After a series of exciting games, we now know which four teams will be competing in the 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) semi-finals. The two match-ups will be determined by the result of tonight’s game between Korea and Japan, with the winner facing the United States and the loser taking on Venezuela.
While it promises to be a good game, you’d be forgiven if your first reaction was: “haven’t Korea and Japan played against each other enough already?”. It’s a flaw in the tournament set-up, one which I pointed out last August.Â
I don’t like to be critical of the WBC. I’m wholeheartedly supportive of the general concept and this year’s event has been excellent so far. However, there is always room for improvement and in this case both the problem and the solution appear obvious.
At the end of that previous article, I put forward a likely scenario in which Korea and Japan would face each other five times during the tournament. Tonight’s contest will take the total to four and if they both win their semi-finals then the scenario will have been played out in full.Â
There really is no need for this. It makes no sense to send both the winner and runner-up from a Round 1 pool into the same Round 2 pool. The winners of Pools A and B should play the runners-up from Pools C and D; the winners of Pools C and D should face the runners-up from Pools A and B. That way, two teams could only meet a maximum of three times during the event.
If we take this idea forward using the Round 1 results from this year, we would have had the following two Round 2 Pools:
| Pool 1 | Pool 2 |
| Korea | Venezuela |
| Cuba | Puerto Rico |
| USA | Japan |
| Netherlands | Mexico |
The overall quality of the two pools would basically stay the same, but the benefit would be that you create games in the second round that are completely unique to those played in the first.Â
Wouldn’t that make for a better tournament?
And I’m no fan of the ‘double elimination’ rule either, but I’ll leave the moaning there for now.Â
There are four games left of the 2009 WBC and I’m going to enjoy them. The campaign to make it better for 2013 can wait until after the final out has been recorded and one of Korea, Japan, the US and Venezuela have lifted the trophy.
Hello Matt and Joe! I’ve been busy with high school baseball and have had little time to comment, although I go to the site almost every day. I have been enjoying the WBC and agree with you about the JAPAN/SOUTH KOREA situation. I’m obviously pulling for the U.S., but predict a Japanese winner. Way, way too many great American players are not on the team and that is disappointing, but expected. Our HS team plays it’s first game on Saturday, April 4th in Chicago at the University of Illinois-Chicago facility. We have a double header scheduled. The field is only a few miles from U.S. Cellular Field where the White Sox open up on April 6th. Hope all is well with you guys! Chico
Hi Chico. Good to hear from you as always. Japan do look strong, although the loss of their first baseman Murata is a big blow. It’s just a coin toss from here.
Opening day is always a great moment, for teams wherever they are. Hope it goes well for your team.