2013 World Baseball Classic

The preparations for the third World Baseball Classic were complicated by a dispute between the Japanese Professional Baseball Players Association (JPBPA), the union for all Nippon Professional Baseball players, and MLB over revenue sharing. JPBPA demanded a larger share of advertising and merchandise sponsorship revenue for the tournament, a large chunk of which came from Japanese companies. MLB resisted the move in part due to the fact that the World Baseball Classic is a joint production of MLB and the MLB Player's Association, meaning that those two organizations bore the cost of the tournament.

In July 2012 the JPBPA voted unanimously to boycott the 2013 World Baseball Classic.[3][4] The move was interpreted by some news outlets as a non-final decision, aimed at raising the pressure on MLB.[5][6] In September 2012, Japanese players agreed to take part after reaching a compromise with tournament organizers on sharing sponsorship and licensing revenue.[7]

The top three teams from each pool of the first round of the 2009 World Baseball Classic automatically qualified.

Team	Method of qualification	Classic appearance	Previous best position
Australia	2009 World Baseball Classic	3rd	Round 1
China	2009 World Baseball Classic	3rd	Round 1
Cuba	2009 World Baseball Classic	3rd	Runners-up (2006)
Dominican Republic	2009 World Baseball Classic	3rd	Fourth place (2006)
Italy	2009 World Baseball Classic	3rd	Round 1
Japan	2009 World Baseball Classic	3rd	Champions (2006, 2009)
Mexico	2009 World Baseball Classic	3rd	Round 2 (2006, 2009)
Netherlands	2009 World Baseball Classic	3rd	Round 2 (2009)
Puerto Rico	2009 World Baseball Classic	3rd	Round 2 (2006, 2009)
South Korea	2009 World Baseball Classic	3rd	Runners-up (2009)
United States	2009 World Baseball Classic	3rd	Fourth place (2009)
Venezuela	2009 World Baseball Classic	3rd	Third place (2009)
Spain	Qualifier 1	1st	—
Canada	Qualifier 2	3rd	Round 1
Brazil	Qualifier 3	1st	—
Chinese Taipei	Qualifier 4	3rd	Round 1

In the first round, each team played the other three teams in its pool once. Teams were ranked by winning percentage in the first round, with the top two teams in each pool advancing to the second round. There, the teams from Pools A and B (in Pool 1) and the teams from Pools C and D (in Pool 2) competed in a double-elimination format.

The top two teams in each pool in the second round entered the four-team single-elimination semifinals. The four qualifying teams crossed over for the semifinals, with the winner of each pool playing against the runner-up from the other pool.

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.

In the first round, ties were to be broken in the following order of priority:[8]

1. The winner of head-to-head games between the tied teams;
2. The team with the highest Team's Quality Balance (TQB=(runs scored (RS)/innings batted (IPO))–(runs against (RA)/innings pitched (IPD))) in head-to-head games between the tied teams;
3. The team with the highest Earned Runs Team's Quality Balance (ER–TQB=(earned runs scored (ERS)/IPO)–(earned runs against (ERA)/IPD)) in head-to-head games between the tied teams;
4. The team with the highest batting average (AVG) in head-to-head games between the tied teams;
5. Drawing of lots, conducted by World Baseball Classic, Inc. (WBCI).

The deadline for submitting provisional rosters was January 16, but teams had until February 20 to finalize their roster decisions. Many Major League Baseball (MLB) players participated. The United States provisional roster was made up entirely of players from MLB, and champions Dominican Republic provisional roster had only one player not signed to an MLB team in 2013. The Canadian team had 12 players who appeared in MLB in 2012. Japan had none and two prominent Japanese MLB players, Yu Darvish and Ichiro Suzuki, chose not to play. Though five members who competed for the Cuban national team in the 2009 WBC have since defected, the Cuban team was considered strong despite its 2nd-round sacking. Three members of MLB.com's Top 100 prospect participated: Xander Bogaerts, Eddie Rosario, and Jameson Taillon.

Eight stadiums were used during the main tournament:

Pool A	Pool B	Pool C	Pool D
Fukuoka, Japan	Taichung, Taiwan	San Juan, Puerto Rico	Phoenix, United States
Fukuoka Dome	Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium	Hiram Bithorn Stadium	Chase Field
Capacity: 38,561	Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 18,264	Capacity: 48,633

Pool D	Pool 1	Pool 2	Championship
Scottsdale, United States	Tokyo, Japan	Miami, United States	San Francisco, United States
Salt River Fields at Talking Stick	Tokyo Dome	Marlins Park	AT&T Park
Capacity: 11,000	Capacity: 42,000	Capacity: 36,742	Capacity: 41,915

The top 12 teams that participated in the 2009 World Baseball Classic were invited back for the 2013 tournament.[9] Spain, Canada, Brazil, and Chinese Taipei won their pools of qualification.[10]

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

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 with the highest Team's Quality Balance (TQB=(RS/IPO)–(RA/IPD)) in all games;
2. The team with the highest Earned Runs Team's Quality Balance (ER–TQB=(ERS/IPO)–(ERA/IPD)) in all games;
3. The team with the highest batting average (AVG) in all games;

Rk Team W L Tiebreaker 1  Dominican Republic 8 0 – Lost in Final 2  Puerto Rico 5 4 – Lost in Semifinals 3  Japan 5 2 – 4  Netherlands 4 4 – Eliminated in Second Round 5  Cuba 4 2 – 6  United States 3 3 – 7  Italy 2 3 0.103 TQB 8  Chinese Taipei 2 3 −0.190 TQB Eliminated in First Round 9  South Korea 2 1 – 10  Venezuela 1 2 −0.154 TQB 11  Mexico 1 2 −0.185 TQB 12  Canada 1 2 −0.308 TQB 13  China 1 2 −0.534 TQB 14  Brazil 0 3 −0.318 TQB 15  Spain 0 3 −0.467 TQB 16  Australia 0 3 −0.486 TQB

2013 World Baseball Classic Champions  Dominican Republic First title

781,438 (avg. 20,037; pct. 59.5%)

Note: The tournament Most Valuable Player was Robinson Canó.[11]

Position	Player
C	Yadier Molina
1B	Edwin Encarnación
2B	Robinson Canó
3B	David Wright
SS	José Reyes
OF	Nelson Cruz
	Ángel Pagán
	Michael Saunders
DH	Hirokazu Ibata
P	Nelson Figueroa
	Kenta Maeda
	Fernando Rodney

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

• 65 pitches in First Round (down from 70 in 2009)
• 80 pitches in Second Round (down from 85 in 2009)
• 95 pitches in Championship Round (down from 100 in 2009)

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 pitcher must:

• Not pitch until a minimum of four days have passed since he last pitched, if he threw 50 or more pitches when he last pitched;
• Not pitch until a minimum of one day has passed since he last pitched, if he threw 30 or more pitches when he last pitched;
• Not pitch until a minimum of one day has passed since any second consecutive day on which the pitcher pitched;

For purposes of the pitcher use limitation rules, both semifinal games were to be deemed to have been played on the day of the latest semifinal game.

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 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 Classic, as the only extra-inning game in the tournament ended prior to a 13th inning.

MLB Network has been announced as the English-language broadcaster of the 2013 and 2017 tournaments.[12] ESPN Deportes provided Spanish-language coverage, and ESPN Radio had audio rights.[13]

Sportsnet was the broadcaster in Canada and ESPN America in United Kingdom, Ireland and other parts of Europe.

• Official website