Mexico Will Have to Play its Way Into the 2017 World Baseball Classic

By Francisco Romero

The World Baseball Classic is getting ready for its fourth tournament. Twenty-eight teams started with a chance to claim supremacy in the sports.

Three nations have already been eliminated in the Sydney, Australia qualifier; Australia beat out New Zealand, Philippines and South Africa. They played February 11-14 in Sydney, Australia.

The 2017 World Baseball Classic will feature 16 nations.

Mexico, along with Brazil and Spain, just as Australia will have to play in the qualifier tournaments because they ended up last in their group during the 2013 tournament.

Qualifier 2,3 and 4 will be selected from the following games and groups:

• Qualifier 2 (March 17-20 in Mexicali): Mexico, Czech Republic, Germany and Nicaragua

• Qualifier 3 (March 17-20 in Panama City): Colombia, France, Panama and Spain

• Qualifier 4 (Sept. 22-25 in Brooklyn): Brazil, Great Britain, Israel and Pakistan

The qualifier teams will join the 12 nations that received automatic bids because of their past performances, those teams are: Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Italy, Japan, Korea, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, United States and Venezuela.

Mexico will try to take advantage of playing at home, Estadio B-Air in Mexicali, Baja California will serve as the host for the qualifier games starting on March 17.

Here is the schedule for the games in Mexicali:

Qualifier 2: Mexicali — Estadio B-Air

Game 1: Germany vs. Nicaragua — March 17, 3:30 p.m. ET

Game 2: Czech Republic vs. Mexico — March 17, 10:30 p.m. ET

Game 3: Czech Republic vs. TBD — March 18, 3:30 p.m. ET

Game 4: Mexico vs. TBD — March 18, 10:30 p.m. ET

Game 5: TBD vs. TBD — March 19, 9 p.m. ET

Game 6: TBD vs. TBD — March 20, TBD

Former Major League player Edgar Gonzalez will manage the Mexican team; his brother Adrian will be part of the squad alongside current Major League pitcher Oliver Perez.