The fateful day of the Korea-Japan match had dawned. In fact, Korea’s ‘number of cases in the quarterfinals’ only had three victories remaining, including the match against Japan.
In the first match of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) Group B final round held at the Tokyo Dome in Japan on the 9th, Korea lost by 7-8, 1 point after a slugfest against 메이저놀이터, Australia. After a fierce match, it was unfortunately lost, but as a result, it was more than one loss and one loss with fatal meaning.
In the final round where five teams competed for the quarterfinals, the aftermath was painful as they lost against Australia, which they had to defeat at the same time. On the other hand, Japan, who was regarded as their inner rival, won the first match against China 8-1 on the same day and earned one victory.
In the end, from Korea’s point of view, the match against Japan on the 10th became a game on the edge of a cliff where Bae Sui was camped. It is a match against Japan, which is considered a strong candidate for the championship in the objective power award competition, but the urgency is even greater because it is placed in a terrible situation of being eliminated in the first round for three consecutive times if it does not win.
Then, what is the ‘number of cases’ that Korea can advance to the quarterfinals? First of all, winning against Japan is essential.
The rules of the competition group matches and tie-breaking procedures (POOL PLAY AND TIE-BREAKING PROCEDURES) stipulate that ‘teams in each group will be ranked according to the winning percentage in the first round, and the top two teams will advance to the quarterfinals (quarterfinals)’ are doing This means that if you do not finish in the 1st or 2nd place in Group B, you will be eliminated in the first round.
After that, the top 8 advancing rule simply puts the ‘win-win-win principle’ as the top priority.
After the group matches of the first round of the finals, if there are teams with the same win rate and two or more teams are tied, the first step is according to the rule that ‘a higher ranking is given to the team that won the match between teams with a tie’. If this is the case, Korea must first defeat Japan and win all the remaining matches against the Czech Republic and China to create 3 wins and 1 loss, and then wait for Australia to add 2 more losses in the remaining games.
If Korea loses to Japan on the 10th, the possibility of being eliminated is very high. If Australia loses only against Japan and catches all the remaining games to achieve 3 wins and 1 loss, it will naturally be pushed down to 3rd place in the group.
In addition, even if Australia adds 2 losses, including the remaining game against Japan, if both teams have the same win rate of 2 wins and 2 losses, the first round elimination will be confirmed due to the winner-to-win.
If Korea loses to Japan and loses 2, it may be a situation where Australia has to hope for only a slim chance of losing all of their remaining 3 games and winning 1-3, considering their strength in Group B.
Of course, as more than three teams, including Australia and Korea, have the same win rate with 2 wins and 2 losses, and they mesh, there may be a situation where the 2nd and 3rd stage rules are applied again. In that case, the records must be reviewed again in the order of runs scored – earned runs. However, since Korea has already conceded 8 runs, if it loses with more runs in the match against Japan, even that slim possibility will fly away.
In the end, Korea has to win all three remaining games to consider the number of cases of advancing to the quarterfinals. For now, there is not much to consider. Rather than counting the number of rare cases left after losing, it is necessary to play the game with the awareness that the number of cases of advancing to the quarterfinals on one’s own will be nothing if the team loses against Japan.
Korea announced the best left-handed pitcher in Korea, Kwang-Hyun Kim, as the starting pitcher in the Korea-Japan match against Japan held at Tokyo Dome at 7:00 pm on the 10th. Japan also selected veteran right-handed pitcher Darvish Yu, who won 95 victories in the major leagues, as a starter.
After the game on the 9th, Lee Kang-cheol, coach of the Korean baseball team, said, “We have to lose one game and play all-out in all games.” I will launch an all-out war. I will prepare all personnel and use all pitchers,” he predicted a brinkmanship.