| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Countries |  Germany Panama Taiwan United States |
| Dates | September 19 – November 19, 2012 |
| Teams | 16 |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Games played | 24 |
| Attendance | 103,774 (4,324 per game) |
2017 → | |
Thequalifying round of the2013 World Baseball Classic was held from September 19 to November 19, 2012. It was the first ever qualifiers for the tournament.
Although the2006 and2009 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 thenInternational Baseball Federation (nowWorld Baseball Softball Confederation), other four (Canada,Chinese Taipei,Panama, andSouth Africa) contested the qualifying round along with 12 additional teams invited by the confeeration.[1]
The qualifiers were organized as four independentmodified 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 andIsrael both won in the first round, then Israel beat Spain in the winner's bracket. Spain then eliminatedSouth 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, favoritesPanama andNicaragua lost in the first round, and Panama then eliminated Nicaragua. After both teams defeatedColombia, underdogBrazil defeated Panama 1–0 to advance to the main tournament.
Under the Classic's rules, Team Israel was entitled to have non-Israeli citizens ofJewish heritage play for the team. Such players included major leaguers catcherRyan Lavarnway, first basemanIke Davis, second basemenIan Kinsler andJosh Satin, third basemenKevin Youkilis andDanny Valencia, outfieldersRyan Braun (whose father is Israeli),Sam Fuld,Ryan Kalish, andGabe Kapler, and pitchersJason Marquis,Scott Feldman,Craig Breslow, andJohn Grabow, as well as what were then recent major leaguers catcherBrad Ausmus and pitcherScott 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]
OutfielderShawn 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 theMajor 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 StarBrad Ausmus, included minor league pitchers Eric Berger (1–0) and Brett Lorin, first basemanNate Freiman (.417; 4 HR in 12 AB), second baseman Josh Satin (.273), shortstopsJake Lemmerman andBen Orloff, and outfieldersAdam Greenberg,Ben Guez,Joc Pederson (.308), andRobbie Widlansky.[15][16] Retired major leaguerShawn Green played for Israel (.333).[15]
Similarly,Joey Votto andJustin Morneau were unable to play for Canada.[17] They were led by minor league first basemanJimmy 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 includedCarlos Ruiz,Rubén Tejada,Manny Acosta,Manny Corpas, andCarlos Lee of Panama; andEverth Cabrera andJ. C. Ramírez of Nicaragua. Major League rookies and prospects includedErasmo Ramírez andCheslor Cuthbert of Nicaragua;Yan Gomes of Brazil; andLuis Martinez and brothersDonavan andJhonatan Solano of Colombia. Retired Major Leaguers includedRamiro Mendoza of Panama andÉdgar Rentería of Colombia.[18]
Although Qualifier 4 also took place in November, it did not feature any current MLB players, as bothWei-Yin Chen andChien-Ming Wang of Chinese Taipei elected to skip the qualifier. Chinese Taipei did feature Japanese major leaguerYao-Hsun Yang as well as Taiwanese league players such asPeng Cheng-min andLin Chih-sheng, and qualified easily. Both New Zealand and the Philippines included minor league players, while Thailand included former Major LeaguerJohnny Damon.[19]
Four stadiums were used during the qualifying round:[20][21]
| Qualifier 1 | Qualifier 2 | Qualifier 3 | Qualifier 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
 Jupiter, United States | Regensburg, Germany | Panama City,Panama | 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 |
 |  |  |  |
Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate positions in theWBSC World Rankings at the time of the tournament.[22]
| Qualifier 1 | Qualifier 2 | Qualifier 3 | Qualifier 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
 France (30) |  Canada (6) |  Brazil (20) |  Chinese Taipei (5) |
 Israel (74) |  Czech Republic (25) |  Colombia (19) |  New Zealand (28) |
 South Africa (27) | Germany (17) |  Nicaragua (15) |  Philippines (22) |
 Spain (16) |  Great Britain (21) | Panama (14) |  Thailand (23) |
| Preliminaries | Semifinals | Qualifier | |||||||||||
| – | Israel | 7 | |||||||||||
| – | South Africa | 3 | |||||||||||
| W1 | Israel | 4 | |||||||||||
| W2 | Spain | 2 | |||||||||||
