2009 World Baseball Classic

International baseball competition in 2009

2009 World Baseball Classic

Tournament details
Countries|  Canada
Japan
Mexico
Puerto Rico
United States
Dates| March 5–23, 2009
Teams| 16
Final positions
Champions|  Japan (2nd title)
Runners-up|  South Korea
Third place|  Venezuela
Fourth place|  United States
Tournament statistics
Games played| 39
Attendance| 801,408 (20,549 per game)
Awards
MVP|  Daisuke Matsuzaka

← 2006

2013 →

Jumbotron ad for the 2009 WBC at Rogers Centre

The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international baseball competition. It began on March 5 and finished March 23.

Unlike in 2006, when the round-robin format of the first two rounds led to some eliminations being decided by run-difference tiebreakers, the first two rounds of the 2009 edition were modified double-elimination format. The modification was that the final game of each bracket was winner-take-all, even if won by the team emerging from the loser's bracket, although that game only affected seeding, as two teams always advanced from each bracket.

The biggest surprise in the first round was the Netherlands, which twice defeated the Dominican Republic in Pool D to advance. The second round saw the two Pool A teams (South Korea and Japan) defeat the two Pool B teams (Cuba and Mexico) while the two Pool C teams (Venezuela and the United States) defeated the two Pool D teams (Puerto Rico and the Netherlands). South Korea and Japan then advanced to the final game, playing each other for the fifth time in the tournament (split 2–2 up to that time), and Japan emerged victorious for the second straight Classic, winning the final game 5–3 in 10 innings.

For the second straight Classic, Daisuke Matsuzaka was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

## Format

[edit]

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 the first two rounds, this time they took part in a double-elimination format, similar to the U.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 the first two rounds in 2006.

After the first round, the tournament was held in the U.S. The top two teams from each of the four pools—seeded from the final game in their respective pools—went to the second round, with the teams from Pools A and B meeting at Petco Park in San Diego for Pool 1, and the teams in Pools C and D playing at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens 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 championship round 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 championship round games were held at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.[3]

In the final, the team with the higher winning percentage of games in the tournament were to be the home team. If the teams competing in the final had identical winning percentages in the tournament, then World Baseball Classic, Inc. (WBCI) would conduct a coin flip or draw to determine the home team.

## Rosters

[edit]

Main article: 2009 World Baseball Classic 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 was required to 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 could not be changed during a round of competition, a team that advanced to a later round could change its roster for the later round.

## Venues

[edit]

Seven stadiums were used during the tournament:

Pool A  | Pool B  | Pool C  | Pool D

|
|
|

Tokyo, Japan |  Mexico City, Mexico |  Toronto, Canada |  San Juan, Puerto Rico
Tokyo Dome | Foro Sol | Rogers Centre | Hiram Bithorn Stadium
Capacity: 42,000 | Capacity: 26,000 | Capacity: 49,539 | Capacity: 18,264
|  |  |
Pool 1  | Pool 2  | Championship

|
|

San Diego, United States |  Miami Gardens, United States |  Los Angeles, United States
Petco Park | Dolphin Stadium | Dodger Stadium
Capacity: 42,685 | Capacity: 38,560 | Capacity: 56,000
|  |

## Pools composition

[edit]

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

Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate positions in the IBAF World Rankings at the time of the tournament.[4][5]

Pool A  | Pool B  | Pool C  | Pool D

|
|
|

China (14)  |  Australia (10)  |  Canada (7)  |  Dominican Republic (17)
Chinese Taipei (5)  |  Cuba (1)  |  Italy (13)  |  Netherlands (6)
Japan (4)  |  Mexico (8)  |  United States (2)  |  Panama (9)
South Korea (3)  |  South Africa (20)  |  Venezuela (15)  |  Puerto Rico (11)

## First round

[edit]

### Pool A

[edit]

Main article: 2009 World Baseball Classic 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
| | |
| | | W5|  South Korea| 1
| Lower round 1| | | Lower final| |

| |
| | W3|  China| 0
| |
| L1|  China| 4| | | L4|  South Korea| 14| |
| | | |
| L2|  Chinese Taipei| 1| | |
| | | |

Date  | Local time  | Road team  | Score  | Home team  | Inn.  | Venue  | Game duration  | Attendance  | Boxscore

