According the press accounts, the World Baseball Classic Steering Committee endorsed the idea of expanding the field from 16 to 24 national teams for the 2013 tournament. The Committee also endorsed the idea of having initial qualifying rounds before the main competition.
Obviously, I have no clue what the format would look like. There would probably invitations extended to eight of the top finishers of next year's Classic. And the remaining 16 teams could be selected by regional qualifiers, just like the Olympics and baseball world cup (and the soccer and rugby union world cups too, of course). I dunno. And I have no idea how the WBC organizers would set up pools for 24 teams. Four pools of six teams each? Four pools of five teams each with an initial "play-in" round to select four team from the bottom 12 teams? Who knows?
But one thing we can predict (if the WBC goes along with recommendation) is that eight new countries could be added to the 2013 WBC schedule. And that's exciting news. I'll tell you who I'd like to see (in no particular order):
Netherlands Antilles
Colombia
Nicaragua
Philippines
Israel
Germany
Ghana
Thailand
These aren't predictions. Just who I'd like to see play in the tournament. (Although I'd expect most of these teams to make it in.)
Obviously, I have no clue what the format would look like. There would probably invitations extended to eight of the top finishers of next year's Classic. And the remaining 16 teams could be selected by regional qualifiers, just like the Olympics and baseball world cup (and the soccer and rugby union world cups too, of course). I dunno. And I have no idea how the WBC organizers would set up pools for 24 teams. Four pools of six teams each? Four pools of five teams each with an initial "play-in" round to select four team from the bottom 12 teams? Who knows?
But one thing we can predict (if the WBC goes along with recommendation) is that eight new countries could be added to the 2013 WBC schedule. And that's exciting news. I'll tell you who I'd like to see (in no particular order):
Netherlands Antilles
Colombia
Nicaragua
Philippines
Israel
Germany
Ghana
Thailand
These aren't predictions. Just who I'd like to see play in the tournament. (Although I'd expect most of these teams to make it in.)
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