2017 World Baseball Classic


The 2017 World Baseball Classic was an international professional baseball competition, composed of 16 competing nations, held from March 6 to 22, 2017. It was the fourth iteration of the World Baseball Classic. The first-round hosts were Seoul, Tokyo, Miami, and Zapopan. The second-round hosts were Tokyo and San Diego, and the championship round was played in Los Angeles.
Twelve of the sixteen competing nations qualified based on their performance during the first round of the 2013 tournament; the remaining four nations were the winners of four qualification tournaments that took place in February, March, and September 2016. Two of the four qualifiers, Colombia and Israel, made their first appearance in the WBC, and both secured their positions for the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
The Netherlands, Japan, Puerto Rico, and the United States advanced to the championship round. Defending champion Dominican Republic was eliminated in the second round. The United States defeated Puerto Rico to win the championship game, 8–0. Marcus Stroman was named tournament MVP. He made three starts for the U.S. and posted a 2.35 ERA in 15 total innings, including 6 shutout innings in the championship game.

Qualification

The top three teams from each pool of the first round of the 2013 World Baseball Classic automatically qualified.
TeamWorld rankingMethod of qualificationClassic appearancePrevious best position
8th2013 World Baseball Classic4thRound 1
18th2013 World Baseball Classic4thRound 1
4th2013 World Baseball Classic4thRound 2
5th2013 World Baseball Classic4thRunners-up
13th2013 World Baseball Classic4thChampions
10th2013 World Baseball Classic4thRound 2
1st2013 World Baseball Classic4thChampions
9th2013 World Baseball Classic4thFourth place
12th2013 World Baseball Classic4thRunners-up
3rd2013 World Baseball Classic4thRunners-up
2nd2013 World Baseball Classic4thFourth place
7th2013 World Baseball Classic4thThird place
11thQualifier 14thRound 1
6thQualifier 24thRound 2
19thQualifier 31st—
41stQualifier 41st—

Format

The first and second rounds of the tournament were played in round-robin format, with each team playing each other team in their pool once, as was the case in 2006. However, in an effort to reduce the likelihood that a team would be eliminated on statistical tiebreakers, the tournament schedule allowed for a seventh game at each pool-play site.
  • If there is a two-way tie for first, since both teams advance, there would be no extra game. The team that won the original game between the teams would be declared the pool winner, and the other team the pool runner-up.
  • If there is a three-way tie for first, head-to-head results would not help to break the tie. In this case, statistics would determine the first-place team, and the other two would play to determine the pool runner-up.
  • If there is a three-way tie for second, statistics would determine the top two teams who would then play to determine the pool runner-up. The team ranked worst on the calculation would be eliminated.
In either of the latter cases, the statistics used to rank the tied teams were:
  1. Fewest runs allowed per inning of defense in head-to-head games
  2. Fewest earned runs allowed per inning of defense in head-to-head games
  3. Highest batting average in head-to-head games
  4. Drawing of lots

    Rosters

Venues

Six stadiums were used during the main tournament:
Pool APool B & EPool C

Pools composition

Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate positions in the WBSC World Rankings at the time of the tournament.
Pool APool BPool CPool D

First round

Pool A

Pool B

Pool C

Pool D

Second round

Pool E

Pool F

Championship round

Semifinals

Final

Final standings

The final standings were calculated by the WBSC for inclusion in the WBSC Men's Baseball World Rankings system.
In the final standings, ties were to be broken in the following order of priority:
  1. The team with the highest Team's Quality Balance –) in all games;
  2. The team with the highest Earned Runs Team's Quality Balance –) in all games;
  3. The team with the highest batting average in all games;
When the 2017 WBC was played, it was assumed that the field for the following 2021 WBC would remain 16 teams. Under the qualification format in use at the time, the bottom four finishers from 2017 would've been forced to re-qualify for 2021. However, in January 2020, MLB announced it was expanding the field for the 2021 WBC from 16 teams to 20 and that all 16 participants from 2017 would receive automatic bids for 2021, thus sparing the bottom four nations from relegation to the qualifiers.

Awards

Most Valuable Players

First round

PositionPlayer
C Yadier Molina
1B Eric Hosmer
2B Javier Báez
3B Carlos Correa
SS Francisco Lindor
OF Wladimir Balentien
OF Gregory Polanco
OF Christian Yelich
DH Carlos Beltrán
P Kodai Senga
P Marcus Stroman
P Josh Zeid

''Source:''

Attendance

'''973,699 '''

First round

508,830
  • Pool A – 52,286
  • Pool B – 206,534
  • Pool C – 163,878
  • Pool D – 86,132

    Second round

354,977
  • Pool E – 209,072
  • Pool F – 145,905

    Championship round

109,892
  • Semifinals – 58,327
  • Final – 51,565

    Statistics leaders

Batting

* Minimum 2.7 plate appearances per game

Pitching

* Minimum 0.8 innings pitched per game
** Zeid is tied with 12 others with a 0.00 ERA but he has pitched the most innings

Broadcasting

Television

Radio