May as well start a WBC 2009 category with this announcement:
Mexico City, San Juan, Tokyo and Toronto were selected Monday to host first-round games during the second World Baseball Classic in 2009.
The 16-nation tournament will switch from a round-robin to a double-elimination format during the first two rounds. Japan won the initial WBC in 2006, beating Cuba 10-6 in the final at San Diego.
Sites for the later rounds have not yet been announced. Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles is the leading candidate to host the semifinals and final.
The last-time-ever baseball Olympic competition should be very fun to watch this summer, but I’m all for the WBC establishing itself as the preminent worldwide baseball competition. I might even rename this category F*ck the IOC 2009 when the time is right.
I’m sure we’ll have lots of coverage leading up to the event.
(Via ESPN.com).
2 responses so far ↓
1 brent // Mar 25, 2008 at 9:33 am
At least baseball will be the main focus of the event rather than being overshadowed by track and field (shudder). The games will be played in nice venues where there are already established baseball fans. Who needs the coca colympics anyway?
2 Simon Currie // Mar 28, 2008 at 3:42 am
I worry about attendance for the first round games in Toronto, and for the non-Japanese games in Tokyo. SA v OZ in Mexico will be a definite non-crowd puller too, but ah well it’s good to see MLB and WBC trying to expand its reaches for themselves and for the sport.
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