The 2023 version of the international World Baseball Classic (WBC) gets underway Wednesday, March 8th and runs until Tuesday, March 21st.
This is the fifth edition of the WBC with the last tournament being won by the USA in 2017 and will feature 20 national teams with Great Britain, the Czech Republic and Nicaragua all making their first appearance in the event.
The WBC will be hosted by the United States, Chinese Taipei and Japan.
Pool A will be held in Taichung from March 8th to 12th with the group consisting of Chinese Taipei, the Netherlands, Cuba, Italy and Panama.
Pool B will play their games in Tokyo from March 9th to 13th and will consist of Japan, South Korea, Australia, China and the Czech Republic.
Phoenix, Arizona will host Pool C from March 11th to 15th and is made up of the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Canada and Great Britain.
Pool D will be based in Miami, Florida from March 11th to 15th and consists of Puerto Rico, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Israel and Nicaragua.
Each nation plays the other teams in their group once with the top two teams from each group advancing to the single-game elimination quarterfinals from March 15th to 18th. If two or more teams are tied in the standings in the same group then the first tiebreaker will be based on the head-to-head result of the meetings between the teams.
In the quarterfinal stage: the Pool A winner takes on the Pool B runner up; the Pool B winner meets the Pool A runner up; the Pool C winner battles the Pool D runner up and the Pool D winner squares off against the runner up from Pool C. The semifinals will then be held on March 19th and 20th.
Two of the quarterfinal games will be held in Tokyo with the other two taking place in Miami. In addition, Miami will host both semifinal contests as well as the final on March 21st.
The first two World Baseball Classics were held in 2006 and 2009 with Japan winning both of them while the Dominican Republic was crowned champions in 2013 and the USA taking the last tournament in 2017. The 2021 event was postponed until this year due to the world-wide Covid-19 pandemic.
The WBC has several rules of play including an 65 pitch-per-game rule for pitchers in the group stage of the tournament, 80-pitches-per game in the quarterfinals and 95-pitches-per contest in the semifinals and final.
A mercy rule is in effect during the tournament which will see the game end if a team is ahead by 10 or more runs at the completion of a full inning after the seventh inning or is ahead by 15 or more runs at the end of the fifth inning. However, the mercy rule isn’t in effect in the championship round. The designated hitter rule will be used for all contests and any game which has to be decided by extra innings will see the batting team have a runner on second base to begin the inning.
Players are eligible to play for a nation which they are a citizen of or hold a passport of; if they are a legal permanent resident; if they were born in the country or if one of their parents is or was a citizen of the nation or was born in the country. Each team has a 30-player roster maximum and must have at least 14 pitchers and two catchers.
Most of the world’s top baseball players are expected to take part in the tournament including: J.T. Realmuto, Salvador Perez, Will Smith, Freddie Freeman, Paul Goldschmidt, Pete Alonso, Vinnie Pasquantino, Jose Altuve, Jeff McNeil, Luis Arraez, Manny Machado, Nolan Arenado, Rafael Devers, Munetaka Murakami, Xander Bogaerts, Francisco Lindor, Trea Turner, Wander Franco, Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Jung-hoo Lee, Juan Soto, Julio Rodriguez, Luis Robert, Ronald Acuna Jr, Kyle Tucker, Cedric Mullins, Kyle Schwarber, Joc Pederson, Eloy Jimenez, Sandy Alcantara, Yu Darvish, Roki Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Julio Urias, Kyle Freeland, Edwin Diaz, Jonathan Loaisiga, Devin Williams, Ryan Pressly and Shohei Ohtani.
Heading into the 2023 World Baseball Classic, the oddsmakers at bet365 currently list the Dominican Republic as the favorites to win it all at +200 followed by Japan at +250, the USA at +275, Puerto Rico at +900 and Venezuela at +1000. The longshots are the Czech Republic at +25000 with China, Great Britain and Nicaragua each at +20000. You can also bet on the outcome of each of the groups at bet365 and of course on each individual game as well as live in-play wagering.