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The 2009 World Baseball Classic will be an international baseball competition. It follows the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic, the first international tournament to feature a large number of major league players. It will be during March, also the time of MLB spring training. Image File history File links Soccerball_current_event. ... Sport from childhood. ... Womens Australian rules football is a team sport. ... 2009 (MMIX) will be a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The World Baseball Classic, sometimes abbreviated WBC, is an international baseball tournament, first held in March 2006. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the sport. ... The 2006 World Baseball Classic was the inaugural tournament between national baseball teams that included players from Major League Baseball. ... Major Leagues redirects here. ... For other uses, see March (disambiguation). ... Major Leagues redirects here. ... A Grapefruit League game at the LA Dodgers camp in Vero Beach, Florida In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of exhibition games which precedes the regular season. ...

Format

The 2006 tournament consisted of 16 national teams initially divided into four pools. In an attempt to avoid the kind of convoluted tiebreaking procedures the World Baseball Classic rules committee instituted for the inaugural 2006 tournament, the round-robin format will be replaced in 2009 by double-elimination to move teams beyond the first two rounds. Also unlike 2006, there will be a crossover of teams from their second-round pools to the semifinals; the winner of each second-round pool will face the runner-up of the other. The winners of the semifinals then met to determine the World Baseball Classic champions. A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a type of group tournament in which each participant plays every other participant an equal number of times. ... A double elimination bracket from the 2004 National Science Bowl A double-elimination tournament is a competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournaments championship upon having lost two games or matches. ...

Teams

All 16 nations that participated in the 2006 tournament have been invited to play in the 2009 tournament.[1]

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

Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Peoples_Republic_of_China. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Dominican_Republic. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Chinese_Taipei_for_Olympic_games. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Cuba. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Netherlands. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Japan. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Mexico. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... USA Baseball was founded in 1978 and is the governing body for amateur baseball in the United States of America. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Panama. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_South_Korea. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_South_Africa. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Venezuela. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Puerto_Rico. ...

Venues

• Round 1
  • Pool A: Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan (cap. 42,000) from March 5-9
  • Pool B: Foro Sol Stadium, Mexico City, Mexico (cap. 27,940) from March 8-12
  • Pool C: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Canada (cap. 50,516) from March 8-12
  • Pool D: Hiram Bithorn Stadium, San Juan, Puerto Rico (cap. 18,000) from March 7-11

Dominican Republic Tokyo Dome Baseball at the Tokyo Dome The Tokyo Dome and the amusement park Tokyo Dome City Attractions. ... For other uses, see Tokyo (disambiguation). ... Foro Sol is a sports and concerts venue built in 1995 inside the Hermanos Rodríguez racetrack in eastern Mexico City. ... Nickname: Location of Mexico City Coordinates: , Country Federal entity Boroughs The 16 delegaciones Founded c. ... Rogers Centre, formerly known as SkyDome,[2] is a multi-purpose stadium in Toronto, Ontario, situated next to the CN Tower near the shores of Lake Ontario. ... The Hiram Bithorn Stadium (Estadio Hiram Bithorn in Spanish) is a baseball stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, operated by the municipal government of the city of San Juan. ... San Juan, the Spanish for Saint John, is a common toponym in parts of the world where Spanish is or was spoken: Argentina San Juan Province San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province Cuba San Juan Hill Mexico San Juan, Campeche San Juan, Chihuahua San Juan, Coahuila San Juan...

The president of the Dominican Republic's baseball league said the nation will pull out of next year's World Baseball Classic if it is not chosen as a host site.

If they do not give us the opportunity of being a host, like we have requested, the Dominican Republic will not participate, league president Leonardo Matos Berrido said at a news conference Monday.

Future plans

As of 2008, plans call for the World Baseball Classic to be repeated every four years following the 2009 event, so the third installment of the Classic would not occur until 2013. However, Cuba, 2006's runners-up, is campaigning for the Classic to be played every two years. Other plans for the 2013 World Baseball Classic include possibly expanding the number of participating teams to 24 with qualifying rounds as a preface to reach the main competition. 2013 (MMXIII) will be a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In the 2013 World Baseball Classic, Bud Selig said that he may consider the Dominican Republic a candidate to host games. Possible venues include Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo or Estadio Cibao in Santiago. Games could be played in both of the venues. The World Baseball Classic, sometimes abbreviated WBC, is an international baseball tournament, first held in March 2006. ... Allan Huber Bud Selig, Jr. ... Estadio Quisqueya is a baseball stadium in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. ... It has been suggested that Greater Santo Domingo Area be merged into this article or section. ... Estadio Cibao is a multi-use stadium in Santiago, Dominican Republic. ... Santiago is one of the names and/or surnames by which Saint James is known in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world. ...

External links

• With Classic over, MLB looks ahead
  
• 2009 World Baseball Classic coverage

References

See also

• Baseball at the Summer Olympics
• Baseball World Cup
• World Series