| – | France | 0 | |||||||||||
| – | Spain | 8 | |||||||||||
| W3 | Israel | 7 | |||||||||||
| W5 | Spain | 9 | |||||||||||
| Lower round 1 | Lower final | ||||||||||||
| W4 | South Africa | 3 | |||||||||||
| L1 | 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 | 7–3 | 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 | 4–2 | Spain | Roger Dean Stadium | 2:43 | 814 | Boxscore | |
| Sep 21, 2012 | 19:00 | South Africa | 5–2 | France | 11 | Roger Dean Stadium | 3:57 | 922 | Boxscore |
| Sep 22, 2012 | 19:00 | Spain | 13–3 | South Africa | Roger Dean Stadium | 3:11 | 1,183 | Boxscore | |
| Sep 23, 2012 | 17:00 | Spain | 9–7 | Israel | 10 | Roger Dean Stadium | 4:50 | 4,463 | Boxscore |
| Preliminaries | Semifinals | Qualifier | |||||||||||
| – | Great Britain | 1 | |||||||||||
| – | Canada | 11 | |||||||||||
| W1 | Canada | 16 | |||||||||||
| W2 | Germany | 7 | |||||||||||
| – | Czech Republic | 1 | |||||||||||
| – | Germany | 16 | |||||||||||
| W4 | 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 | 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 | 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 | Canada | 8 | Armin-Wolf-Arena | 2:33 | 3,120 | Boxscore |
| Preliminaries | Semifinals | Qualifier | |||||||||||
| – | Brazil | 3 | |||||||||||
| – | Panama | 2 | |||||||||||
| W1 | Brazil | 7 | |||||||||||
| W2 | Colombia | 1 | |||||||||||
| – | Nicaragua | 1 | |||||||||||
| – | Colombia | 8 | |||||||||||
| W3 | Brazil | 1 | |||||||||||
| W5 | Panama | 0 | |||||||||||
| Lower round 1 | Lower final | ||||||||||||
| W4 | Panama | 9 | |||||||||||
| L1 | Panama | 6 | L3 | Colombia | 7 | ||||||||
| L2 | Nicaragua | 2 | |||||||||||
| Date | Local time | Road team | Score | Home team | Inn. | Venue | Game duration | Attendance | Boxscore |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 15, 2012 | 20:00 | Brazil | 3–2 | Panama | Rod Carew Stadium | 3:23 | 13,728 | Boxscore | |
| Nov 16, 2012 | 20:00 | Nicaragua | 1–8 | Colombia | Rod Carew Stadium | 3:31 | 4,028 | Boxscore | |
| Nov 17, 2012 | 14:00 | Colombia | 1–7 | Brazil | Rod Carew Stadium | 3:33 | 2,952 | Boxscore | |
| Nov 17, 2012 | 20:00 | Nicaragua | 2–6 | Panama | Rod Carew Stadium | 3:46 | 8,531 | Boxscore | |
| Nov 18, 2012 | 19:00 | Panama | 9–7 | Colombia | Rod Carew Stadium | 3:30 | 5,317 | Boxscore | |
| Nov 19, 2012 | 20:00 | Panama | 0–1 | Brazil | Rod Carew Stadium | 2:38 | 10,638 | Boxscore |
| Preliminaries | Semifinals | Qualifier | |||||||||||
| – | Philippines | 8 | |||||||||||
| – | Thailand | 2 | |||||||||||
| W1 | Philippines | 0 | |||||||||||
| W2 | Chinese Taipei | 16 | |||||||||||
| – | New Zealand | 0 | |||||||||||
| – | Chinese Taipei | 10 | |||||||||||
| W4 | Chinese Taipei | 9 | |||||||||||
| W5 | New Zealand | 0 | |||||||||||
| Lower round 1 | Lower final | ||||||||||||
| W3 | New Zealand | 10 | |||||||||||
| L1 | Thailand | 2 | L4 | Philippines | 6 | ||||||||
| L2 | New Zealand | 12 | |||||||||||
| Date | Local time | Road team | Score | Home team | Inn. | Venue | Game duration | Attendance | Boxscore |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 15, 2012 | 11:30 | Philippines | 8–2 | Thailand | Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium | 3:10 | 923 | Boxscore | |
| Nov 15, 2012 | 18:30 | New Zealand | 0–10 | Chinese Taipei | 7 | Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium | 2:29 | 9,788 | Boxscore |
| Nov 16, 2012 | 11:30 | New Zealand | 12–2 | Thailand | 8 | Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium | 3:05 | 1,168 | Boxscore |
| Nov 16, 2012 | 18:30 | Chinese Taipei | 16–0 | Philippines | 7 | Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium | 2:56 | 10,911 | Boxscore |
| Nov 17, 2012 | 14:00 | New Zealand | 10–6 | Philippines | Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium | 3:13 | 503 | Boxscore | |
| Nov 18, 2012 | 14:00 | New Zealand | 0–9 | Chinese Taipei | Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium | 3:31 | 8,163 | Boxscore |
103,774 (avg. 4,324; pct. 30.7%)
Batting[edit]* Minimum 2.7 plate appearances per game | Pitching[edit]
* Minimum 0.8 innings pitched per game
|
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:
Amercy 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'sextra 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.
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