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 (WBSC). It was the second WBSC Premier12 event. The championship was held from November 2 to 17, 2019, in Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.[1]

2019 WBSC Premier12
Tournament details
Host countries Japan
 Mexico
 Taiwan
 South Korea
Dates November 2–17
Teams12 (from 5 continents)
Defending champions South Korea (2015)
Final positions
Champions
 Japan (1st title)
Runner-up
 South Korea
Third place
 Mexico
Fourth place United States
Tournament statistics
Games played32
Attendance312,565 (9,768 per game)
Most Valuable Player Seiya Suzuki
← 2015
2023 →

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 (excluding Team Japan, which already qualified as host) earning the other.[2][3]

Japan defeated South Korea in the championship game, and the bronze medal game was won by Mexico over Team USA.

Teams
Top 12 Rankings as of December 17, 2018[4]
RankTeamPointsConfederation
1 Japan5796BFA
2 United States5565COPABE
3 South Korea4987BFA
4 Chinese Taipei3569BFA
5 Cuba3516COPABE
6 Mexico3393COPABE
7 Australia2440BCO
8 Netherlands2421CEB
9 Venezuela2348COPABE
10 Canada2186COPABE
11 Puerto Rico2105COPABE
12 Dominican Republic1920COPABE

The 12 highest-ranked national teams qualified to participate in the 2019 WBSC Premier 12, based on the then-most-recent WBSC World Rankings, which were as of December 17, 2018.[5]

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.[6]

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.[6]

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 (1 game), plus the teams' results in the Super Round (4 games).

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.[7]

Venues

Six stadiums were used during the tournament:

Group A Group B Group B
Zapopan, Mexico Taichung, Taiwan Taoyuan, Taiwan
Estadio de Béisbol Charros de Jalisco Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium
Capacity: 16,000 Capacity: 20,000 Capacity: 20,000
Group C Super Round Super Round and Finals
Seoul, South Korea Chiba, Japan Tokyo, Japan
Gocheok Sky Dome ZOZO Marine Stadium Tokyo Dome
Capacity: 16,813 Capacity: 30,000 Capacity: 46,000

Opening round

Group A
Teams W L Pct. GB R RA
 Mexico301.000—245
 United States21.66712116
 Dominican Republic12.33322324
 Netherlands03.0003633
Date Local Time Road Team Score Home Team Inn. Venue Game Time Attendance Boxscore
November 2 12:00 Netherlands  0–9  United States   Estadio Charros de Jalisco 2:17 3,015
November 2 19:00 Dominican Republic  1–6  Mexico 6 Estadio Charros de Jalisco 2:00 8,000
November 3 12:00 Dominican Republic  14–4  Netherlands 7 Estadio Charros de Jalisco 2:59 5,132
November 3 19:00 Mexico  8–2  United States   Estadio Charros de Jalisco 3:03 10,123
November 4 19:00 United States  10–8  Dominican Republic   Estadio Charros de Jalisco 3:20 3,102
November 5 19:00 Netherlands  2-10  Mexico   Estadio Charros de Jalisco 3:17 6,895

Group B
Teams W L Pct. GB R RA
 Japan301.000—205
 Chinese Taipei21.6671109
 Venezuela12.33321112
 Puerto Rico03.0003217
Date Local Time Road Team Score Home Team Inn. Venue Game Time Attendance Boxscore
November 5 18:00 Venezuela  4–8  Japan   Taoyuan International Stadium 3:39 3,868
November 5 18:30 Puerto Rico  1–6  Chinese Taipei   Taichung Intercontinental Stadium 2:58 11,852
November 6 18:00 Puerto Rico  0–4  Japan   Taoyuan International Stadium 2:35 4,209
November 6 18:30 Chinese Taipei  3–0  Venezuela   Taichung Intercontinental Stadium 3:56 10,983
November 7 12:00 Venezuela  7–1  Puerto Rico   Taichung Intercontinental Stadium 2:48 618
November 7 18:30 Japan  8–1  Chinese Taipei   Taichung Intercontinental Stadium 3:37 20,465

Group C
Teams W L Pct. GB R RA HTH TQB
 South Korea301.000—151
 Australia12.3332591–100.067
 Canada12.3332561–100.046
 Cuba12.33323121–1−0.105
Date Local Time Road Team Score Home Team Inn. Venue Game Time Attendance Boxscore
November 6 12:00 Canada  3–0  Cuba   Gocheok Sky Dome 3:16 250
November 6 19:00 Australia  0–5  South Korea   Gocheok Sky Dome 2:50 5,899
November 7 12:00 Australia  2–3  Cuba 10 Gocheok Sky Dome 3:15 252
November 7 19:00 South Korea  3–1  Canada   Gocheok Sky Dome 3:15 6,000
November 8 12:00 Canada  1–3  Australia   Gocheok Sky Dome 2:50 200
November 8 19:00 Cuba  0–7  South Korea   Gocheok Sky Dome 3:05 13,600

