2019 WBSC Premier12
The 2019 WBSC Premier12 was an international baseball championship featuring the 12 highest-ranked national teams in the world, held by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. It was the second WBSC Premier12 event. The championship was held from November 2 to 17, 2019, in Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.
The tournament served as a qualifier for baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Two quota spots were allocated, with Team Mexico as the top finisher from the Americas earning one spot, and Team South Korea as the top-finishing team from the Asia/Oceania region earning the other.
Japan defeated South Korea in the championship game, and the bronze medal game was won by Mexico over Team USA.
Teams
The 12 highest-ranked national teams qualified to participate in the 2019 WBSC Premier12, based on the then-most-recent WBSC World Rankings, which were as of December 17, 2018.Format
Opening Round
The tournament began with three groups of four teams each playing in the 12-team Opening Round. Each team played three games, in a round robin format against the other three teams in its group.Super Round
The top two teams from each group then advanced to the six-team Super Round, which was hosted at ZOZO Marine Stadium and the Tokyo Dome in Japan.In the Super Round, the top two teams that advanced from each of the three groups competed in a round robin format against the top two teams that advanced from the other two groups, for a total of four games played per team.
Finals
Following the conclusion of the Super Round, four teams advanced to the Finals. The four teams were selected based on a combination of the results of the Opening Round game contested between the two teams in the same group that qualified for the Super Round and the teams' results in the Super Round.The 3rd- and 4th-place teams competed in a Bronze Medal Game, while the 1st- and 2nd-place teams faced each other in the Championship Final at the Tokyo Dome.
Venues
Six stadiums were used during the tournament:| Group A | Group B | Group B | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 AwardsFollowing the conclusion of the tournament, the WBSC announced the Premier12 All-World Team and individual awards winners.
Prize moneyThe WBSC gave $5.2 million in prize money to participants, distributed as follows, with a minimum of half of a team's prize money to be distributed equally among its players:
ControversiesIn the Super Round game between South Korea and the United States on November 11, which South Korea won 5–1, a potential blown call by umpire Tetsuya Shibata against South Korea became a topic of debate. In the third inning, baserunner Kim Ha-seong slid back to home plate as catcher Eric Kratz attempted to tag him out. Tetsuya ruled Kim out. Team Korea's coach, Kim Kyung-moon immediately requested a VAR check but was refused. After reviewing slow motion replays online, some criticized the call, claiming it was wrong and that South Korea lost a run. The Korea Baseball Organization met after the game with the tournament's technical directors and filed an appeal, additionally stating that Kratz physically obstructed Kim's path to home plate, in violation of WBSC playing regulations. WBSC responded by saying that it respected Team Korea's perspective and would seek to make improvements in the future. Korean media reports claimed that the Japanese media kept this incident quiet and many ridiculed the controversy in Japan, due to anti-Korean sentiment in the country. |