Baseball

Groups announced for World Baseball Classic

U.S. in Group B with Canada, Mexico, South Africa in first round

Each team plays three first-round games, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the second round, where each team plays three more games starting March 13.

Four teams advance to the single-elimination semifinals on March 18, and the semifinal winners go on to a one-game championship on March 20. The second round will be split between the United States and Latin America, and the semifinals and final will be played in the United States. No specific sites were announced, but the list of possibilities include Houston, Seattle and sites in Florida, Arizona and California.

Each team will have 27 players, including at least 12 pitchers, and there will be pitch-count limits. Players must be citizens of the nation they play for.

“We’re aware of the issue of country jumping,” said Tim Brosnan, an executive vice president in the commissioner’s office, “but we haven’t adopted a hard-and-fast rule.”

Teams agreed not to block players from participating, but Orza acknowledged some clubs would try to sway players against playing.

“You can’t stop people from talking,” he said.

Forty-seven percent of the net proceeds of the 39-game tournament will go to prize money, with the remaining 53 percent split among Major League Baseball, the players’ association, the International Baseball Federation and the organizations of the participating teams.

While soccer’s World Cup is run by FIFA, the sport’s international governing body, this event is pretty much controlled by MLB and the players’ association, which has drawn complaints from Japanese baseball officials.

“Some already have accused us of being too dominant in the conduct of this event and we’re sensitive to that,” Orza said.

Insurance will be the largest single item in terms of cost, said Paul Archey, a baseball senior vice president.

< Prev | 1 | 2