What is the most watched international baseball event in the world? I believe that many people's answer will be the quadrennial Olympic baseball program, but it is a pity that the 117th International Olympic Committee meeting in 2005 decided to cancel baseball from the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Has baseball faded off the international stage?
Just after the Decision of the Olympic Committee was issued, on July 11, 2005, Major League Baseball and the Players' Union announced that the World Baseball Classic would be held. At the invitation of the Major League, China, Japan, Cuba, the Netherlands, Dominica and other countries were invited to participate in the competition meeting, and under the discussion of various countries, the holding of the competition was achieved.
Vignettes
Due to the long-standing trade embargo between the United States and Cuba, the Cuban team was unable to receive the prize money of the tournament, and the application for participation was repeatedly rejected. In order to participate in this international baseball tournament in a political environment, the Cuban team decided to donate the prize money to the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the United States, so the Cuban team was approved to participate in the World Baseball Classic
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2006 The beginning of the classic
The inaugural tournament was held in Japan on 3 March 2006, with teams from 16 countries divided into four groups and playing the first round of regional preliminaries in each of the four regions.
The Asian group preliminaries include China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan; in the puerto Rican group preliminaries, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Panama and the Netherlands; in the Arizona group preliminaries, the United States, Canada, Mexico and South Africa participate in the group preliminaries; and in the Florida group preliminaries, Dominica, Venezuela, Australia and Italy participate.
The protagonist of the first Classic tournament was undoubtedly the Japanese team, led by baseball legend Sadaharu Wang, who qualified as the second in the group, and met the championship-winning Favorite American team in the first round, when the Japanese team played only Ichiro Suzuki and Keiji Otsuka in the major leagues. Looking at superstar players such as Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, the rest of the Japanese players were in awe, even watching the U.S. team's training like fans, as if forgetting that this was their opponent.
But Ichiro Suzuki's words made a group of Japanese players wake up " Now is not the time to fear the opponent, we are all professional players, to despise and beat them" The Japanese team also lifted their spirits, Suzuki Ichiro took the lead in setting an example, the first set of the first set of the home run, but the American team's superstars are not vegetarians, under the leadership of Kit, the two sides fought to the eighth innings and still could not distinguish between opponents.
But in the eighth inning, Japanese baseman Nishioka Tsuyoshihara was ruled safe to score against the original decision, decided to leave the base early, the Japanese team's offensive rhythm was disrupted by the referee's decision, and finally Rodriguez hit the goodbye homer and won. After this game, the Japanese team, in the case of not being able to lose any more, won consecutive victories, winning mexico and South Korea, while the American team carelessly lost Jingzhou.
Japan and Cuba meet on the final stage, Asia's strongest against the Caribbean leader, the strongest duel is about to start. Japan led 4-0 in the first inning, but Cuba's firepower output could not be underestimated, and it immediately returned the color with a home run. Cuba and Japan then reached an impasse that lasted until the bottom of eight innings, with a point difference of only one point. By the ninth inning, Ichiro Suzuki's third hit of the match sounded the offensive horn of the Japanese team, and by the end of the half inning, the Japanese team was five points ahead, and the Cuban team scored only one point in the bottom nine innings and failed to reverse.
In the cheers of the fans, the Japanese team held aloft coach Sadaharu Wang, and the first World Baseball Classic championship was born.
2009 Death-defying duel
The 2009 World Baseball Classic can be described as an enemy meeting each other is extremely red,The first World Baseball Classic Champion Japan team met the Cuban team in the final four promotion tournament, who wins who will enter the final four, vowing to save the Olympic defeat of the Japanese team seems to be more eager for victory, and the soldiers do not bloodshed to take Cuba closer to the top four.
After a tough defeat over the mighty United States, Japan and South Korea, who had just won the 2008 Olympic baseball championship, clashed in the final, and a war of feuds in Asia was inevitable. The scores were glued to the extended round, when it was Ichiro Suzuki who stepped up and hit his fourth personal homer of the match while scoring the victory. In the end, under the successful closure of Dabishu, the Japanese team successfully defended the World Baseball Classic and defended the supremacy of international baseball competitions.
2013 Is Not a Thing
This year's championship seems to be an invincibility, and Dominica has not lost a single game! It became the first team to win the World Baseball Classic.
"I played at the 1997 World Series, when I played for the Marlins, and that was the highlight of my life until 2013, when we won the World Baseball Classic and were far more excited than the World Series winner," said Moises Alou, general manager of the Dominican Republic in 2013.
2017 Go all out
As the host country of the World Baseball Classic, the best result of the American team in the previous Classics was only the 2009 Palace Army, with a record of 10 wins and 10 losses in the past three games, sitting on the world's highest level of top baseball event MLB, but it has not been able to achieve in international competitions for a long time, why?
The answer is simple: almost none of the top stars in major leagues have a strong willingness to play, and some teams are reluctant to release players to participate in additional games. But in 2017, the U.S. team seemed to be stingy, making almost the strongest roster in the past.
Starting pitchers are led by then-shine All-Star pitcher Chris Archer, Marcus Stroman, Tanner Roark and others are rotating first, and the starting pitchers are anA League Championship MVP Andrew Miller and Jake McGee. ”
Don't worry, we look at team America's powder magazine, Christian Yelich, Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, Giancarlo Stanton, according to the line of playing, which pitcher would not be afraid?
However, compared with previous editions, the American team actually does not lack such superstar players, but the American team, which has regretted for three consecutive years, seems to be fully prepared to win a championship, but again, Japan, Dominica and other strong teams do not intend to give the championship to others, so in the end, the United States team won the 2017 World Baseball Classic Championship?
I believe that if you love baseball, you must have the answer in your heart. With the passage of time, the next World Baseball Classic will be held next year, and who will become the focus of the world's attention as the level of baseball in various countries grows and develops? We might as well look forward to seeing it!