The IV WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup is set to open in 10 days in Taipei City, Taichung and Dou Liou, Taiwan.
The 12 participating National Teams will arrive on the island within 11 October and will dedicate Wednesday, 12 October to team practices and the Technical Meetings.
The tournament is set to open at 18.30 local time on Thursday, 13 October, at Tianmu Stadium in Taipei City with the game between the hosts, World No. 2, Chinese Taipei and No. 16 Puerto Rico.
The 12 participants will compete according to the usual WBSC World Cup format. After group play (13-18 October), the top three finishers of each group will advance to the Super Round, and the other teams will compete in the Placement Round. (20-22 October). The top two finishers of the Super Round will play in the World Championship game, while the number three and four place teams will play in the bronze medal game. The finals are scheduled for Sunday, 23 October.
The game will be seven innings. The run difference rule will end the game if one team is losing by 10 or more runs after having batted at least five innings. The rule won't be in place for the World Championship game.
If the game remains tied after the completion of seven innings, from the eighth inning, each team will begin the at-bat with runners on first and second and no one out.
In case two teams are tied at the end of group play, the Super Round or the Placement Round, the team game between the teams tied will finish in the higher position.
The results between the teams may not break a tie involving three or more teams. The Team Quality Balance (TQB) will break the tie in this case. The TQB is: : (runs scored / innings played at bat) – (runs allowed / innings played on defence).
For further details, please look at the tournament's regulations.
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- U-23 Baseball World Cup Groups and Schedule
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Measures to mitigate the risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19 will impact the IV WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup.
The WBSC, the Local Organizers (LOC) and the Local Health Authorities will cooperate by forming a Health and Safety Committee to oversee the implementation of the Health & Safety Plan. Each participating National Team will name a COVID-19 Liaison Officer to assist in managing the protocols.
The teams, tournament officials, WBSC and LOC staff will live in a protected environment and wear face masks.
Teams must maintain physical distance during the game's introductions and try to keep distance from opposite team members, umpires and field crew when possible. There will be no lineup exchange before the games.
Spitting is prohibited and teams must only use their own rosin bags and pine tar.
In the event that a team has a COVID-19 group outbreak, defined as more than 8 out of 24 players testing positive to a COVID-19 test, once the competition has started, the team´s participation at the event will be paused, and the rest of the team may be quarantined and re-tested accordingly.