Super Round
Key
Nations that qualified for the Gold Medal game
Nations that qualified for the Bronze Medal game
Rank Teams W L Pct. GB R RA
1 Japan41.800—2716
2 South Korea32.60012521
3 Mexico32.60011712
4 United States23.40021120
5 Chinese Taipei23.40021514
6 Australia14.2003517
Date Local Time Road Team Score Home Team Inn. Venue Game Time Attendance Boxscore
November 11 12:00 Chinese Taipei  0–2  Mexico   Zozo Marine Stadium 2:49 2,803
November 11 19:00 Australia  2–3  Japan   Zozo Marine Stadium 2:39 17,819
November 11 19:00 United States  1–5  South Korea   Tokyo Dome 3:21 3,012
November 12 12:00 Australia  0–3  Mexico   Tokyo Dome 2:36 2,089
November 12 19:00 Chinese Taipei  7–0  South Korea   Zozo Marine Stadium 3:32 4,056
November 12 19:00 United States  4–3  Japan   Tokyo Dome 3:27 27,827
November 13 12:00 Australia  2–1  United States   Tokyo Dome 2:45 2,149
November 13 19:00 Mexico  1–3  Japan   Tokyo Dome 3:01 31,776
November 15 12:00 Chinese Taipei  2–3  United States   Tokyo Dome 2:37 4,967
November 15 19:00 Mexico  3–7  South Korea   Tokyo Dome 3:34 5,121
November 16 12:00 Australia  1–5  Chinese Taipei   Tokyo Dome 2:57 7,299
November 16 19:00 South Korea  8–10  Japan   Tokyo Dome 3:40 44,224

Finals

Bronze medal game
Date Local Time Road Team Score Home Team Inn. Venue Game Time Attendance Boxscore
November 17 12:00 United States  2–3  Mexico 10 Tokyo Dome 3:15 N/A

Championship final
Date Local Time Road Team Score Home Team Inn. Venue Game Time Attendance Boxscore
November 17 19:00 South Korea  3–5  Japan   Tokyo Dome 3:00 44,960

Final standings

Awards

Following the conclusion of the tournament, the WBSC announced the Premier12 All-World Team. WBSC also announced the individual awards winners.[8]

Prize money

The 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:[9][10]

  • Winner: US$1,500,000 (Japan)
  • 2nd Place: US$750,000 (South Korea)
  • 3rd Place: US$500,000 (Mexico)
  • 4th Place: US$350,000 (United States)
  • 5th Place: US$300,000 (Chinese Taipei)
  • 6th Place: US$250,000 (Australia)
  • 7–12th Place: US$180,000 each
  • Each win in Opening Round: US$10,000
  • Each win in Super Round: US$20,000
  • 1st Place in Opening Round: US$20,000

Controversies

The super-round game between South Korea and the United States played on November 11, which South Korea won 5–1, became a topic of debate due to an alleged misjudgment by an umpire, Tetsuya Shibata, against South Korea in the third inning. Baserunner Kim Ha-seong slid back to home plate before catcher Eric Kratz in the eyes of some was able to tag him out, but Tetsuya ruled it as an out instead. Team Korea's coach, Kim Kyung-moon immediately requested a VAR check, but was refused.[11] Slowed-down television footage was available online, and some criticized the call claiming it was wrong and that South Korea lost a run due to the call. The Korea Baseball Organization held a meeting after the match with the tournament's technical directors and filed an appeal,[12] additionally stating that Kratz physically obstructed Kim's path to home plate in violation of WBSC playing regulations. WBSC responded by saying that they respected Team Korea's perspective and would seek to make improvements in the future.[13] The Japanese media initially kept this incident quiet on the news, and many ridiculed the controversy in Japan.[14]

References
  1. "Groups, locations revealed for WBSC Premier12 2019 major international baseball event". WBSC.org. February 13, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  2. "Two teams from WBSC Premier12 2019 to qualify for 2020 Tokyo Olympic Baseball". WBSC.org. December 19, 2018. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  3. "(Premier12) S. Korea beats Mexico to qualify for 2020 Olympic baseball tournament | Yonhap News Agency". En.yna.co.kr. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  4. "World Rankings WBSC". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Archived from the original on November 30, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  5. "World's Top 12 nations qualified for WBSC Premier12 2019 major international baseball event". WBSC.org. December 19, 2018. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  6. "WBSC Premier12 Tournament Regulations" (PDF). WBSC.org. July 15, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  7. "WBSC Premier12 2019 to be played 2–17 November with Finals at Tokyo Dome". WBSC.org. December 19, 2018. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  8. "WBSC announces Premier12 MVP, All World Team". WBSC. November 18, 2019. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  9. "Over $5 million in prize money to be awarded for 2019 WBSC Premier12, 40% increase from first edition in 2015". WBSC.org. August 26, 2019. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  11. "[프리미어12] '홈 막히고, 태그도 없는데' 日 심판 오심에 날아간 한국 득점". MSN. 엑스포츠뉴스. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  12. "[프리미어12] 심판 배정 공정성 논란에 WBSC "내부 논의 통해 개선할 것"". MSN. 엑스포츠뉴스. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  13. "[프리미어12] '태그 오심 논란' WBSC "한국 의견 존중, 개선하겠다"". chosun.com. Sun Soo-min. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  14. "[프리미어12]"한국, 심판 판정에 불만" 일본 언론은 '오심'이라 쓰지 않았다". chosun.com. Na Yu-ri. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
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