2016 U-23 Baseball World Cup

The 2016 U-23 World Baseball Cup was the second edition of the U-23 Baseball World Cup since its inception in 2014 as the U-21 Baseball World Cup. The competition took place in Mexico between Oct. 28 and Nov. 6, 2016. A total of 50 games were played in three host cities: Monterrey, Saltillo, and Cadereyta.

2016 U-23 Baseball World Cup

Tournament details
Country	Mexico
Dates	October 28 - November 6
Teams	12
Final positions
Champions	Japan (1st title)
Runner-up	Australia
Third place	South Korea
Fourth place	Panama
Tournament statistics
Games played	50
Attendance	27,797 (556 per game)

In the gold medal game, Japan defeated Australia with the score of 10:3. Korea defeated Panama with the score of 5:3 to win the bronze medal.

Venues

Monterrey, Saltillo, and Cadereyta are the three cities where games were played. In Monterrey, games were played at the 27,000-seat Estadio de Beisbol Monterrey, home of Sultannes Monterrey of the Mexican Baseball League. In Saltillo, games were played at Estadio Francisco I. Madero, home of the Saraperos de Saltillo of the Mexican Baseball League. In Caderetya, games were played at Unidad Deportiva Alfonso Martinez Dominguez.

Teams

Twelve nations competed in the tournament, from 6 continents:

World No. 1 Japan, No. 3 Korea, No. 4 Chinese Taipei, No. 7 Venezuela, No. 8 Mexico, No. 13 Australia, No. 14 Czech Republic, No. 15 Panama, No. 18 Nicaragua, No. 27 Argentina, No. 33 Austria, and No. 36 South Africa.

Group stage

Two groups of six teams played in a round-robin format, with the top three teams from each group advancing to the Super Round. The bottom three teams from each group went to the consolation round. The rankings of teams in each group were determined by the win-loss record of all games played. If two or more teams had the same win-loss record, rankings were determined as follows:

1. win-loss record in games between the tied teams;
2. team's quality balance (TQB) and game results between teams tied;
3. earned runs team's quality balance (ER-TQB);
4. highest batting average in games between the teams tied;
5. a coin flip.

Pool A	Pool B
South Korea	Japan
Venezuela	Chinese Taipei
Mexico	Australia
Czech Republic	Nicaragua
Panama	Argentina
South Africa	Austria

Opening round

Pool A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	RF	RA	RD	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Panama	5	5	0	45	12	+33	1.000	—	Advance to Super Round
2	South Korea	5	4	1	40	12	+28	.800	1
3	Mexico	5	3	2	35	13	+22	.600	2
4	Venezuela	5	2	3	32	35	−3	.400	3	Advance to Consolation round
5	Czech Republic	5	1	4	32	54	−22	.200	4
6	South Africa	5	0	5	9	67	−58	.000	5

Source: WBSC

Pool B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	RF	RA	RD	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Japan	5	5	0	58	8	+50	1.000	—	Advance to Super Round
2	Australia	5	4	1	39	26	+13	.800	1
3	Nicaragua	5	3	2	37	17	+20	.600	2
4	Chinese Taipei	5	2	3	28	33	−5	.400	3	Advance to Consolation round
5	Argentina	5	1	4	17	44	−27	.200	4
6	Austria	5	0	5	4	55	−51	.000	5

Source: WBSC

Super Round

In the Super Round, each the three teams that advanced from Group A play one game against each of the three teams that advanced from Group B.

At the end of this round, four teams will qualify for the finals, based on the results of five total games: the two First Round games between the three qualified teams, plus the three games of the Super Round.

The first and second place teams will play in the Gold Medal Game, the third and fourth place teams will play in the Bronze Medal Game.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	RF	RA	RD	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Japan	5	4	1	24	9	+15	.800	—	Advance to gold medal game
2	Australia	5	3	2	33	42	−9	.600	1
3	Panama	5	3	2	18	24	−6	.600	1	Advance to bronze medal game
4	South Korea	5	2	3	31	25	+6	.400	2
5	Mexico	5	2	3	26	24	+2	.400	2
6	Nicaragua	5	1	4	27	35	−8	.200	3

Source: WBSC