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Mar 5, 2009  | 18:30  | China  | 0–4 |  Japan |   | Tokyo Dome | 2:55  | 43,428  | Boxscore
Mar 6, 2009  | 18:30  | Chinese Taipei  | 0–9 |  South Korea |   | Tokyo Dome | 2:48  | 12,704  | Boxscore
Mar 7, 2009  | 12:30  | Chinese Taipei  | 1–4 |  China |   | Tokyo Dome | 2:51  | 12,890  | Boxscore
Mar 7, 2009  | 19:00  | Japan  | 14–2 |  South Korea | 7  | Tokyo Dome | 2:48  | 45,640  | Boxscore
Mar 8, 2009  | 18:30  | China  | 0–14 |  South Korea | 7  | Tokyo Dome | 2:13  | 12,571  | Boxscore
Mar 9, 2009  | 18:30  | South Korea  | 1–0 |  Japan |   | Tokyo Dome | 3:02  | 42,879  | Boxscore

### Pool B

[edit]

Main article: 2009 World Baseball Classic Pool B

| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Preliminaries| | | Qualifiers| | | Seeding
| | |
| –|  South Africa| 1
| | |
| –|  Cuba| 8| |
| | | W1|  Cuba| 5
| | | | |
| | | W2|  Australia| 4| |
| –|  Australia| 17| | | |
| | | |
| –|  Mexico| 7| |
| | | W4|  Cuba| 16
| | |
| | | W5|  Mexico| 4
| Lower round 1| | | Lower final| |

| |
| | W3|  Mexico| 16
| |
| L1|  South Africa| 3| | | L4|  Australia| 1| |
| | | |
| L2|  Mexico| 14| | |
| | | |

Date  | Local time  | Road team  | Score  | Home team  | Inn.  | Venue  | Game duration  | Attendance  | Boxscore

|
|
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|
|
|
|
|
|

Mar 8, 2009  | 12:00  | South Africa  | 1–8 |  Cuba |   | Foro Sol | 2:37  | 11,270  | Boxscore
Mar 8, 2009  | 19:00  | Australia  | 17–7 |  Mexico | 8  | Foro Sol | 3:43  | 20,821  | Boxscore
Mar 9, 2009  | 20:00  | Mexico  | 14–3 |  South Africa |   | Foro Sol | 3:33  | 10,311  | Boxscore
Mar 10, 2009  | 20:00  | Cuba  | 5–4 |  Australia |   | Foro Sol | 3:29  | 13,396  | Boxscore
Mar 11, 2009  | 20:00  | Mexico  | 16–1 |  Australia | 6  | Foro Sol | 2:31  | 16,718  | Boxscore
Mar 12, 2009  | 19:00  | Mexico  | 4–16 |  Cuba | 7  | Foro Sol | 3:33  | 20,149  | Boxscore

### Pool C

[edit]

Main article: 2009 World Baseball Classic 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
| | |
| | | W5|  Venezuela| 5
| Lower round 1| | | Lower final| |

| |
| | W4|  Italy| 1
| |
| L1|  Canada| 2| | | L3|  Venezuela| 10| |
| | | |
| L2|  Italy| 6| | |
| | | |

Date  | Local time  | Road team  | Score  | Home team  | Inn.  | Venue  | Game duration  | Attendance  | Boxscore

|
|
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|
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|

Mar 7, 2009  | 14:00  | Canada  | 5–6 |  United States |   | Rogers Centre | 2:55  | 42,314  | Boxscore
Mar 7, 2009  | 20:00  | Italy  | 0–7 |  Venezuela |   | Rogers Centre | 3:00  | 13,272  | Boxscore
Mar 8, 2009  | 20:00  | United States  | 15–6 |  Venezuela |   | Rogers Centre | 3:39  | 13,094  | Boxscore
Mar 9, 2009  | 18:30  | Italy  | 6–2 |  Canada |   | Rogers Centre | 3:36  | 12,411  | Boxscore
Mar 10, 2009  | 17:00  | Italy  | 1–10 |  Venezuela |   | Rogers Centre | 3:04  | 10,450  | Boxscore
Mar 11, 2009  | 18:30  | Venezuela  | 5–3 |  United States |   | Rogers Centre | 3:08  | 12,358  | Boxscore

### Pool D

[edit]

