2017 World Baseball Classic qualification

The qualifying Round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic, officially called the 2016 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers was held from February 11 to September 25, 2016. Teams which participated at the 2013 World Baseball Classic were automatically qualified for the 2017 tournament except the four nations which ended up last in their respective groups: Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and Spain had to play in the qualifiers along with 12 other national teams. 16 teams participated, divided into four groups of four teams each. The winners of each of the four groups qualified for the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

The qualifiers were organized as four independent modified double-elimination tournaments featuring four teams each. The final game was winner-take-all, even if won by the team emerging from the loser's bracket. That is, the team emerging from the winner's bracket might be eliminated despite losing only one game.

Australia, Mexico, Colombia, and Israel won their qualifiers and participated in the 2017 tournament. In their respective brackets, both Australia and Mexico were top seed (signified by home-field advantage) as well as the team that had competed in the 2013 tournament. However, Colombia defeated top seed Panama as well as 2013 participant Spain to advance, while top seed Israel defeated 2013 participant Brazil.

Players

Minor league players

Qualifier 1 featured 16 players who were affiliated with Major League clubs. Nine MLB-affiliated players were on the Australia roster, three on the South Africa roster, two on the New Zealand roster, and two on the Philippines roster.

Qualifier 2 featured 34 players who were affiliated with Major League clubs. Sixteen MLB-affiliated players were on the Mexico roster (representing 57% of the Mexico roster), eleven on the Nicaragua roster, six on the Germany roster, and one on the Czech Republic roster.

Qualifier 3 featured 31 players who were affiliated with Major League clubs. Sixteen MLB-affiliated players were on the Colombia roster (representing 57% of the Colombia roster), ten on the Panama roster, four on the Spain roster, and one on the France roster.

Qualifier 4 featured 41 players who were affiliated with Major League clubs. Twenty MLB-affiliated players were on the Israel roster and four more Israel players were recent Major Leaguers (together representing 86% of the Israel roster), twelve MLB-affiliated players were on the Great Britain roster, nine on the Brazil roster, and none on the Pakistan roster.

Experienced Major League players

Only a few experienced Major Leaguers participated in the spring qualifiers. These included relief pitcher Peter Moylan of Australia, first baseman Adrián González and pitcher Óliver Pérez, both of Mexico, and catcher Carlos Ruiz of Panama.

Qualifier 4 took place in September, after the end of the minor league season but during the Major League season, and thus no active Major League players participated. Although Brazil had a few young Major League players, Israel was the team most likely to be adversely affected by this circumstance. In 2013, Israel also was placed in a qualifier that took place during the Major League season and thus was unable to include a number of Major League players of Jewish descent who had expressed interest in playing for Israel. Without these players, Israel narrowly lost its 2013 qualifier to Spain.

Israel's roster included eight former Major Leaguers: catcher Ryan Lavarnway, infielders Ike Davis, Cody Decker, Nate Freiman and Josh Satin, and pitchers Josh Zeid, Jason Marquis and Craig Breslow. On the other hand, infielder Ty Kelly, one of Israel's twenty minor leaguers, had to withdraw from the qualifier after he was called up to the New York Mets.

Venues

Four stadiums were used during the qualifying round:

Pools composition

Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate positions in the WBSC World Rankings at the time of the tournament.

Pakistan was the only team in the 2017 qualifiers participating in the World Baseball Classic for the first time. It replaced Thailand, which participated in the 2013 qualifiers.

Qualifying round

Qualifier 1

Australia won all three of its games to advance. South Africa defeated New Zealand in the opening round and again in the losers' bracket to reach the final game, but lost to Australia 12–5.

Qualifier 2

Mexico won all three of its games to advance. Nicaragua defeated both of the other two teams but lost by wide margins in both of its games against Mexico. The Czech Republic performed surprisingly well, giving close games to both Mexico and Nicaragua and defeating Germany by a wide margin.

Qualifier 3

In the opening round, hosts Panama defeated France while 2013 participant Spain fell to Colombia. France then eliminated Spain while Colombia defeated Panama. Panama eliminated France to gain a rematch against Colombia, which won the final game 2–1.

Qualifier 4

In the opening round, Israel defeated Great Britain while 2013 participant Brazil defeated Pakistan. Great Britain then eliminated Pakistan while Israel defeated Brazil. Great Britain eliminated Brazil to gain a rematch against Israel, which won the final game 9–1.

Attendance

111,795 (avg. 4,658; pct. 33.0%)

• Qualifier 1 – 7,964 (avg. 1,327; pct. 44.2%)
• Qualifier 2 – 56,465 (avg. 9,411; pct. 48.3%)
• Qualifier 3 – 35,520 (avg. 5,920; pct. 21.9%)
• Qualifier 4 – 11,846 (avg. 1,974; pct. 28.2%)

Statistics leaders

Additional rules

A pitcher threw no more than 85 pitches per game in the Qualifying Round unless the pitcher needed more to complete a batter's plate appearance.

A pitcher must:

• Not pitch until a minimum of four days have passed since he last pitched if he threw 50 or more pitches when he last pitched;
• Not pitch until a minimum of one day has passed since he last pitched if he threw 30 or more pitches when he last pitched;
• Not pitch until a minimum of one day has passed since any second consecutive day on which the pitcher pitched;

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

An alternative version of the IBAF's extra inning rule was also used. If after 10 innings the score is still tied, each half inning thereafter starts with runners on second and first base. The runners are the eighth and ninth hitters due in that inning respectively. For example, if the number five hitter is due to lead off the inning, the number three hitter is on second base, and the number four hitter on first base. For the first time in the World Baseball Classic, this rule was actually employed in this year's qualifiers, as the Qualifier 2 game between Nicaragua and the Czech Republic went into the 11th inning. Nicaragua scored three runs in the top of the inning, the Czech Republic only two in the bottom, so Nicaragua went on to the final game of the bracket.

External links