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The World Baseball Classic was first played in 2006 and presently occurs every four years. The 16-team tournament includes 12 automatic berths based on a team’s finish in pool play during the prior WBC. The remaining four berths are determined by qualifying play.The first two rounds of the tournament are round-robin format, while the semifinals and finals are single-elimination.
Now here’s a quick look at the results from previous tournaments.
World Baseball Classic champions, final results, team medals
| Year | Final Host | Champions (Gold) | Score | Runners-Up (Silver) | Third (Bronze) | Fourth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2006 | San Diego | Japan | 10-6 | Cuba | South Korea | Dominican Rep. |
2009 | Los Angeles | Japan | 5-3 (F/10) | South Korea | Venezuela | United States |
2013 | San Francisco | Dominican Rep. | 3-0 | Puerto Rico | Japan | Netherlands |
2017 | Los Angeles | United States | 8-0 | Puerto Rico | Japan | Netherlands |
Medal count
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Japan | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| T-2 | United States | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
T-2 | Dominican Rep. | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
4 | South Korea | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
T-5 | Puerto Rico | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
T-5 | Cuba | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
7 | Venezuela | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
World Baseball Classic Most Valuable Players
| Year | Player | Position | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
2006 | Daisuke Matsuzaka | Starting pitcher | Japan |
2009 | Daisuke Matsuzaka | Starting pitcher | Japan |
2013 | Robinson Cano | Second baseman | Dominican Rep. |
| 2017 | Marcus Stroman | Starting pitcher | United States |
All-WBC Teams
| POS. | 2006 | 2009 | 2013 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Ctcher | Tomoya Satozaki, JAP | Ivan Rodriguez, PUR | Yadier Molina, PUR | Yadier Molina, PUR |
1B | Seung-yuop Lee, KOR | Tae-kyun Kim, KOR | Edwin Encarnacion, DOM | Eric Hosmer, USA |
2B | Yulieski Gourriel, CUB | Jose Lopez, VEN | Robinson Cano, DOM | Javier Baez, PUR |
3B | Adrian Beltra, DOM | Bum-ho Lee, KOR | David Wright, USA | Carlos Correa, PUR. |
SS | Derek Jeter, USA | Jimmy Rollins, USA | Jose Reyes, DOM | Francisco Lindor, PUR |
OF | Ken Griffey Jr., USA | Norichika Aoki, JAP | Nelson Cruz, DOM. | Cristian Yelich, USA |
OF | Jong-beom Lee, KOR | Frederich Cepeda, CUB | Angel Pagan, PUR. | Gregory Polanco, DOM |
OF | Ichiro Suzuki, JAP | Yoenis Cespedes, CUB | Michael Saunders, CAN | Wladimir Balentien, NED |
DH | Yoandy Garlobo, CUB | Hyun-soo Kim, KOR | Hirokazu Ibata, JAP | Carlos Beltran, PUR |
P | Yadel Marti, CUB | Jung-keun Bong, KOR | Nelson Figueroa, PUR | Marcus Stroman, USA |
P | Daisuke Matsuzaka, JAP | Hisashi Iwakuma, JAP | Kenta Maeda, JAP | Josh Zeid, ISR |
P | Chan Ho Park, KOR | Daisuke Matsuzaka, JAP | Fernando Rodney, DOM | Kodai Senga, JAP |
