Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic

Israel at international baseball competitions

Teams Israel national baseball team
Results

Israel is scheduled to compete in 2017 World Baseball Classic, after winning the 4th qualifying round in September 2016. This marked the second time Israel competed at the World Baseball Classic qualifier, and first time qualifying for the main tournament.[1]

Israel's qualifiers took place in MCU Park, Brooklyn, New York, United States against Pakistan, Brazil, and Great Britain.[2] Colorado Rockies coach Jerry Weinstein served as the team's manager.[3] Israel won the first two games of the competition, beating Great Britain and Brazil. They then defeated Great Britain 9-1 in the finals.

With the win, they will play in South Korea in March 2017, as the 16th and final team in the WBC. They will be in Pool B, playing against South Korea, Taiwan, and Netherlands.

Player eligibility

Under WBC rules, any player eligible for citizenship of a country, even if they do not have it, may play for that team.[4] Therefore, this entitles Israel to have non-Israeli citizens of Jewish heritage play for the team. Based on the Law of Return anyone with one Jewish grandparent, or people married to a Jew, is eligible for citizenship.[5]

Before the 2013 tournament, a number of Major League players of Jewish descent, including Ian Kinsler and Kevin Youkilis, publicly expressed interest in playing for Israel in the World Baseball Classic.[6][7] However, while some of the qualifying rounds were played after the conclusion of the 2012 season and included Major League players, Israel's qualifier was played in September 2012, during the Major League season. Without its Major League players, Israel narrowly lost its qualifier to Spain (which had no Major League players at the time, and thus was not affected by the scheduling). Israel is in the same position during the qualifiers for the 2017 tournament, with their games scheduled for September 2016 even though the other three qualifiers took place during 2016 spring training and included Major League players.

Qualifier round

Results

Team Israel wearing their kippot during Hatikvah before the game against Great Britain on September 22, 2016.

Israel, Pakistan, Brazil, and Great Britain played a modified double-elimination format.[8][9] Israel's schedule was positioned in a way that they would play the afternoon game on Friday, under any circumstances, in order to avoid the need to play on Shabbat, and the Saturday night game, should Israel need to play, would start after Shabbat was over.[10]

Israel beat Great Britain 5-2 in Game One, with RBIs from pinch-hitter/DH Ike Davis and third baseman Cody Decker.[8][11] In addition, left fielder Rhett Wiseman singled and scored, right fielder Zach Borenstein had an RBI single, and catcher Ryan Lavarnway had three hits.[12][11] Jason Marquis started and was removed after throwing 41 pitches in order to allow him to return later in qualifiers. (WBC rules require four days rest after throwing at least 50 pitches.) Josh Zeid struck out six hitters in 3-2/3 innings of relief, and Craig Breslow got the win.[8][12][13] Decker said: “I never played on a team with more than three Jews since Little League in Santa Monica.”[8]

Israel beat Brazil 1-0 in Game Two, with Decker driving in DH Nate Freiman for the only run of the game.[9][12] Freiman and shortstop Scott Burcham got the team's other hits.[12] Corey Baker started and gave up one hit in five innings and was pulled after throwing 83 pitches, two fewer than the qualifying round’s single-game limit. Ryan Sherriff, Jared Lakind, and Jeremy Bleich pitched in relief, and Brad Goldberg picked up his second save.[9][12][14][15]

Israel defeated Great Britain in the finals 9-1 on September 25, 2016. Starter Jason Marquis struck out five batters while pitching four perfect innings, and Josh Zeid pitched three shutout innings and was credited with the win.[16] The pitching duo did not allow a hit through their 7 innings of play.[17] Center fielder Blake Gailen broke the scoreless tie in the fifth inning with a two run home run.[18] Ryan Lavarnway and Cody Decker also homered for Israel.[16]

Bracket

  Preliminaries Semifinals Qualifier
                             
–   Pakistan 0  
–   Brazil 10  
  W1   Brazil 0  
  W2   Israel 1  
–   Great Britain 2
–   Israel 5  
  W3   Israel 9 Q4W
  W5   Great Britain 1 –
L1   Pakistan 0  
L2   Great Britain 14  
  W4   Great Britain 4
  L3   Brazil 3  

