World Baseball Classic Debuts

On March, 3, 2006, that the inaugural World Baseball Classic held its first ever games.  Two games were played on that day with South Korea beating Chinese Taipei 2-0 and Japan hammering China 18-2.  Both games were played in the Tokyo Dome.

The tournament featured teams from all over the world playing in venues all across the globe.  All continents of the world were represented at this competition except for Antarctica, and games were held in North America, Asia and Central America.  Japan would capture the first World Baseball Classic by beating Cuba 10-6 in the Championship game.  Daisuke Matsuzaka, the starting pitcher for the Japanese team, was named the tournament’s MVP.

Although interest and attendance was not as high as tournament directors had hoped, the inaugural World Baseball Classic was still deemed a success. A second Classic was held in 2009 and a third tournament was held in 2013 with the finals being played at AT&T Park in San Francisco.