2023 World Baseball Classic

The 2023 World Baseball Classic was an international professional baseball tournament, and the fifth time this exciting event was held. It started on March 8, 2023, and ended on March 21.

Originally, the tournament was supposed to happen in 2021, but it was canceled in May 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Later, it was decided that qualifications would begin in September 2022, as agreed by World Baseball Classic Inc.. More teams joined this time—20 instead of 16—and the United States brought in some of its best players, making it very exciting.

In the end, Japan won the tournament for the third time, beating the United States 3–2 in the championship game. This made Japan the second team after the Dominican Republic to win the tournament without losing a game. Shohei Ohtani was chosen as the World Baseball Classic Most Valuable Player.

Teams

Qualification

In 2020, it was decided that the 16 teams that played in the 2017 World Baseball Classic would automatically get to play in the 2023 tournament.

A qualifying event was planned for March 2020 in Tucson, Arizona, United States, to pick the last four teams. Twelve teams were split into two groups, and the top two teams from each group would get to join. But in March 2020, Major League Baseball decided to postpone the qualifying event because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was later moved to September 2022 for the Africa/Europe qualifiers and October 2022 for the Americas/Asia/Oceania qualifiers.

The Czech Republic, Great Britain, and Nicaragua were playing in the World Baseball Classic for the first time, while Panama was back after missing two tournaments. This was the third time in a row that South Africa, the only team from Africa, did not get to play. Both Brazil and Spain also did not qualify this time. With Panama back in the tournament, South Africa now hadn’t qualified for 14 years, since 2009.

Pools

The first round of team placements (without the teams coming from the qualifiers—group 5) was announced by the World Baseball Classic Inc. on July 7, 2022. The final groupings were announced after all the qualifiers were done. The organizers tried to put the four teams that reached the semifinals in the 2017 tournament (Japan, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, and the United States) and the three host countries (Japan, the United States, and Taiwan) into different groups. The rest of the team placements were based on WBSC World Rankings, making the teams more even, and also on business and geography.

Note: Numbers in parentheses show where teams were ranked in the WBSC World Rankings when the groupings were announced.

Venues

Four stadiums were used during the main tournament.

Attendance

The first round of the tournament had 1,010,999 fans across all four venues, nearly double the previous record for the World Baseball Classic. This included 361,976 fans in Tokyo for Pool B and 295,850 fans in Miami for Pool D. Total attendance for the tournament was 1,306,414, the highest in World Baseball Classic history.

Team base camps

Rosters

Each country had to give their final list of 30 players by February 7, 2023. The rules said each team needed to have at least 14 pitchers and two catchers on their lists.

Officiating

On March 7, 2023, Major League Baseball and the World Baseball Softball Confederation announced the list of officials for the tournament.

Umpires

The umpires for the tournament came from many countries, including Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Spain, South Korea, the United States, and Venezuela.

Supervisors

Supervisors for the tournament were from the United States.

Prize money

The prize money for the tournament was announced by Major League Baseball and the World Baseball Softball Confederation on March 7, 2023. Teams earned money based on how far they advanced in the competition. The winning team could earn up to $3 million if they won their group.

Group stage

The 2023 World Baseball Classic had four groups, each playing in different cities.

Pool A took place in Taichung from March 8 to 12, 2023.
Pool B was in Tokyo from March 9 to 13, 2023.
Pool C happened in Phoenix from March 11 to 15, 2023.
Pool D was held in Miami from March 11 to 15, 2023.

Knockout stage

The top two teams from each group moved on to a single-elimination round. These games happened from March 15 to March 21, 2023. Tokyo hosted two of the quarterfinals, and the other two quarterfinals, the semifinals, and the final game were played in Miami.

Bracket

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

Final standings

The final standings of the tournament were created by the WBSC to help decide the WBSC Men's Baseball World Rankings.

Teams that lost in the same round shared the same number of points, no matter their actual win-loss record. Teams that finished in third place were ranked higher than those in fourth, and teams in fourth were ranked higher than those in fifth.

Awards

Most Valuable Players

The 2023 World Baseball Classic gave out special awards to the best players in each group. Here are the Most Valuable Players (MVPs) from each pool:

• Pool A – Yu Chang of Chinese Taipei
• Pool B – Shohei Ohtani of Japan
• Pool C – Randy Arozarena of Mexico
• Pool D – Salvador Pérez of Venezuela

In the final knockout stage, Shohei Ohtani from Japan was named the tournament’s MVP.

2023 All-World Baseball Classic team

Some of the best players in the tournament were chosen for an All-Star team. They include:

• Pitcher – Miguel Romero of Cuba
• Second baseman – Javier Báez of Puerto Rico
• Outfielder – Mike Trout of the United States
• Outfielder – Masataka Yoshida of Japan

Source:

Statistical leaders

See also: World Baseball Classic § Statistical leaders