2009 Baseball World Cup

Previous editions of the World Cup were held with no more than 18 teams. These teams were initially broken up into two pools, with the top teams from each pool qualifying for the final knockout stage. With 22 teams competing in the 2009 tournament, the format has been expanded into three phases. Teams that play from the first round and finish among the top eight teams of the tournament will now have played as many as 15 games, making it one of the longest campaigns for any international baseball tournament.

All of the teams, with the exception of Italy and Netherlands, will compete in the first round (as hosts for the second-round games, Italy and Netherlands receive a bye through the first round). The teams will be broken into five pools of four teams each. Each pool will be held in a different country, with the hosts Czech Republic, Spain, Sweden, Croatia and Germany assigned to the corresponding pools. (Previously, Russia had been set as the host nation for Pool D, however they were replaced by Croatia in an announcement from the IBAF.)[1] Unlike the 2009 World Baseball Classic, the pools will be conducted in single round-robin format.[2] The top two teams from each pool will automatically qualify for the second round, while four of the five third-place finishers will also qualify as wild cards.[3] In some respects, the first round is like a final qualifying tournament, similar to the format used for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The second round operates similarly to the first, but on an expanded scale. The field of teams is split into two pools, one hosted in Italy, the other in the Netherlands. The fourteen qualifiers from the first round are assigned to the pools, and commence a single round-robin competition.[3] The top four teams from each pool then qualify for the third and final round.[4]

The third round is broken into two parts: a partial round-robin and then four classification games, including the final. Each team will play four games during the round-robin phase, against the teams they have not yet faced (in Round 2) who also qualified – i.e. the teams from the Italian pool will face the teams from the Netherlands pool, but not each other. The teams are then ranked on their results in this phase and in games of the 2nd round between qualified teams, but in two groups based on the pool they qualified from. Each team then plays a classification game against their counterpart from the opposite group to determine their final placings in the tournament – i.e. the fourth place Italian qualifier faces the fourth place Netherlands qualifier to determine seventh and eighth positions, the third place qualifiers compete for fifth and sixth positions, and so on. The winner of the final classification game will be declared the winner of the World Cup for 2009.[4]

Twenty-two teams qualified for the tournament, either through finishing high enough in the 2007 World Cup, placing high enough in regional tournaments that doubled as qualifying tournaments for the event, or by automatic qualification by hosting some part of the tournament.

Round 1
Pool A		Pool B		Pool C		Pool D		Pool E
Australia	6th, 2007 World Cup	Cuba	2007 World Cup	Canada	Qualified, 2008 Olympics	Croatia	Replacing Russia, Host nation	China	Qualified, 2008 Olympics
Chinese Taipei	Qualified, 2008 Olympics	Puerto Rico	2008 Americas Baseball Cup	Netherlands Antilles	4th, 2008 Americas Baseball Cup	Great Britain	2007 European Championship	Germany	4th, 2007 European Championship
Czech Republic	Host nation	South Africa	African qualifier	South Korea	5th, 2007 World Cup	Japan	2007 World Cup	United States	2007 World Cup
Mexico	2008 Americas Baseball Cup	Spain	2007 European Championship	Sweden	Host nation	Nicaragua	2008 Americas Baseball Cup	Venezuela	5th, 2008 Americas Baseball Cup
Round 2
Pool F					Pool G
Netherlands		2007 European Championship			Italy		Host nation

The IBAF announced the following awards at the completion of the tournament.[7]

All Star Team Position Player Best Starting Pitcher Norge Luis Vera Best Relief Pitcher Trystan Magnuson Catcher Sidney de Jong First Base Justin Smoak Second Base Héctor Olivera Third Base Shawn Bowman Short Stop Hainley Statia Outfield Alfredo Despaigne José Dariel Abreu Jon Weber Designated Hitter Terry Tiffee

Tournament Awards Award Player MVP Justin Smoak Leading Batter Paco Figueroa Best Earned Run Average (Pitcher) Matt Kniginyzky Best Won/Loss Average (Pitcher) Todd Redmond Most Runs Batted In René Reyes Most Home Runs Alfredo Despaigne Most Stolen Bases Paco Figueroa Most Runs Scored Rene Tosoni Outstanding Defensive Player Ángel Sánchez

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2009 Baseball World Cup.

• Official website
• Host website
• CEB World Cup Slideshow