World Baseball Classic

The World Baseball Classic is.

Scorinating
In World Baseball Classic 15, The Babbage Islands devised a system for broadcasting line-scores rather than the total results. (Something similar had been done in the first and second tournaments, but the scorinators used then were much less sophisticated than later models.) Although controversial at first, line-score results eventually became a common and welcome part of the WBC.

After many proposals and discussions, World Baseball Classic 34, hosted in Saintland, was the first tournament to use three-game series rather than individual games as the basis for group stage round robins. This format has also caught on and been frequently emulated.

History
There was previously a tournament called the World Cup of Baseball, which ran for three editions and then fell by the wayside. The nation of American Fist proposed to host a World Baseball Classic in April 2007, but then vanished from the worldwide scene. After this, the nation of Qazox assumed hosting duties by fiat. Qazox would also take over as hosts after Nefundland's political instability during WBC4.

In World Baseball Classic 13, Tocrowkia forfeited the third-place series to Secristan, thus raising the question of whether forfeits should be permitted and to what extent they would impact the ranks.

Near the conclusion of World Baseball Classic 17, Tarrentum organized a "Constitutional Congress" for the purposes of codifying more rules. There was some rancor and acrimony during this era, but such is life.

World Baseball Classic Council
Future editions of the tournament were run on an ad-hoc basis; following the eleventh edition, the dissolution of the Jolt multiversal organization system began a new era of thriving international cooperation. It was proposed to assemble a more organized council, along the lines of the World Cup Committee. The first councilmembers were determined by a majority vote, rather than automatically including anyone who met default participation criteria like the WCC.

It was not until WBC22 that the constitution was amended to create the position of president. Saugeais was the first nation nominated and elected to serve in that role.

Championship History
Unless otherwise indicated, results are given as total games won in a series; i.e. Team A 4-2 Team B means that Team A won a best-of-seven series in six games.

Fast Facts
The WBC 12-13 era, while it saw a flourishing of diverse teams, also saw a proliferation of events that are quite rare in other baseball competitions. Those affected have pointed out that the disparities between established and emergent baseball nations can be quite stark.

Like the World Cup Player Hall of Fame, the World Baseball Classic had an irregularly-maintained World Baseball Classic Player Hall of Fame, with nations earning a slot for:
 * every five WBCs participated in,
 * every three WBCs advancing from the preliminary/group stage,
 * and every WBC title.

Pocono City in Newmanistan was at one point the location of this hall of fame.

Later, circa World Baseball 38, the nation of Schiltzberg proposed a World Baseball Classic Nation Hall of Fame for countries with long-standing records of success. Nations are inducted to this hall of fame both automatically, based on historic success, and by election from the WBC Council.

World rankings
The ranking system used is a modified version of the KPB ranking system for football, that takes into account the last three WBCs, with more recent tournaments weighted more heavily. Because baseball does not have the "three points for a win" system, nor secondary tournaments, the range of possible values is smaller.