Main article: 2009 World Baseball Classic Pool D

| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Preliminaries| | | Qualifiers| | | Seeding
| | |
| –|  Netherlands| 3
| | |
| –|  Dominican Rep.| 2| |
| | | W1|  Netherlands| 1
| | | | |
| | | W2|  Puerto Rico| 3| |
| –|  Panama| 0| | | |
| | | |
| –|  Puerto Rico| 7| |
| | | W4|  Puerto Rico| 5
| | |
| | | W5|  Netherlands| 0
| Lower round 1| | | Lower final| |

| |
| | W3|  Dominican Rep.| 1
| |
| L1|  Dominican Rep.| 9| | | L4|  Netherlands| 2| |
| | | |
| L2|  Panama| 0| | |
| | | |

Date  | Local time  | Road team  | Score  | Home team  | Inn.  | Venue  | Game duration  | Attendance  | Boxscore

|
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Mar 7, 2009  | 12:00  | Netherlands  | 3–2 |  Dominican Republic |   | Hiram Bithorn Stadium | 3:01  | 9,335  | Boxscore
Mar 7, 2009  | 18:00  | Panama  | 0–7 |  Puerto Rico |   | Hiram Bithorn Stadium | 2:57  | 17,348  | Boxscore
Mar 8, 2009  | 16:30  | Panama  | 0–9 |  Dominican Republic |   | Hiram Bithorn Stadium | 2:46  | 9,221  | Boxscore
Mar 9, 2009  | 18:30  | Netherlands  | 1–3 |  Puerto Rico |   | Hiram Bithorn Stadium | 3:11  | 19,479  | Boxscore
Mar 10, 2009  | 18:30  | Dominican Republic  | 1–2 |  Netherlands | 11  | Hiram Bithorn Stadium | 3:38  | 11,814  | Boxscore
Mar 11, 2009  | 17:30  | Netherlands  | 0–5 |  Puerto Rico |   | Hiram Bithorn Stadium | 2:55  | 19,501  | Boxscore

## Second round

[edit]

### Pool 1

[edit]

Main article: 2009 World Baseball Classic 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
| | |
| | | W5|  Japan| 6
| Lower round 1| | | Lower final| |

| |
| | W3|  Cuba| 0
| |
| L1|  Cuba| 7| | | L4|  Japan| 5| |
| | | |
| L2|  Mexico| 4| | |
| | | |

Date  | Local time  | Road team  | Score  | Home team  | Inn.  | Venue  | Game duration  | Attendance  | Boxscore

|
|
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|
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|
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|

Mar 15, 2009  | 13:00  | Japan  | 6–0 |  Cuba |   | Petco Park | 3:33  | 20,179  | Boxscore
Mar 15, 2009  | 20:00  | Mexico  | 2–8 |  South Korea |   | Petco Park | 3:43  | 22,337  | Boxscore
Mar 16, 2009  | 20:00  | Cuba  | 7–4 |  Mexico |   | Petco Park | 3:09  | 9,329  | Boxscore
Mar 17, 2009  | 20:00  | Japan  | 1–4 |  South Korea |   | Petco Park | 3:21  | 15,332  | Boxscore
Mar 18, 2009  | 20:00  | Japan  | 5–0 |  Cuba |   | Petco Park | 3:26  | 9,774  | Boxscore
Mar 19, 2009  | 18:00  | Japan  | 6–2 |  South Korea |   | Petco Park | 3:42  | 14,832  | Boxscore

### Pool 2

[edit]

Main article: 2009 World Baseball Classic 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
| | |
| | | W5|  United States| 6
| Lower round 1| | | Lower final| |

| |
| | W3|  United States| 6
| |
| L1|  Netherlands| 3| | | L4|  Puerto Rico| 5| |
| | | |
| L2|  United States| 9| | |
| | | |

Date  | Local time  | Road team  | Score  | Home team  | Inn.  | Venue  | Game duration  | Attendance  | Boxscore

|
|
|
|
|
|
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|

Mar 14, 2009  | 13:00  | Netherlands  | 1–3 |  Venezuela |   | Dolphin Stadium | 2:22  | 17,345  | Boxscore
Mar 14, 2009  | 20:00  | United States  | 1–11 |  Puerto Rico | 7  | Dolphin Stadium | 2:15  | 30,595  | Boxscore
Mar 15, 2009  | 19:30  | Netherlands  | 3–9 |  United States |   | Dolphin Stadium | 3:14  | 11,059  | Boxscore
Mar 16, 2009  | 20:00  | Venezuela  | 2–0 |  Puerto Rico |   | Dolphin Stadium | 3:23  | 25,599  | Boxscore
Mar 17, 2009  | 19:00  | Puerto Rico  | 5–6 |  United States |   | Dolphin Stadium | 3:54  | 13,224  | Boxscore
Mar 18, 2009  | 19:00  | United States  | 6–10 |  Venezuela |   | Dolphin Stadium | 3:32  | 16,575  | Boxscore

