| The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an | | | | other for a single game, with the winners facing |
| international baseball tournament whose goal is to | | | | each other for the finals to determine the |
| spread the popularity of the game of baseball all | | | | champion. |
| over the world. Sanctioned by the International | | | | In Pool A, Korea emerged the winner (3-0) while |
| Baseball Federation, the WBC is participated in by | | | | Japan came in second, while Mexico and U.S.A., |
| various national teams from all over the world. | | | | each with a 2-1 win-loss slate, emerged as the |
| The first tournament was held from March 3-20, | | | | winners of Pool B. These four winners formed |
| 2006 in various stadiums in Tokyo (Japan), San | | | | Pool 1 for the second round. |
| Juan (Puerto Rico), Orlando (Florida, USA), Phoenix | | | | On the other hand, Puerto Rico (3-0) and Cuba |
| (Arizona, USA), Anaheim (California, USA), and | | | | (2-1) led Pool C, while, in Pool D, the Dominican |
| San Diego (California, USA). | | | | Republic (3-0) and Venezuela (2-1) clearly |
| During this inaugural edition of the World Baseball | | | | dominated. These four formed Pool 2 for the |
| Classic, 16 countries adjudged as the best | | | | second round. |
| baseball-playing countries in the world were invited | | | | The second round again saw Korea (3-0) |
| to send their national teams. These sixteen teams | | | | dominate Pool 1 to move into the single-elimination |
| were divided into four pools, namely: | | | | pool, with Japan, who tied with the United States |
| Â- Pool A - Japan, China, Korea, and Chinese | | | | and Mexico with similar 1-2 win-loss records, but |
| Taipei | | | | became the second team from Pool 1 for the |
| Â- Pool B - Canada, Mexico, South Africa, and | | | | single elimination pool due to a better standing in |
| the United States of America | | | | the tie-breaker assessment. In Pool 2, the |
| Â- Pool C - Cuba, Netherlands, Panama, Puerto | | | | Dominican Republic and Cuba led the pack with |
| Rico | | | | identical 2-1 win-loss records. The Dominican |
| Â- Pool D - Australia, Dominican Republic, Italy, | | | | Republic emerged as the champion in this pool due |
| Venezuela | | | | to a better standing in the tiebreaker assessment. |
| The tournament was a conducted in a round-robin | | | | The single-elimination round for the semifinals was |
| style of competition, wherein each team played | | | | one characterized by upsets wherein runners-up |
| once against the other three teams in the pool. | | | | Japan and Cuba beating Korea and the Dominican |
| The top two pool leaders of A and B were put | | | | Republic respectively. In the final game, Japan |
| together in the second round into one new pool | | | | defeated Cuba to become the first champion of |
| (Pool 1), and the top two pool leaders of Pool C | | | | the World Baseball Classic. |
| and D were put together in a new pool (Pool 2) | | | | The next WBC tournament will be held in 2009, |
| also for the second round. Again each team in the | | | | after which the tournament will be held every |
| new pools played against the other three once, | | | | four years. Downloads of the First World Baseball |
| with the top two from each pool put together in | | | | Classic Live Feed may be downloaded from the |
| a single elimination pool for the semifinals. The | | | | official World Baseball Classic Website. |
| champions and runner-ups of each pool face each | | | | |