2023 World Baseball Classic qualification

The qualifying round of the 2023 World Baseball Classic will be held in September 2022. Teams which participated at the 2017 World Baseball Classic automatically qualified for the 2023 tournament. The qualifying round is to consist of two tournaments to be participated by six teams each. The qualifiers were planned to be hosted in Tucson, Arizona in the United States but after the delay, the qualifier hosts were changed to the cities of Regensburg, Germany and Panamá City, Panama. Winners and runners-up of each of the two tournaments were to qualify for the 2023 World Baseball Classic.[2]

2023 World Baseball Classic qualification
Tournament details
Host countries Germany
 Panama
Dates Between September and October‎ 2022[1]
Teams12
← 2017

The first qualifying tournament was originally scheduled to be held from March 13–18, 2020 and the second from March 20–25, 2020,[2] before the qualifiers' postponement was announced on March 12, 2020 by Major League Baseball due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3][4] After the 2021–22 Major League Baseball lockout, the CBA indicated that the World Baseball Classic will come back in 2023, and qualifiers begin in September 2022.[5]

Players
See also: 2023 World Baseball Classic qualification rosters

Venue

A single venue, the Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium in Tucson, Arizona will be used in the qualifying round:[6]

Qualifier 1 & 2
Tucson, United States
Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
Capacity: 11,500

Pools composition

Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate positions in the WBSC World Rankings as of December 31, 2021.[7]

Qualifier 1 Qualifier 2
 South Africa (26)  Great Britain (23)
 France (22)  New Zealand (46)
 Germany (18)  Philippines (36)
 Nicaragua (15)  Czech Republic (14)
 Brazil (25)  Panama (13)
 Pakistan (31)  Spain (19)

The format is double-elimination. Each pool contains six teams, two of which are given a bye to the second round. The teams with a bye are Great Britain, Nicaragua, Panama, and South Africa. These are the four teams that placed 2nd in their qualifying group in 2017.

Four of the teams have previously participated in the main WBC tournament: Panama and South Africa in 2006 and 2009 (which were by invitation), and Brazil and Spain in 2013. All four have since participated in all qualifying tournaments.

All 12 teams have previously participated in WBC qualifying tournaments. Two have previously won their qualifying group and qualified for the main tournament (Brazil, Spain), six have previously finished as high as 2nd in their qualifying group (Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, South Africa), three have previously finished as high as 3rd in their qualifying group (Czech Republic, France, Philippines), and one has previously finished last in its qualifying group (Pakistan).

Qualifying round

Qualifier 1
Opening Round Semifinals Qualifier
–  Nicaragua
–  Pakistan W1  
–  Brazil W3  
W4  
–  South Africa
–  Germany W2  
–  France
  Repechage 1     Repechage 2     Qualifier
                           
  L2  
  L3         L8
        W5     W7
        W6  
  L1    
  L4  
Date Local Time Road Team Score Home Team Inn. Venue Game Time Attendance Boxscore
    Pakistan  –  Brazil   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   
    Germany  –  France   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   
    Winner Game 1 –  Nicaragua   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   
    Winner Game 2 –  South Africa   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   
    Loser Game 2 – Loser Game 3   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   
    Loser Game 1 – Loser Game 4   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   
    Winner Game 5* – Winner Game 6*   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   
    Winner Game 3* – Winner Game 4*   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   
    Winner Game 7 – Loser Game 8   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   

*Home team designation determined by coin toss.

Qualifier 2
Opening Round Semifinals Qualifier
–  Panama
–  Philippines W1  
–  Czech Republic W3  
W4  
–  Great Britain
–  Spain W2  
–  New Zealand
  Repechage 1     Repechage 2     Qualifier
                           
  L2  
  L3         L8
        W5     W7
        W6  
  L1    
  L4  
Date Local Time Road Team Score Home Team Inn. Venue Game Time Attendance Boxscore
    Philippines  –  Czech Republic   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   
    Spain  –  New Zealand   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   
    Winner Game 1 –  Panama   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   
    Winner Game 2 –  Great Britain   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   
    Loser Game 2 – Loser Game 3   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   
    Loser Game 1 – Loser Game 4   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   
    Winner Game 5* – Winner Game 6*   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   
    Winner Game 3* – Winner Game 4*   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   
    Winner Game 7 – Loser Game 8   Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
   

*Home team designation determined by coin toss.

References
  1. "Germany and Panama will mount qualifiers to the World Classic: (in Spanish)". ESPN Deportes. Retrieved April 14, 2022.
  2. "Qualifiers set for expanded 2021 World Baseball Classic". Agence France-Presse. January 28, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  3. Harrigan, Thomas (March 12, 2020). "World Baseball Classic qualifier games postponed". MLB.com. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  4. "Major League Baseball to delay 2020 Opening Day by at least two weeks". MLB.com Press Release. March 12, 2020. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  5. "World Baseball Classic returning in 2023". The Athletic. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  6. "Kino Sports Complex will host World Baseball Classic qualifier". Kold News 13. January 28, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  7. "WBSC Rankings - Men's baseball on 28/06/21". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
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