2021 World Baseball Classic qualification
The Qualifying Round of the 2021 World Baseball Classic will be held in 2021. Teams which participated at the 2017 World Baseball Classic automatically qualified for the 2021 tournament. The qualifying round was to consist of two tournaments to be participated by six teams each. The qualifiers was planned to be hosted in Tucson, Arizona in the United States. The winners and runners-up of each of the two tournaments were to qualify for the 2021 World Baseball Classic.[1]
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country |  United States |
| Dates | TBA |
| Teams | 12 |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Games played | 18 |
← 2017 | |
The first tournament was originally scheduled to be held from March 13 to 18, 2020 and the second from March 20 to 25, 2020[1] before the qualifiers' postponement was announced on March 12, 2020 by the Major League Baseball due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2][3]
Players
Venue
A single venue, the Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium in Tucson, Arizona will be used in the qualifying round:[4]
| Qualifier 1 & 2 |
|---|
| Tucson, United States |
| Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
| Capacity: 11,500 |
 |
Pools composition
| Qualifier 1 | Qualifier 2 |
|---|---|
 South Africa |
 Great Britain |
 France |
 New Zealand |
 Germany |
 Philippines |
 Nicaragua |
 Czech Republic |
 Brazil |
 Panama |
 Pakistan |
 Spain |
The format is double-elimination. Each pool contains six teams, two of which are given a bye to the second round. The teams with a bye are Great Britain, Nicaragua, Panama, and South Africa. These are the four teams that placed 2nd in their qualifying group in 2017.
Four of the teams have previously participated in the main WBC tournament: Panama and South Africa in 2006 and 2009 (which were by invitation), and Brazil and Spain in 2013. All four have since participated in all qualifying tournaments.
All 12 teams have previously participated in WBC qualifying tournaments. Two have previously won their qualifying group and qualified for the main tournament (Brazil, Spain), six have previously finished as high as 2nd in their qualifying group (Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, South Africa), three have previously finished as high as 3rd in their qualifying group (Czech Republic, France, Philippines), and one has previously finished last in its qualifying group (Pakistan).
Qualifying round
Qualifier 1
| Opening Round | Semifinals | Qualifier | |||||||||||
| – | Nicaragua |
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| – | Pakistan |
W1 | |||||||||||
| – | Brazil |
W3 | |||||||||||
| W4 | |||||||||||||
| – | South Africa |
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| – | Germany |
W2 | |||||||||||
| – | France |
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| Repechage 1 | Repechage 2 | Qualifier | |||||||||||
| L2 | |||||||||||||
| L3 | L8 | ||||||||||||
| W5 | W7 | ||||||||||||
| W6 | |||||||||||||
| L1 | |||||||||||||
| L4 | |||||||||||||
| Date | Local Time | Road Team | Score | Home Team | Inn. | Venue | Game Time | Attendance | Boxscore |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pakistan |
– | Brazil |
Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
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| Germany |
– | France |
Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
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| Winner Game 1 | – | Nicaragua |
Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
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| Winner Game 2 | – | South Africa |
Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
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| Loser Game 2 | – | Loser Game 3 | Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
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| Loser Game 1 | – | Loser Game 4 | Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
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| Winner Game 5* | – | Winner Game 6* | Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
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| Winner Game 3* | – | Winner Game 4* | Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
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| Winner Game 7 | – | Loser Game 8 | Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
*Home team designation determined by coin toss.
Qualifier 2
| Opening Round | Semifinals | Qualifier | |||||||||||
| – | Panama |
||||||||||||
| – | Philippines |
W1 | |||||||||||
| – | Czech Republic |
W3 | |||||||||||
| W4 | |||||||||||||
| – | Great Britain |
||||||||||||
| – | Spain |
W2 | |||||||||||
| – | New Zealand |
||||||||||||
| Repechage 1 | Repechage 2 | Qualifier | |||||||||||
| L2 | |||||||||||||
| L3 | L8 | ||||||||||||
| W5 | W7 | ||||||||||||
| W6 | |||||||||||||
| L1 | |||||||||||||
| L4 | |||||||||||||
| Date | Local Time | Road Team | Score | Home Team | Inn. | Venue | Game Time | Attendance | Boxscore |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philippines |
– | Czech Republic |
Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
|||||
| Spain |
– | New Zealand |
Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
|||||
| Winner Game 1 | – | Panama |
Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
|||||
| Winner Game 2 | – | Great Britain |
Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
|||||
| Loser Game 2 | – | Loser Game 3 | Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
|||||
| Loser Game 1 | – | Loser Game 4 | Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
|||||
| Winner Game 5* | – | Winner Game 6* | Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
|||||
| Winner Game 3* | – | Winner Game 4* | Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
|||||
| Winner Game 7 | – | Loser Game 8 | Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium |
|
*Home team designation determined by coin toss.
References
- "Qualifiers set for expanded 2021 World Baseball Classic". Agence France-Presse. January 28, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
- Harrigan, Thomas (March 12, 2020). "World Baseball Classic qualifier games postponed". MLB.com. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
- "Major League Baseball to delay 2020 Opening Day by at least two weeks". MLB.com Press Release. March 12, 2020. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
- "Kino Sports Complex will host World Baseball Classic qualifier". Kold News 13. January 28, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.