WESTERN SYDNEY
TO HOST 2016
WORLD BASEBALL
CLASSIC QUALIFIER
Philippine National Baseball team set to play in Oz
It’s official. Sydney will once again
host a major international baseball
event, the 2016 World Baseball
Classic Qualifier, a four-country,
six-game qualifier.
The event will see the Philippine
national baseball team flying to Sydney to
face the teams of Australia, New Zealand,
and South Africa.
The hosting was announced recently
by Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major
Events and Minister for Sport Stuart
Ayres. It comes following the success of
the 2014 Major League Baseball Opening
Series held at the SCG.
The 2016 qualifiers will be held
in Western Sydney at the Blacktown
International Sportspark from February
11-14, 2016. The winner in the games
will advance to the 2017 World Baseball
Classic.
Developed and operated in
partnership by Major League Baseball
and the Major League Baseball Players
Association, and sanctioned by the World
Baseball Softball Confederation as the
sport’s official ‘World Championship’,
the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is the
world’s premier international baseball
tournament featuring some of the best
players on the planet representing their
respective nations for the title of World
Champion.
The event will mark the first time a
World Baseball Classic event has been
held in Australia and only the second
time Team Australia has played on
home soil since defeating the Arizona
Diamondbacks and losing a close game
thegamesweplay...
to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exhibition
games at the 2014 Opening Series.
Team Australia is currently ranked
14 out of the 124 baseball playing nations
recognised by the International Baseball
Federation. The Philippine team is
currently ranked 23rd by the IBAF.
“Baseball Australia, in conjunction
with our partners Baseball NSW and th P