Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament in review

The Dodgers and the Padres made Major League history in the early hours of this morning, playing the first of two exhibition games at the home of the 2008 Olympics. Their trip has coincided with the conclusion of the Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament, in which eight teams battled it out to follow MLB’s lead and earn the right to play baseball in China.

For a blog that partly likes to look beyond the confines of MLB (great though it is) to the wider baseball world, my lack of comments on the tournament while it was in progress might have seemed a bit odd.

The truth is, I deliberately ignored the event. Writing about it as the games were being played would have painfully rammed home the fact that Great Britain were not competing in it, despite qualifying for the competition due to their silver medal finish in the 2007 European Championship. You should all know the story by now: Team GB qualified but had to withdraw due to lack of funding. Germany took Britain’s place and travelled to Chinese Taipei to represent Europe alongside Spain.

The IBAF Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament involved eight teams, all playing each other once in a round robin format. The two European sides were joined by Australia, Canada, the hosts Chinese Taipei, Korea, Mexico and South Africa with the top three teams set to advance to to the Beijing Olympics.

Canada went into the tournament as one of the favourites and they didn’t disappoint. With a roster stocked full of current or former Minor Leaguers, and three former Major Leaguers in Stubby Clapp, Steve Green and Ryan Radmanovich, the Canadians finished at the top of the table with a 6-1 record. Day four was the turning point. After opening their tournament with victories over Mexico and South Africa, they took a heavy 10-5 loss in game three against Australia. Down 5-4 in the top of the ninth in game four against the host nation, Canada’s tournament was firmly in the balance. They rallied to take the contest into extra innings, came through with a 6-5 victory and then followed it up with a comfortable 11-0 win over Spain. Beating Korea 4-3 guaranteed them a place in the top three and a hard-fought final day victory over Germany secured them top spot.

For Korea, that loss against Canada was the only blemish on what was otherwise a perfect campaign. They opened the tournament by winning their first five games at a combined score of 53-9 and rebounded from their single defeat to beat Chinese Taipei 4-3 in a tense final game. Korea’s offense was relentless, with their two main Giants leading the way: Joo Chan Kim of the Lotte Giants (of Korea) and Seung Yuop Lee of the Yomiuri Giants (of Japan). The pitching staff more than played their part as well, finishing with a combined ERA of just 1.55 over the seven games.

While the local fans would have been disappointed to lose to their Korean rivals, the Chinese Taipei team gave them plenty of reasons to cheer. Any tournament is always enriched when the host nation performs well and Chinese Taipei did just that, causing a minor surprise by finishing with a 5-2 record and taking the final qualifying spot. Heading into the event, most observers probably would have predicted a fourth or fifth placed finish for the local side, with Australia and Mexico being the other two teams likely to finish above them. Yet Chinese Taipei played a very solid and consistent game and, spurred on by their home support, took advantage of Australia and Mexico’s maddeningly unpredictable performances.

After their silver medal in the 2004 Olympics, Australia were naturally one of the favourites to qualify for Beijing, but the Aussies kept taking one step forward and then one step back. An opening victory over Germany was followed by an absolute pounding by Korea (16-2 and ended by the ‘mercy killing’ rule in the middle of the seventh inning). Their response to this heavy defeat was to knock ten runs in against Canada, only to lose 7-4 to Mexico in their fourth game and to then be shut out in a decisive 5-0 defeat at the hands of Chinese Taipei. Mexico’s victory over the Aussies was the start of a four game winning streak for the Latin Americans, but this had been preceded by an 0-3 start to the tournament and a final 4-3 record was only good enough for fourth place.

As for the two European representatives, they entered the event as firm underdogs and simply found the competition to be a level above their own ability. Germany won the ‘minnows mini-league’ by defeating both Spain and South Africa to finish 2-7, while Spain avoided the wooden spoon thanks to a 2-1 victory over the South Africans. It’s difficult to say whether Great Britain would have fared any better had they been able to take their rightful place in the tournament. There appears to have been a distinct division between the top five and bottom three teams and Team GB may have struggled to bridge the gap. Sadly, they were denied the chance to find out.

With the final qualification spots having been won, we now know that Canada, Korea and Chinese Taipei will join China, Japan, the U.S., Cuba and the Netherlands in the Beijing Olympics baseball tournament. This event will of course be the final such event for the foreseeable future after baseball and softball were dropped from the Olympic programme. Once again, the competition will make painful viewing for British baseball fans still lamenting the decision that will deny the sport a chance to shine in London in four years time. Our only hope is that the 2008 event is a resounding success and helps to convince the International Olympics Committee that the sport should be reinstated for 2016.

For more information on the Qualifying tournament, head over to the IBAF website as well as Mister-Baseball.com.