World Baseball Classic is a popular global baseball tournament. The event features contesting countries from around the world who compete to be crowned World Champion. Interestingly, the event is not particularly popular in the United States, considered to be the home baseball, but is among the most popular sporting events in all of Japan and many South American countries. The most recent winners, achieving overall victory in the 2013 tournament, were the Dominican Republic.
History
The World Baseball Classic is a tournament that has seen many changes in the years it has been active. It was initially set into motion when baseball was discontinued as an Olympic event, which saw many major baseball leagues in the United States proposing a new, exclusively baseball focused tournament. Calling the new tournament World Baseball classic, immediate interest was expressed by a number of countries around the world. The tournament was said to be modelled after the FIFA World Cup, and saw thousands of fans gathering to support favourite teams. There have been a number of rule changes since the first tournament, most of which have been well received by fans.
The World Baseball Classic is now on a regular schedule of taking place every four years, and sees much media hype and television coverage across the world. The event has become a favourite for sports bet makers, who see the event as one of the most unpredictable. Given that World Baseball Classic is still a relatively new event, many of the competing teams are still finding their ground, which means that matches are often tense, exciting, and with results that are extremely unexpected.
Bet Making Options
As already mentioned, the World Baseball Classic tournament is a favourite USA mobile betting occasion. The majority of online bookmakers accept bets, and many fans are eager to get in on the action even months before the tournament officially kicks off. Favourites such as Japan and the United States initially received much of the attention, and although Japan won the first World Baseball Classic tournament, many were surprised to see that the favourite teams defeated by lesser known countries in later tournaments.
The most commonly placed bet is simply for a favourite team to win in each match. This can be done as the bet maker wishes, at virtually any time, given that the match is not already underway. And, in some cases, online bookmakers will even accept bets on a match that is already in progress. Be sure to take note, however, that odds for various teams may be changed regularly throughout the tournament, based on the performance of the teams. Odds offered today for a certain team winning may not necessarily be the same odds offered tomorrow.
Focused Group Bets
More focused group betting options are also available, which may consist of a series of teams placing in the semi finals and finals. However, requirements are generally that bets of this nature are done prior to the tournament starting, and may not be changed at a later stage. Such bets generally payout the largest amounts if winning, especially if the bet maker correctly predicts all top three teams of the Baseball World Classic tournament.
