2009 World Baseball Classic

2009 World Baseball Classic

Tournament details
Host countries	Canada  Japan  Mexico  Puerto Rico  USA
Dates	March 5 – 23
Teams	16 (from 5 continents)
Defending champions	Japan (2006)
Final positions
Champions	Japan (2nd title)
Runner-up	South Korea
Third place	Venezuela
Fourth place	United States
Tournament statistics
Games played	39
Attendance	801,408 (20,549 per game)
Most Valuable Player	Daisuke Matsuzaka
← 2006 2013 →

Jumbotron ad for the 2009 WBC at Rogers Centre

The 2009 World Baseball Classic was an international baseball competition. It is the only international baseball tournament to feature a large number of players from the major leagues of North America and Asia. It began on March 5, 2009, and finished March 23, 2009.

Japan emerged victorious for the second straight Classic, defeating rival South Korea 5-3 in 10 innings in the final. Daisuke Matsuzaka won his second World Baseball Classic MVP Award.

Format

As was the case for the 2006 tournament, the sixteen teams were split into four pools of four teams each.^[1] Whereas previously the teams played in round-robin competition in Rounds 1 and 2, this time they took part in a double-elimination format, similar to the USA's College World Series sponsored by the NCAA. Under the new format, teams were only guaranteed to play two games. This change was made to eliminate the complicated tiebreaking procedures,^[2] which were required for one of the pools in each of Rounds 1 and 2 in 2006.

After Round 1, the tournament was held on American soil. The top two teams from each of the four pools—seeded from the final game in their respective pools—went to Round 2, with the teams from Pools A and B meeting at PETCO Park in San Diego, California for Pool 1, and the teams in Pools C and D playing at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida for Pool 2.^[3] Again, both pools made use of double-elimination to determine the teams qualifying for the Semifinals. In another change from 2006, the four qualifying teams crossed over for the Semifinals, with the winner of each pool playing against the runner-up from the other pool.^[2] The Finals process was otherwise unchanged, with each Semifinal being a single elimination match, the victors meeting in the Final to determine the tournament champion. All three Final Round games were held at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California.^[3]

In the Final, the Team with the higher winning percentage of games in the Tournament was to be the home team. If the Teams competing in the Final had identical winning percentages in the tournament, then WBCI would conduct a coin flip or draw to determine the home team.

Rosters

Each participating national federation had a deadline of January 19, 2009 to submit a 45-man provisional roster. Final rosters of 28 players, which also must include a minimum of 13 pitchers and two catchers, were submitted on February 24. If a player on the submitted roster was unable to play, usually due to injury, he could be substituted at any time before the start of the tournament. While rosters cannot be changed during a round of competition, a team that advances to a later round can change its roster for the later round.

Venues

Seven stadiums were used during the tournament:

Pool A - Tokyo	Pool B - Mexico City	Pool C - Toronto	Pool D - San Juan
Tokyo Dome	Foro Sol Stadium	Rogers Centre	Hiram Bithorn Stadium
Capacity: 42,000	Capacity: 26,000	Capacity: 49,539	Capacity: 18,000
Pool 1 - San Diego	Pool 2 - Miami	Finals - Los Angeles
PETCO Park	Dolphin Stadium	Dodger Stadium
Capacity: 42,685	Capacity: 38,560	Capacity: 56,000

Pools composition

The 16 teams that participated in the 2006 World Baseball Classic were all invited back for the 2009 tournament. The WBCI changed the members of each pool as compared with the 2006 Classic, however, except for Pool A. There was no official qualifying competition.

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

Round 1

Pool A

Preliminaries

Qualifiers

Seeding

-

China

0

-

Japan

4

W1

Japan

14

W2

South Korea

2

-

Chinese Taipei

0

-

South Korea

9

W4

Japan

0

AR

W5

South Korea

1

AW

L2

Chinese Taipei

1

L1

China

4

W3

China

0

L4

South Korea

14

Date	Road Team	Score	Home Team	Inn.	Location	Time	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 5, 2009	China	0–4	Japan		Tokyo Dome	2:55	43,428	Boxscore
Mar 6, 2009	Chinese Taipei	0–9	South Korea		Tokyo Dome	2:48	12,704	Boxscore
Mar 7, 2009	Chinese Taipei	1–4	China		Tokyo Dome	2:51	12,890	Boxscore
Mar 7, 2009	Japan	14–2	South Korea	7	Tokyo Dome	2:48	45,640	Boxscore
Mar 8, 2009	China	0–14	South Korea	7	Tokyo Dome	2:13	12,571	Boxscore
Mar 9, 2009	South Korea	1–0	Japan		Tokyo Dome	3:02	42,879	Boxscore

