March 11, 1961
Knockout Stage Set
And then there were eight.
The World Baseball Alliance trophy resides in Europe, and it looks like the World Baseball Championship might be on the way. Five European teams had avanced out of pool play into the knockout stage along with two Asian teams and one Caribbean squad. The two pods of 4 teams will now play a round-robin to determine who advances to the semifinal series, which are best-of-3.
Biggest Storylines
1. Defending champs eliminated - The Dominican Republic won last year's in a thrilling series over South Korea and seemed on their way to a return trip with a 3-1 start, all three wins as shutouts. But they were shut out themselves by France and then dropped a 12-inning game to Cuba, who secured the advancement by toppling France on the final day.
2. Host magic - Just like South Korea last year, the host nation has advanced out of pool play. The Netherlands won all seven of their games in Pool A, although the last one took 14 innings against Australia to complete.
3. Four-way tie in Pool C - Speaking of South Korea, they barely made it in as one of four teams tied at 5-2 in Pool C. They scored head-to-head wins over Curacao and Japan, while Spain defeated South Korea and Curacao to earn their advancement.