2006 World Baseball Classic

Pools composition

Final standings

1. The team allowing the fewest runs per nine innings in all games;
2. The team allowing the fewest earned runs per nine innings in all games;
3. The team with the highest batting average in all games;

Attendance

First round

• Pool A – 100,964
• Pool B – 91,205
• *Chase Field – 65,464
• *Scottsdale Stadium – 25,741
• Pool C – 74,472
• Pool D – 59,988

Second round

• Pool 1 – 191,717
• Pool 2 – 92,163

Championship round

• Semifinals – 83,907
• Final – 42,696

2006 All-World Baseball Classic team

Position

Player

C

Statistics leaders Batting * Minimum 2.7 plate appearances per game Pitching * Minimum 0.8 innings pitched per game ** Martí is tied with 10 others with a 0.00 ERA but he pitched the most innings with 12.2 Additional rules There were several rule changes from normal major league play. Pitchers were held to a pitch count of 65 in the first round, 80 in the second round, and 95 in the championship round. If a pitcher reached his maximum pitch count in the middle of an at-bat, he could continue to pitch to that batter, but was required to be replaced once that at-bat ended. A 30–pitch outing needed to be followed by one day off, and a 50–pitch outing by four days off. No one would be allowed to pitch on three consecutive days. A mercy rule came into effect when one team led by either fifteen runs after five innings, or ten runs after seven innings in the first two rounds. In addition, ties could be called after fourteen innings of play. The designated hitter rule was in place for all games. Controversies ;Format South Korea completed the first two rounds undefeated but was still forced to play Japan, a team it had beaten twice, in the semifinal round. South Korea lost and thus placed 3rd, even though South Korea's final standings were 6-1, with the most wins. Other international sporting competitions, such as the FIFA World Cup, are formatted so teams cannot play each other three times but can only face each other twice at most - in round robin group play and again for the championship or 3rd-place match. In addition, the regional grouping of teams was questioned because the groups were perceived as unevenly distributed, and the four-team pool system and subsequent three-way tiebreakers were widely seen as awkward. ;Umpires Tournament organizers could not reach an agreement with the MLB umpires' union and so the Classic was overseen by umpires from the minor leagues. ;South Korea When South Korea beat Japan, they planted South Korean national flags into a pitcher's mound at Angels Stadium at Anaheim. ;Chinese Taipei The Chinese Taipei team was originally listed as "Taiwan" and bearing the ROC national flag, but following pressure from the People's Republic of China the listing was later changed to Chinese Taipei with the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag. ;Drug testing The World Anti-Doping Agency criticized IBAF's drug testing program and threatened to withdraw sanction of the event under claims the MLB was attempting to "brush the issue under the carpet." South Korean pitcher Myung-hwan Park tested positive for a banned substance during the event, and he was subsequently kicked out of the WBC.. Venezuelan pitcher Freddy García tested positive for marijuana. ;Player participation Numerous MLB players pulled out of the competition for various reasons, such as Barry Bonds, Vladimir Guerrero, and Manny Ramírez, among others. Cuba in particular barred players such as Orlando Hernández, his half-brother Liván Hernández, and José Contreras from its team as Cubans who had previously defected. Success of tournament Many members of the United States press were skeptical of the Classic since its inception. The event proved to be quite popular, however, providing many memorable moments including a first round game between Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. Attendance was higher than expected at several sites, including the 18,000-seat Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, which was sold out for every Puerto Rico game in the first two rounds. In addition, 4,000 media credentials were issued — more than the World Series — which bodes well for the stated goal of internationalizing the sport. Sports Illustrated writer Tom Verducci reported that "more merchandise was sold in the first round than organizers projected for the entire 17-day event." He also reported that, at one point, jerseys for the Venezuelan team were selling at the rate of one every six seconds. The U.S. television ratings on ESPN were stronger than initially expected, drawing more than one million television sets for some games, more than almost any other ESPN program in the month of March. This occurred despite less than stellar airing times for the games. Most were not aired live but taped, and sometimes with innings cut, as the WBC was organized well after ESPN had committed to much of its programming. Outside the U.S. TV ratings were very high. In Latin America, a first-round game between the United States and Mexico, was the third-most-watched game in the history of ESPN Dos, one of the three Spanish-language channels of ESPN in Latin America. The allocation of earnings The total earnings of the World Baseball Classic is divided into net profit and prize money. Net profit (53%) World Baseball Classic Inc.: 17.5% Baseball Players Union: 17.5% Japanese Baseball Organization: 7% Korea Baseball Organization: 5% International Baseball Federation: 5% Miscellaneous expenses: 1% Prize money (47%) Japan : 10% Cuba : 7% South Korea and Dominican Republic : 5% each The four teams that lost out in Round 2: 3% each The eight teams that lost out in Round 1: 1% each