Pool B

Preliminaries

Qualifiers

Seeding

-

South Africa

1

-

Cuba

8

W1

Cuba

5

W2

Australia

4

-

Australia

17

-

Mexico

7

W4

Cuba

16

BW

W5

Mexico

4

BR

L2

Mexico

14

L1

South Africa

3

W3

Mexico

16

L4

Australia

1

Date	Road Team	Score	Home Team	Inn.	Location	Time	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 8, 2009	South Africa	1–8	Cuba		Foro Sol Stadium	2:37	11,270	Boxscore
Mar 8, 2009	Australia	17–7	Mexico	8	Foro Sol Stadium	3:43	20,821	Boxscore
Mar 9, 2009	Mexico	14–3	South Africa		Foro Sol Stadium	3:33	10,311	Boxscore
Mar 10, 2009	Cuba	5–4	Australia		Foro Sol Stadium	3:29	13,396	Boxscore
Mar 11, 2009	Mexico	16–1	Australia	6	Foro Sol Stadium	2:31	16,718	Boxscore
Mar 12, 2009	Mexico	4–16	Cuba	7	Foro Sol Stadium	3:33	20,149	Boxscore

Pool C

Preliminaries

Qualifiers

Seeding

-

Canada

5

-

United States

6

W1

United States

15

W2

Venezuela

6

-

Italy

0

-

Venezuela

7

W3

United States

3

CR

W5

Venezuela

5

CW

L2

Italy

6

L1

Canada

2

W4

Italy

1

L3

Venezuela

10

Date	Road Team	Score	Home Team	Inn.	Location	Time	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 7, 2009	Canada	5–6	United States		Rogers Centre	2:55	42,314	Boxscore
Mar 7, 2009	Italy	0–7	Venezuela		Rogers Centre	3:00	13,272	Boxscore
Mar 8, 2009	United States	15–6	Venezuela		Rogers Centre	3:39	13,094	Boxscore
Mar 9, 2009	Italy	6–2	Canada		Rogers Centre	3:36	12,411	Boxscore
Mar 10, 2009	Italy	1–10	Venezuela		Rogers Centre	3:04	10,450	Boxscore
Mar 11, 2009	Venezuela	5–3	United States		Rogers Centre	3:08	12,358	Boxscore

Pool D

Preliminaries

Qualifiers

Seeding

-

Netherlands

3

-

Dominican Republic

2

W1

Netherlands

1

W2

Puerto Rico

3

-

Panama

0

-

Puerto Rico

7

W4

Puerto Rico

5

DW

W5

Netherlands

0

DR

L2

Panama

0

L1

Dominican Republic

9

W3

Dominican Republic

1

L4

Netherlands

2

Date	Road Team	Score	Home Team	Inn.	Location	Time	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 7, 2009	Netherlands	3–2	Dominican Republic		Hiram Bithorn Stadium	3:01	9,335	Boxscore
Mar 7, 2009	Panama	0–7	Puerto Rico		Hiram Bithorn Stadium	2:57	17,348	Boxscore
Mar 8, 2009	Panama	0–9	Dominican Republic		Hiram Bithorn Stadium	2:46	9,221	Boxscore
Mar 9, 2009	Netherlands	1–3	Puerto Rico		Hiram Bithorn Stadium	3:11	19,479	Boxscore
Mar 10, 2009	Dominican Republic	1–2	Netherlands	11	Hiram Bithorn Stadium	3:38	11,814	Boxscore
Mar 11, 2009	Netherlands	0–5	Puerto Rico		Hiram Bithorn Stadium	2:55	19,501	Boxscore

