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WBC format is pretty strange


SteveA

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I think they 've changed it from last time. I think last time it was round robin pool play. This time it's double elimination. The problem is, the top two teams from each 4-team bracket advance to the next round. That means the championship game of the bracket, which should be a big deal, is pretty much meaningless. Once you get to the final game, both teams are going to advance to the next round, so the game they play against each other is only to determine seeding in the next round, and is otherwise meaningless. Seems pretty odd to me.

Brackets:

http://mlb.mlb.com/wbc/2009/schedule/brackets.jsp

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Looks like it might result in shortening the WBC by 6 games and 2-4 days on the schedule, critical to reducing the impact on MLB spring training. They could have shortened the schedule even more if they had begun and finished the 1st round on the same days -- instead of having Pool B 3 days later than Pool A with Pools C & D in the middle. It would have meant having some games playing simultaneously in the 1st rounds, complicating the live TV coverage a little bit. However, that probably would have been a little more fair to the teams involved, with respect to the days off and pitcher scheduling.

I'm hypothesizing that Japan and Korea will come out of Pool A, Cuba and Mexico from Pool B, US and Canada from Pool C with Venezuela the dark horse, and the Dominican and Puerto Rican teams from Pool D. In the next round, I see the US and Japan surviving in Pool 1 and the Dominicans and Cubans in Pool 2. The US will probably lose in the semifinal round, when there will be no losers' bracket and having more pitchers with winter league experience may prove the deciding factor.

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Looks like it might result in shortening the WBC by 6 games and 2-4 days on the schedule, critical to reducing the impact on MLB spring training. They could have shortened the schedule even more if they had begun and finished the 1st round on the same days -- instead of having Pool B 3 days later than Pool A with Pools C & D in the middle. It would have meant having some games playing simultaneously in the 1st rounds, complicating the live TV coverage a little bit. However, that probably would have been a little more fair to the teams involved, with respect to the days off and pitcher scheduling.

I'm hypothesizing that Japan and Korea will come out of Pool A, Cuba and Mexico from Pool B, US and Canada from Pool C with Venezuela the dark horse, and the Dominican and Puerto Rican teams from Pool D. In the next round, I see the US and Japan surviving in Pool 1 and the Dominicans and Cubans in Pool 2. The US will probably lose in the semifinal round, when there will be no losers' bracket and having more pitchers with winter league experience may prove the deciding factor.

I like Venezuela over Canada. If Canada had Dempster, Harden, a healthy Bedard, a healthy Francis, a healthy and pitching Loewen -- they could have been a contender. But when the most accomplished major leaguer on your pitching staff is Jesse Crain....nah, I don't think they advance.

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I think they 've changed it from last time. I think last time it was round robin pool play. This time it's double elimination. The problem is, the top two teams from each 4-team bracket advance to the next round. That means the championship game of the bracket, which should be a big deal, is pretty much meaningless. Once you get to the final game, both teams are going to advance to the next round, so the game they play against each other is only to determine seeding in the next round, and is otherwise meaningless. Seems pretty odd to me.

Brackets:

http://mlb.mlb.com/wbc/2009/schedule/brackets.jsp

The reason they are using the bracket format this time is because of the tie breakers that had to be used last time. The tie breaker was runs allowed per 9 innings. Now as long as you win, you keep playing

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080323&content_id=2453941&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

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It's deffinatly an improvement, I am never a fan of tiebreaker scenarios, as Herm Edwards most eloquently said "You Play to win the Game!"

Also the crossover for the semifinals is another great improvement, last time Korea beat Japan like 3 times before the semifinals and was undefeated and then lost to Japan and was out.

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I am a fan of the double elimination but Game 5 is useless if the two teams have already played.

Once Japan beat Korea there was no reason to play again for seeding.

If the Dominica wins against the Netherlands, I can understand them playing Puerto Rico for the first seed.

Otherwise game 5 is a waste. Once you advance you advance, and if you already beat the other advancing team you should get the better seed.

I expect this to be fixed for the next Classic in 13'

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