The World Baseball Classic will expand to 28 teams, with 16 teams playing down to four to join the countries with a bye.
The new round of qualifying for the tournament, won by Japan both times it has been staged, will feature 16 teams divided into four pools of four teams each and include the four WBC teams from the 2009 tournament that did not win a game.
The qualifying rounds take place in 2012, with the teams playing for the championship in 2013. It sounds like a good way to get more countries involved.
I also notice Larry Fine wrote the article. I guess he’s branching out.
Wow. Taiwan has to qualify but China gets a bye. All because China beat Taiwan 4-1 in the first round in 2009. Never mind that Taiwan’s baseball program is light years ahead of China’s…
Still, as a fan of the WBC, I love to see more countries involved.
Great Britain baseball got an invite!! 😀