Round 2

Pool 1

Preliminaries

Qualifiers

Seeding

AR

Japan

6

BW

Cuba

0

W1

Japan

1

W2

South Korea

4

BR

Mexico

2

AW

South Korea

8

W4

South Korea

2

1R

W5

Japan

6

1W

L1

Cuba

7

L2

Mexico

4

W3

Cuba

0

L4

Japan

5

Date	Road Team	Score	Home Team	Inn.	Location	Time	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 15, 2009	Japan	6–0	Cuba		PETCO Park	3:33	20,179	Boxscore
Mar 15, 2009	Mexico	2–8	South Korea		PETCO Park	3:43	22,337	Boxscore
Mar 16, 2009	Cuba	7–4	Mexico		PETCO Park	3:09	9,329	Boxscore
Mar 17, 2009	Japan	1–4	South Korea		PETCO Park	3:21	15,332	Boxscore
Mar 18, 2009	Japan	5–0	Cuba		PETCO Park	3:26	9,774	Boxscore
Mar 19, 2009	Japan	6–2	South Korea		PETCO Park	3:42	14,832	Boxscore

Pool 2

Preliminaries

Qualifiers

Seeding

DR

Netherlands

1

CW

Venezuela

3

W1

Venezuela

2

W2

Puerto Rico

0

CR

United States

1

DW

Puerto Rico

11

W4

Venezuela

10

2W

W5

United States

6

2R

L1

Netherlands

3

L2

United States

9

W3

United States

6

L4

Puerto Rico

5

Date	Road Team	Score	Home Team	Inn.	Location	Time	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 14, 2009	Netherlands	1–3	Venezuela		Dolphin Stadium	2:22	17,345	Boxscore
Mar 14, 2009	United States	1–11	Puerto Rico	7	Dolphin Stadium	2:15	30,595	Boxscore
Mar 15, 2009	Netherlands	3–9	United States		Dolphin Stadium	3:14	11,059	Boxscore
Mar 16, 2009	Venezuela	2–0	Puerto Rico		Dolphin Stadium	3:23	25,599	Boxscore
Mar 17, 2009	Puerto Rico	5–6	United States		Dolphin Stadium	3:54	13,224	Boxscore
Mar 18, 2009	United States	6–10	Venezuela		Dolphin Stadium	3:32	16,575	Boxscore

Finals

	Semifinals					Final
	1R	South Korea	10
	2W	Venezuela	2
						SF1W	South Korea	3
						SF2W	Japan	5
	2R	United States	4
	1W	Japan	9

Semifinals

Date	Road Team	Score	Home Team	Inn.	Location	Time	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 21, 2009	South Korea	10–2	Venezuela		Dodger Stadium	3:22	43,378	Boxscore
Mar 22, 2009	United States	4–9	Japan		Dodger Stadium	3:15	43,630	Boxscore

Final

Date	Road Team	Score	Home Team	Inn.	Location	Time	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 23, 2009	Japan	5–3	South Korea	10	Dodger Stadium	4:00	54,846	Boxscore

Final standings

Rk Team W L Tiebreaker 1  Japan 7 2 - Lost in Final 2  South Korea 6 3 - Lost in Semifinals 3  Venezuela 6 2 - 4  United States 4 4 - Failed to qualify for Semifinals 5  Puerto Rico 4 2 1.75 RA/9 6  Cuba 4 2 4.15 RA/9 7  Netherlands 2 4 3.98 RA/9 8  Mexico 2 4 10.10 RA/9 Failed to qualify for Round 2 9  Dominican Republic 1 2 1.57 RA/9 10  Italy 1 2 6.84 RA/9 11  China 1 2 7.43 RA/9 12  Australia 1 2 10.96 RA/9 13  Canada 0 2 6.35 RA/9 14  Chinese Taipei 0 2 7.31 RA/9 15  Panama 0 2 9.00 RA/9 16  South Africa 0 2 11.65 RA/9

2009 World Baseball Classic Champions  Japan Second title

Attendance

801,408 (avg. 20,548; pct. 54.6%)

Round 1

453,374 (avg. 18,890; pct. 55.7%)

• Pool A - 170,112 (avg. 28,352; pct. 67.5%)
• Pool B - 92,665 (avg. 15,444; pct. 59.4%)
• Pool C - 103,899 (avg. 17,316; pct. 35.0%)
• Pool D - 86,698 (avg. 14,449; pct. 80.3%)

Round 2

206,180 (avg. 17,181; pct. 42.3%)

• Pool 1 - 91,783 (avg. 15,297; pct. 35.8%)
• Pool 2 - 114,397 (avg. 19,066; pct. 49.4%)

Finals

141,854 (avg. 47,284; pct. 84.4%)

