2013 World Baseball Classic - Canada
If there is one consistent source of controversy for the World Baseball Classic from year to year, it is without a doubt their attempts at finding a satisfying tiebreaker procedure. It seems every time a country gets eliminated because of some confusing math. For 2013, if there was a 3 way tie, the math remained crazy: Team's Quality Balance or TQB. First you take total runs scored divided by total inning batted. Then you take runs against and divide that by innings pitched. Then take the first number and subtract the next number and you have your TQB. It looks like this:
(RS / IB) - (RA / IP) = TQB
So you take the numbers of each team against the other teams they're tied with and determine the ranking for the tie breaker. Still confused? So was everyone in the WBC. There is an easy way to help teams understand what they have to do to avoid losing the tie breaker: Win big, avoid blowout losses, never stop scoring. With that understanding, you see a breakaway from typical gamesmanship where if you have a big lead, you avoid running up the score needlessly. In the WBC, that same gamesmanship might cost you in the tie breaker.
Canada entered Pool D play without the greatest odds to advance to the next round. After watching Italy shock Mexico, they then fell victim to those same Italians in a blowout 14-4 8 inning mercy rule game. Things were already dire for Canada. And as they entered their next game against Mexico, it looked more and more like a must win. By this point, Italy already had 2 wins, and Mexico had one of their own. Losing this game would eliminate Canada.
They jumped to a quick lead, then after Mexico chipped away and made it a 1 run game, but Canada was holding. However, simply winning might not be enough. If Canada goes 1-2 and ends up in a 3-way tie with Mexico and America, they would be at the mercy of the tie breaker to determine their fate. So to help ensure the best odds for the potential tie breaker, Canada would turn to one of the above advice: never stop scoring. So in the 6th, 7th and 8th, Canada would add runs to turn a 4-3 lead into a 9-3 one. Enter the 9th inning, where Canada would keep pushing for more, as Chris Robinson would drag bunt for an infield single. That was the last straw for the prideful Mexico and they started throwing at the next batter and a brawl ensued.
Conversations erupted over if Canada should have run the score up the way they were against a likely already defeated Mexico. Supporters would defend by bringing up the tie breaker rules and how Canada couldn't take any chances, especially with a game against the powerhouse United States looming...a concern justified when America beat them 9-4.
In the end, both Canada and Mexico finished 1-2 and eliminated. And to make things more moot, Canada would finish 3rd, leaving Mexico in last and having to go through a qualifier if they wanted to return in 2017, not because of the TQB score but by the primary tie breaker used when it's just 2 teams. Canada could have shown gamesmanship in their victory, and the result would have been the same with them winning the tie breaker with Mexico on just the basis of their head to head victory.
