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This week at the Marlins Park, the Major League Baseball organization along with the Florida organization announced the return of the World Baseball Classic in 2023.
The venues and teams have already been announced, as well as the groups that will be formed in the regular phase and the preliminary qualifying round.
Marlins Stadium will be the first venue in the history of this competition to host all three rounds in the same year.
Ex-Yankee Derek Jeter is an important part of the organizing committee and co-owner of the Marlins and was happy to announce the 2023 tournament.
"When you put on the uniform that represents your country, it's a great feeling. In the end, we didn't come out on top, but it was a fun experience to play against teams from other countries, countries that you didn't even know played baseball and they came and showed up. It was a fun environment, and it has grown and improved since then," said Jeter during the presentation.
Which are the participating countries and who are in the groups?
20 countries will participate
A total of 20 nations will be present in the fifth edition of the World Baseball Classic to be played in 2023 in two venues, one in Asia and the other in the Americas.
On the Asian side, 10 countries will participate in two groups. Group A will play in Taichung, Taiwan and Group B will play in Tokyo, Japan.
Group A
Chinese Taipei
The Netherlands
Cuba
Italy
Group B
Japan
Korea
Australia
China
The other 10 countries, to complete the tournament, will also be divided into two groups but these will only play in the United States. Group C will play in Phoenix, Arizona and Group D in Miami, Florida.
Group C
United States
Mexico
Colombia
Canada
Group D
Puerto Rico
Venezuela
Dominican Republic
Israel
Who will be in the playoffs?
A total of 12 countries will be looking for the last four tickets to the World Baseball Classic. This part of the tournament will be divided into two groups.
The first group, group A, is made up of , the Czech Republic, Spain, , Great Britain, and South Africa. They will play in Regensburg, .
The other group, B, is formed by Panama, Nicaragua, Brazil, Argentina, Pakistan, and New Zealand. They will play their games in Panama City.