GLENDALE, Ariz. – It was after 1 a.m. Tuesday in Guadalajara when Rob Segedin decided he could finally go to sleep. His wife and infant son had already clocked out, and Team Mexico had just beaten Team Venezuela, 11-9, in the World Baseball Classic. That meant Segedin and Team Italy were still alive in the WBC. They would play a do-or-die game against Mexico later in the day. “I woke up the next morning,” he said, “and we were playing Venezuela.”
Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez did not sleep that night. Shortly after Mexico’s victory, WBC officials announced that a necessary but obscure tiebreaker scenario had been miscommunicated. Gonzalez, the first baseman for Team Mexico, couldn’t rest until he received a satisfactory explanation for why his team was suddenly eliminated, and Venezuela was moving on to play Italy in an elimination game.
By Wednesday, Segedin, Gonzalez, Mexico pitcher Sergio Romo and Mexico outfielder Alex Verdugo were back in the Dodgers’ spring training clubhouse. Gonzalez was still angry. He told reporters that “it’s good to be the hell out of that tournament.” He vowed never to return.
While most of the country was asleep early Tuesday morning, Mexican officials submitted a written appeal to the WBC. According to the tournament’s tiebreaker rules, when three teams finish with a 1-2 record in pool play, the two teams with the fewest runs allowed per defensive inning (including partial innings) play each other to determine who advances to Round 2. The third team is eliminated.
Mexico, Italy and Venezuela all had 1-2 records by Tuesday morning. Based on the WBC’s calculation of runs allowed per defensive inning, Italy's average was 1.05, Venezuela's was 1.11 and Mexico's was 1.12. That’s why Italy and Venezuela played Tuesday, and Mexico went home.
So why all the confusion? In its first pool play game, Mexico allowed five runs to Italy in the ninth inning of a 10-9 loss. But because Mexico didn’t record any outs in that “partial inning,” it pushed its runs allowed per defensive inning to 1.12.
Gonzalez said he was present at an early-morning summit among officials from the MLB Players’ Association, Major League Baseball (which sanctions the WBC) and the Mexican baseball federation. The MLBPA representatives tried to mediate a solution between MLB and Team Mexico, he said.
“They heard us,” Gonzalez said. “They were honest when they would say, ‘that’s not a valid argument’ with both sides.”
Ultimately, Gonzalez accepted the WBC’s definition of a “partial inning.” He accepted that if Mexico had recorded a single out in the ninth inning against Italy, his team would still be playing. But he did not accept World Baseball Classic Inc.’s written statement Tuesday that “a number of media outlets, including the WBC's social media accounts and the MLB Network, incorrectly reported that Team Mexico rather than Team Venezuela would play in the tiebreaker, which regrettably caused confusion.”
Gonzalez said Mexico’s general manager reached out to WBC officials seven times before Monday’s game, either by phone or by text, to clarify how many runs they needed to score against Venezuela to advance. His GM never got an answer. MLB did not offer a response to that specific allegation.
Segedin said there was similar confusion as Team Italy watched the Mexico-Venezuela game from its team hotel. “There were MLB Players reps there, WBC reps, Italian Federation people,” Segedin said. “A bunch of different people running and going through the rules on the WBC website, trying to interpret them, because there was a little vagueness as far as partial innings.”
Gonzalez said if they had the correct tiebreaker information before the game, Mexico “would have played the game differently.” For WBC officials to blame the media outlets struck him as unfair.
“They're trying to become the World Cup,” he said, “but they're not even close to being the Little League World Series.”
Kenley Jansen didn’t seem to mind the calamity. The Dodgers’ closer said Wednesday that he will pitch for The Netherlands in the WBC after all, two days after insisting he would not.
“I was talking to (Netherlands outfielder) Jurickson Profar, talking to Bam Bam (Netherlands manager Hensley Meulens),” Jansen said. “Just why not, you know? It’s on my schedule, so why not?”
Proximity helps. The Netherlands will play a WBC semifinal game Monday at Dodger Stadium. Jansen said he was scheduled to pitch an inning in Cactus League games Friday and Tuesday anyway.
“Who knows where the championship round is going to play in the next Classic? I’m a Dodger,” Jansen said. “Playing for my country in Dodger Stadium, championship round -- I get my locker, I get my bullpen, I get my music. I get my fans around me, my hometown fans. I think it’s a great thing to do.”
Gonzalez has participated in every WBC since it was first held in 2006. Jansen, for one, doesn’t believe Gonzalez will walk away from the tournament for good.
“I think he’s just a little upset right now that they didn’t make it,” Jansen said. “Adrian’s competitive. He’s going to be upset that he didn’t make it because he wants to win all the time. That’s Adrian. He might say no today; he might say yes in four years.
“I might say yes today. That’s me.”
