Global Baseball: A Classic Finish at the WBC

First of all, congratulations to Japan. Japan won the second World Baseball Classic on Monday, repeating the feat they accomplished 3 years ago. The Japanese defeated a very competitive Korea squad in the final game at Dodger Stadium. With Japan leading Korea 3-2 in the bottom of the 9th inning and star pitcher Yu Darvish in to try and pick up the save, Bum-Ho Lee came up with the clutch RBI single to send the game to extras. In the 10th, Ichiro Suzuki drove home 2 runs on a single to give Japan the lead again, one they would never relinquish.

This final was the perfect ending to a great tournament. Each round had it's share of exciting games, from the USA squeeking out a win against Canada at a sold out Rogers Centre, to the Netherlands beating the Dominican Republic not once but twice, and the USA beating Puerto Rico with a 9th inning rally to move on to the Final Round.

MLB comissioner Bud Selig guarenteed that the World Baseball Classic would be back once again in 2013, and again during the month of March. Obviously the timing will again affect the amount of MLB players that will participate but considereing the alternatives, I'd have to agree March is the most practical time of the year to hold such an event.

So with the tournament complete we have final standings looking like this:

Rk	Team	W	L	Tiebreaker
1	Japan	7	2	-
Lost in Final
2	South Korea	6	3	-
Lost in Semifinals
3	Venezuela	6	2	-
4	United States	4	4	-
Failed to qualify for Semifinals
5	Puerto Rico	4	2	1.75 RA/9
6	Cuba	4	2	4.15 RA/9
7	Netherlands	2	4	3.98 RA/9
8	Mexico	2	4	10.10 RA/9
Failed to qualify for Round 2
9	Dominican Republic	1	2	1.57 RA/9
10	Italy	1	2	6.84 RA/9
11	China	1	2	7.43 RA/9
12	Australia	1	2	10.96 RA/9
13	Canada	0	2	6.35 RA/9
14	Chinese Taipei	0	2	7.31 RA/9
15	Panama	0	2	9.00 RA/9
16	South Africa	0	2	11.65 RA/9