## Championship round

[edit]

Main article: 2009 World Baseball Classic championship

| Semifinals | | | Final |

|
|
|
|
|

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

| 1W |  Japan | 9 |

### Semifinals

[edit]

Date  | Local time  | Road team  | Score  | Home team  | Inn.  | Venue  | Game duration  | Attendance  | Boxscore

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Mar 21, 2009  | 18:00  | South Korea  | 10–2 |  Venezuela |   | Dodger Stadium | 3:22  | 43,378  | Boxscore
Mar 22, 2009  | 17:00  | United States  | 4–9 |  Japan |   | Dodger Stadium | 3:15  | 43,630  | Boxscore

### Final

[edit]

Date  | Local time  | Road team  | Score  | Home team  | Inn.  | Venue  | Game duration  | Attendance  | Boxscore

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|
|
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Mar 23, 2009  | 18:00  | Japan  | 5–3 |  South Korea | 10  | Dodger Stadium | 4:00  | 54,846  | Boxscore

## Final standings

[edit]

Organizer WBCI has no interest in the final standings and did not compute. So, it was calculated by IBAF for the IBAF Men's Baseball World Rankings.

In the final standings, ties were to be broken in the following order of priority:

1. The team allowing the fewest runs per nine innings (RA/9) in all games;
2. The team allowing the fewest earned runs per nine innings (ERA) in all games;
3. The team with the highest batting average (AVG) in all games;

| 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 | –
Eliminated in Second Round
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
Eliminated in First Round
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

[edit]

801,408 (avg. 20,549; pct. 54.5%)

### First round

[edit]

453,374 (avg. 18,891; pct. 55.6%)

* 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. 17,317; pct. 35.0%)
* Pool D – 86,698 (avg. 14,450; pct. 79.1%)

### Second round

[edit]

206,180 (avg. 17,182; pct. 42.3%)

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

### Championship round

[edit]

141,854 (avg. 47,285; pct. 84.4%)

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

## 2009 All-World Baseball Classic team

[edit]

Players named to the All-WBC Team (from left to right);
Catcher – Iván Rodríguez of Puerto Rico
Second baseman – José López of Venezuela
Shortstop – Jimmy Rollins of the United States
Outfielder – Norichika Aoki of Japan
Outfielder – Yoenis Céspedes of Cuba
Pitcher – Hisashi Iwakuma of Japan

Note: The tournament Most Valuable Player was Daisuke Matsuzaka.[6]
Position | Player

|

C  |  Iván Rodríguez
1B  |  Tae-kyun Kim
2B  |  José López
3B  |  Bum-ho Lee
SS  |  Jimmy Rollins
OF  |  Norichika Aoki
Frederich Cepeda
Yoenis Céspedes
DH  |  Hyun-soo Kim
P  |  Jung-keun Bong
Hisashi Iwakuma
Daisuke Matsuzaka

## Statistics leaders

[edit]

### Batting

[edit]

| 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

* Minimum 2.7 plate appearances per game

### Pitching

[edit]

| Statistic | Name | Total/Avg

|
|

Wins |  Daisuke Matsuzaka | 3
Losses |  Jeremy Guthrie | 2
Saves |  Francisco Rodríguez | 3
Innings pitched |  Hisashi Iwakuma | 20.0
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

* Minimum 0.8 innings pitched per game
** González is tied with 17 others with a 0.00 ERA but he pitched the most innings with 9.2

## Additional rules

[edit]

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.[7][8]

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 First Round (up from 65 in 2006)
* 85 pitches in Second Round (up from 80 in 2006)
* 100 pitches in Championship Round (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.

A 30–pitch outing needed to be followed by one day off, and a 50–pitch outing by four days off. No one would be allowed to pitch on three consecutive days. As the championship round was 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.

A mercy rule came into effect when one team led by either fifteen runs after five innings, or ten runs after seven innings in the first two rounds.

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 two extra-inning games in the tournament ended prior to a 13th 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.

