The World Baseball Classic Qualifier games in Tucson, Arizona, which were to award four berths into the main event in 2021, have been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The first of the two groups of the Qualifier was supposed to open today, Friday 13 March. The second group was set to begin on Friday, 20 March.
The fifth World Baseball Classic is set to take place from 9-23 March 2021 and has 16 of the 20 teams confirmed, including Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Korea, Mexico, Puerto Rico, United States and Venezuela.
In addition to the postponement of the World Baseball Classic Qualifier and Olympic qualifiers, the remainder of Major League Baseball (MLB) Spring Training has also been cancelled, while MLB's regular season, which was set to begin on 26 March, will be delayed by at least two weeks.
Baseball's top leagues around the world have announced postponements of their regular season openings, including Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and the Chinese (Taipei) Professional Baseball League (CPBL).
Photo courtesy of the Kino Sports Complex
