...if they want to have any chance of advancing to the next round.

Because the ONLY way Mexico can advance is to keep the US-Mexico game scoreless until the bottom of the 13th inning and then hit a walk-off 3-run homer or a grand slam home run, Mexico can turn the game into a complete farce by:

1. Not swinging at ANY pitch thrown by the US for the first 12 innings, resulting in the US striking out 36 Mexican batters in a row.

2. Pray that the Mexican pitching staff can keep the US scoreless for 13 innings.

3. If the game is still scoreless at the bottom of the 13th, Mexico will attempt to put at least two runners on base, but to make sure that those runners do NOT score if the ball stays in the ball park. That means the lead runner will be held at 3rd base. Even if the bases were loaded and a ball falls in the field of play, the runners will stay at their bases, resulting in the batter being called out at first base.

Japan will have no chance to advance if Mexico indeed were to try to advance by carrying out the necessary strategy of keeping the game scoreless until the bottom of the 13th.





Fuckin international rules.....should be crazy to watch if they try to do this though.

3/16/2006 1:41:51 PM

why 13th inning?

3/16/2006 1:43:05 PM

another reason why the classic is a waste

3/16/2006 1:43:16 PM

Quote :

"why 13th inning?"

Its based on the "runs against per 9 innings pitched in head-to-head games" tie breaker

For the US to advance, we can beat Mexico strait up (thanks to Korea winning last night)
or one of these other not so likely ways:

1. Defeating Mexico. Win-loss records for Pool 1 would be: Korea 3-0, US 2-1, Japan 1-2, Mexico 0-3.

2. Playing to a tie after 14 innings. Win-loss records for Pool 1 would be: Korea 3-0, US 1.5-1.5, Japan 1-2, Mexico 0.5-2.5. [A tie counts as 0.5 wins and 0.5 losses in international baseball.]

3. Lose to Mexico by the EXACT score of 1-0 in a game that ends NO EARLIER than the middle of the 7th inning due to rain or a natural disaster such as a major earthquake (Mexico is the "home" team on Thursday). US, Japan, and Mexico would all finish 1-2 in Pool 1 with 1-1 records in games not involving Korea (US 4-3 Japan, Japan 6-1 Mexico, Mexico 1-0 US).

The "runs against per 9 innings pitched in head-to-head games" tie breaker if US were to lose to Mexico 1-0 in a game that ends at the middle of the 9th inning:

US: (4/17)x9=2.12
Japan: (5/17.667)x9=2.55
Mexico: (6/18)x9=3.00

4. Lose to Mexico by the EXACT score of 2-0 or 2-1 in a game that ends in the BOTTOM of the 10th inning.

The "runs against per 9 innings pitched in head-to-head games" tie breaker if the game were to end with Mexico winning 2-0 or 2-1 with no outs in the bottom of the 10th, would then be:

US: (5/18)x9=2.50
Japan: (5/17.667)x9=2.55
Mexico: (6/19)x9=2.84 or (7/19)x9=3.31


Obviously, international tournament baseball tie-breaking rules has resulted in a whole different set of strategies for the managers to consider.

3/16/2006 1:45:44 PM

Quote :

"Even if the bases were loaded and a ball falls in the field of play, the runners will stay at their bases, resulting in the batter being called out at first base."

Nope. It's a force play. You have to force a play at the plate. If no one moves, easy triple play. So the batter will run to 1st (everyone else will advance too) but the runner going home will make sure he's out.

[Edited on March 16, 2006 at 1:56 PM. Reason : .]

3/16/2006 1:46:21 PM

^yeah i FUBAR'ed there, but the rest i believe is true

3/16/2006 2:12:10 PM

"And Mexico gets ANOTHER ONE over the fence and moves on..."

3/16/2006 3:39:02 PM

what time is the game

3/16/2006 3:40:13 PM

7.30 here in the East

3/16/2006 3:44:04 PM

Quote :

""And Mexico gets ANOTHER ONE over the fence and moves on...""

3/16/2006 3:45:39 PM

FUCK THE UN

3/16/2006 3:49:00 PM

Quote :

"Nope. It's a force play. You have to force a play at the plate. If no one moves, easy triple play. So the batter will run to 1st (everyone else will advance too) but the runner going home will make sure he's out. "

Not so fast. If it were a long ball hit to the outfield: The batter would have to Pass the runner on first before the ball returns to the infield for a force. If the batter is able to pass the runner on first, he is out for passing his own runner. Then you loose the force out, allowing your runners to stay on base.

3/16/2006 4:01:05 PM

i might be misunderstanding the argument here

but if the bases are loaded (or if there are runners on 1st and 2nd) and less than two outs and there's a shallow fly ball, the infield fly rule is called and the batter is out

3/16/2006 4:02:28 PM

If I was the US, I'd get an early lead, then four straight intentional walks. Simple as that.

3/16/2006 7:25:09 PM

^^ No. That doesn't negate the fact that just because the ball is in play, the automatic force will be at the plate, even if the batter passes the runner at 1st.

At any rate, as soon as the Americans score 1 run (before the 9th) Mexico is eliminated.

[Edited on March 16, 2006 at 8:19 PM. Reason : .]

3/16/2006 8:19:02 PM

shit... even though that call ultimately helps the mexicans (if it were a homerun, mexico would automatically be eliminated) but american is getting all the calls. That korea call, jeter sliding back into first call, now this homerun... doens't look good.



controversy is gone. But the stupid mexicans eliminated themselves.

[Edited on March 16, 2006 at 8:34 PM. Reason : .]

3/16/2006 8:22:51 PM

they don't need no stinkin WBC

3/16/2006 8:36:07 PM

Quote :

"No. That doesn't negate the fact that just because the ball is in play, the automatic force will be at the plate, even if the batter passes the runner at 1st."

As soon as the runner who was at bat is out (tagged, forced, whatever) there is no longer a force out at any other base. So yes, runners can technically stay put and rely on a a passed runner to force an out (or perhaps a running out of the baseline) if they do it before the ball gets back to the infield.

3/16/2006 10:47:08 PM