## Prize money

[edit]

USD 14,000,000

### By final standings

[edit]

* Champions – USD 2,700,000
* Runners-up – USD 1,700,000
* Semifinalists – USD 1,200,000 (x 2 teams)
* Eliminated in Second Round – USD 700,000 (x 4 teams)
* Eliminated in First Round – USD 300,000 (x 8 teams)

### Bonus for pool winners

[edit]

* First Round – USD 300,000 (x 4 teams)
* Second Round – USD 400,000 (x 2 teams)

## Media coverage

[edit]

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.[9] Spanish language telecasts in the U.S. were handled by ESPN Deportes telecasting all games. Internationally, it was broadcast to 167 countries by ESPN International.

In Canada, Rogers Sportsnet aired all 39 games.[10]

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%.[11]

## Video games

[edit]

World Baseball Classic 2009 has licensed three video games, all only released in Japan: Pro Yakyuu Spirits 6,[12] Baseball Heroes 2009[13] and Jikkyou Pawafuru Major League 2009[14]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "WBC 2009 Brackets". Major League Baseball. July 31, 2008. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved September 27, 2008.
2. ^ a b "Classic changes advancement rules". Major League Baseball. March 23, 2008. Retrieved September 27, 2008.
3. ^ a b "Dodger Stadium to host Classic finals". Major League Baseball. July 31, 2008. Archived from the original on September 9, 2008. Retrieved September 27, 2008.
4. ^ "Inaugural IBAF World Ranking Released". MyGameday. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
5. ^ "14 European Teams listed in IBAF World Ranking". Mister Baseball. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
6. ^ See: 2009 World Baseball Classic – Championship § Final – Japan 5, South Korea 3.
7. ^ "Several rules changes adopted for 2009 World Baseball Classic" (Press release). Major League Baseball. January 29, 2009. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
8. ^ Miller, Doug; MLB.com (January 30, 2009). "Rules changes approved for Classic". WorldBaseballClassic.com. Major League Baseball. Archived from the original on February 16, 2012. Retrieved January 31, 2009.
9. ^ Ibarra, Sergio (October 7, 2008). "ESPN, MLB Net Map Plans for World Baseball Classic". TelevisionWeek. Archived from the original on March 23, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
10. ^ "Notebook: Happy fans would pay Junior well". Toronto Star. February 25, 2009. Archived from the original on October 14, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
11. ^ "WBC決勝戦視聴率、36.4％【WBC】" (in Japanese). Jiji Press. March 25, 2009. Archived from the original on September 8, 2009. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
12. ^ "Pro Yakyuu Spirits 6". Archived from the original on March 24, 2010. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
13. ^ "Baseball Heroes 2009". Archived from the original on February 5, 2010. Retrieved March 6, 2010.
14. ^ "Jikkyou Pawafuru Major League 2009". Archived from the original on April 15, 2010. Retrieved March 5, 2010.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

2009 World Baseball Classic

Tournament|

* First round
* Pool A
* Pool B
* Pool C
* Pool D
* Second round
* Pool 1
* Pool 2
* Championship

Overview|

* Rosters

* v
* t
* e

2009 World Baseball Classic finalists

Champions|

*  Japan

Runners-up|

*  South Korea

Semi-finals|

*  United States
*  Venezuela

Second round|

*  Cuba
*  Mexico
*  Netherlands
*  Puerto Rico

First round|

*  Australia
*  Canada
*  China
*  Chinese Taipei
*  Dominican Republic
*  Italy
*  Panama
*  South Africa

* v
* t
* e

2009 World Baseball Classic stadiums

* Tokyo Dome (Tokyo)
* Foro Sol (Mexico City)
* Rogers Centre (Toronto)
* Hiram Bithorn Stadium (San Juan)
* Petco Park (San Diego)
* Dolphin Stadium (Miami Gardens)
* Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles)

* v
* t
* e

World Baseball Classic

* World Baseball Classic Inc. (WBCI)
* World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC)

Tournaments|

* 2006
* 2009
* 2013
* 2017
* 2023
* 2026

Qualification|

* 20061
* 20091
* 2013
* 2017
* 2023
* 2026

| Rosters|

* 20061
* 20091
* 2013
* 2017
* 2023
* 2026

|

Finals|

* 2006
* 2009
* 2013
* 2017
* 2023
* 2026

Rosters|

* 2006
* 2009
* 2013
* 2017
* 2023
* 2026

Rules and statistics|

* Team appearances
* World Baseball Classic Rules

Trophy|

* World Baseball Classic Championship Trophy

Related|

* Baseball World Cup (Amateur World Series)
* Baseball at the Summer Olympics
* WBSC Premier12

* 1 There was no qualification for the 2006 or 2009 WBC as places were given by invitation only.

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