• Semifinals - 87,008 (avg. 43,504; pct. 77.7%)
• Final - 54,846 (avg. 54,846; pct. 97.9%)

All-WBC team

Position	Player
C	Ivan Rodriguez
1B	Tae-Kyun Kim
2B	José López
SS	Jimmy Rollins
3B	Bum-Ho Lee
OF	Norichika Aoki
	Frederich Cepeda
	Yoennis Cespedes
DH	Hyun-Soo Kim
P	Jung-Keun Bong
	Hisashi Iwakuma
	Daisuke Matsuzaka

Statistics leaders

Batting Statistic Name Total/Avg Batting average Brett Roneberg .714 Hits Norichika Aoki Frederich Cepeda Ichiro Suzuki 12 Runs Adam Dunn Tae-Kyun Kim Kevin Youkilis 9 Home runs 7 players 3 RBI Tae-Kyun Kim 11 Walks Adam Dunn 9 Strikeouts Adam Dunn Michihiro Ogasawara 10 Stolen bases Yasuyuki Kataoka Jimmy Rollins 4 On base percentage Jason Bay .778 Slugging percentage Brett Roneberg 1.286 OPS Brett Roneberg 2.036

Pitching Statistic Name Total/Avg Wins Daisuke Matsuzaka 3 Losses Jeremy Guthrie 2 Saves Francisco Rodríguez 3 Innings pitched Hisashi Iwakuma 20 Hits allowed Roy Oswalt 17 Runs allowed Jeremy Guthrie 10 Earned runs allowed Kwang-Hyun Kim 8 ERA Enrique González* 0.00 Walks 5 players 6 Strikeouts Yu Darvish 20 WHIP Rafael Pérez 0.00 * González is tied with several others with a 0.00 ERA but he pitched the most innings with 9.2

Additional rules

As was the case for the 2006 Classic, several rules were announced for the 2009 tournament that modified the existing rules for international baseball set out by the IBAF.^[4][5]

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

• 70 pitches in Round 1 (up from 65 in 2006)
• 85 pitches in Round 2 (up from 80 in 2006)
• 100 pitches in the Semifinals and Final (up from 95 in 2006)

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.

Any pitcher who made 30 or more pitches in a game was ineligible to pitch on the following day. As the Finals were played over three consecutive days, a so-called "pitcher rest equalization" rule was added: a pitcher making 30 or more pitches in a Semifinal was ineligible to pitch in the Final. This negated an advantage the winners of the first Semifinal would have had in the Final.

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 introduced. 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 two extra-inning games in the tournament ended prior to a 12th inning.

All base coaches were required to wear protective helmets, in the aftermath of the death of Mike Coolbaugh and participating teams were required to announce the next day's starting pitcher. Additionally, a modified early termination rule was in effect for the first two rounds; had a team been ahead by 15 or more runs after five innings or ten or more runs after seven or eight innings, the game ended at that point.

Television coverage

In the United States, ESPN and the MLB Network shared the rights, with ESPN broadcasting 23 of the games, including the Finals, while MLB Network showed the remaining 16.^[6] Spanish language telecasts in the USA were handled by ESPN Deportes telecasting all games. Internationally, it was broadcasted to 167 countries by ESPN International.

In Canada, Rogers Sportsnet aired all 39 games.^[7]

In the Dominican Republic, CDN (Cadena de Noticias) and CDN2 broadcast all games live (except for games played in Tokyo, shown on tape delay)^{[citation needed]}

In Japan, J Sports broadcast all 39 games. TV Asahi (Round 1) and TBS (Round 2 and Finals) broadcast all games featuring Japan. For all games featuring Japan, they gained viewing ratings of at least 20%. The final game gained ratings in the range 30-45%.^[8]

Videogames

World Baseball Classic 2009 has licensed three videogames, all made in Japan: Pro Yakyuu Spirits 6,^[9] Baseball Heroes 2009^[10] and Jikkyou Pawafuru Major League 2009^[11]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 2009 World Baseball Classic

• Baseball at the Summer Olympics
• Baseball World Cup
• Major League Baseball
• International Baseball Federation

References

External links

• Official Website
• With Classic over, MLB looks ahead
• 2009 World Baseball Classic coverage
• Tournament Bracket

v t e World Baseball Classic Tournaments 2006 • 2009 • 2013 Qualifiers 2013

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