carew Stadium 3:42 852 Boxscore
Mar 18, 2016 20:00 Colombia  6–3  Panama   Rod Carew Stadium 3:11 12,559 Boxscore
Mar 19, 2016 20:00 Panama  7–4  France   Rod Carew Stadium 3:19 2,016 Boxscore
Mar 20, 2016 18:00 Panama  1–2  Colombia   Rod Carew Stadium 3:07 6,204 Boxscore

Qualifier 4

  Preliminaries Semifinals Qualifier
                             
–   Pakistan  
–   Brazil  
  W1    
  W2    
–   Great Britain
–   Israel  
  W  
  W5  
L1    
L2    
  W  
  L    
Date Local Time Road Team Score Home Team Inn. Venue Game Time Attendance Boxscore
Sep 22, 2016 TBD Pakistan  –  Brazil   MCU Park      
Sep 22, 2016 TBD Great Britain  –  Israel   MCU Park      
Sep 23, 2016 TBD Israel  – TBD   MCU Park      
Sep 23, 2016 TBD Great Britain  – TBD   MCU Park      
Sep 24, 2016 TBD TBD – TBD   MCU Park      
Sep 25, 2016 TBD TBD – TBD   MCU Park      

Attendance

99,949 (avg. 5,553; pct. 33.7%)

References

  1. 1 2 "2017 World Baseball Classic qualifiers are set". MLB.com. 17 September 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  2. ↑ "Managers, schedule, rosters set for Classic Sydney qualifier". WorldBaseballClassic.com. 28 January 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 "Rosters, schedules set for next Classic qualifiers". WorldBaseballClassic.com. 11 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  4. ↑ "World Baseball Classic: Israel, managed by Bra". Sporting News. May 21, 2012. Retrieved March 14, 2013.
  5. ↑ Belson, Ken (June 1, 2011). [http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/israel-to-participate-in-2013-world-baseball-classic/#h[MLBIan] "Israel to Participate in 2013 World Baseball Classic"]. The New York Times. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Israel invited to qualify for World Baseball Classic". JTA. June 2, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2011.
  7. ↑ Jeremy Fine. "The Great Rabbino". Retrieved July 16, 2011.
  8. ↑ Aaron Yellin (June 7, 2011). "Israel to Participate in 2013 World Baseball Classic". The Forward. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
  9. ↑
  10. ↑ Ben, Daniel (May 1, 2010). "Baseball / Jewish MLB stars could play for Israel". Haaretz. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
  11. ↑ Leichenger, Alex (June 21, 2011). "Jewish baseball player supports Little League efforts". Jewish Journal. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
  12. ↑ Belson, Ken (June 8, 2011). "Shawn Green Says He'd Play for Israel in World Baseball Classic". The New York Times. Retrieved September 5, 2011.

External links

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