Game summaries

Israel 5, Great Britain 2
Team Israel celebrating on the field after defeating Great Britain on September 22, 2016.
September 22 19:00 at MCU Park
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
 Great Britain 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 7 2
 Israel 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 X 5 11 0
WP: Craig Breslow (1–0)   LP: Vaughan Harris (0–1)   Sv: Brad Goldberg (1)
Attendance: 3,919 (56.0%)
Umpires: HP − Serge Makouchetev, 1B − Shane Livensparger, 2B − Andrew Higgins, 3B − Xu Bing
Boxscore
Israel 1, Brazil 0
September 23 12:00 at MCU Park
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
 Brazil 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1
 Israel 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 X 1 3 0
WP: Corey Baker (1–0)   LP: Bo Takahashi (0–1)   Sv: Brad Goldberg (2)
Attendance: 1,862 (26.6%)
Umpires: HP − Andrew Higgins, 1B − Shane Livensparger, 2B − Alberto Ruiz, 3B − Xu Bing
Boxscore
Israel 9, Great Britain 1
September 25 18:00 at MCU Park
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
 Great Britain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 4 1
 Israel 0 0 0 0 4 1 1 3 X 9 11 1
WP: Josh Zeid (1–0)   LP: Spencer Kreisberg (0–1)
Home runs:
GBR: None
ISR: Blake Gailen (1), Ryan Lavarnway (1), Cody Decker (1)
Attendance: 2,016 (28.8%)
Umpires: HP − Alberto Ruiz, 1B − Travis Eggert, 2B − Andrew Higgins, 3B − Serge Makouchetev
Boxscore

Roster

Ike Davis preparing to bat for Israel.

Team Israel for the 2016 qualifying competition was assembled by Peter Kurz (President of the Israel Association of Baseball), with an informal team of baseball scouts and experts of Jewish baseball, including Scott Barancik (Jewish Baseball News) and Ephraim Moxson and Shel Wallman (Jewish Sports Review).[19]

On August 15, 2016, it was announced that MLB veteran pitcher Craig Breslow would join the Team Israel pitching staff.[20] The official roster was released on August 26, 2016.[21] Israel's roster includes 20 MLB-affiliated minor leaguers, making up 86% of the team, more than any other team in the qualifiers even before including recent Major Leaguers Breslow (an 11-year MLB veteran), Ike Davis, Josh Satin, catcher Ryan Lavarnway, former 15-year MLB veteran All Star pitcher Jason Marquis,[19][22] Cody Decker, Nate Freiman, and Josh Zeid. One of Israel's minor leaguers, Ty Kelly, had to withdraw from the qualifier after he was called up to the New York Mets.[19] Additionally 10 of the Israeli players had reached Triple-A.[23]

The team's oldest player is pitcher Shlomo Lipetz, 37, who grew up in Israel and lives in New York.[24] Team Israel's youngest player is pitcher Dean Kremer, 20, a Californian drafted by the Dodgers whose parents are Israeli expatriates.[24]

Israel roster - 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualification
Players Coaches
Pitchers
 Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

 Manager

Coaches

Source: [25]

Main tournament

Israel is scheduled to compete in Pool A of the 2017 WBC, in Seoul, South Korea, on March 7-10.[26] They will be matched up against South Korea, Taiwan, and Netherlands.[8][9]

Current major leaguers who were not able to play in September 2016 because they were playing in the majors, but would be eligible to play for Team Israel in March 2017,[27] include former All Stars outfielder Ryan Braun (Milwaukee Brewers), second baseman Ian Kinsler (Detroit Tigers), and center fielder Joc Pederson (Los Angeles Dodgers), as well as outfielder Kevin Pillar (Toronto Blue Jays), third baseman/outfielder/first baseman Danny Valencia (Oakland A’s), shortstop/third baseman Alex Bregman (Houston Astros), and pitchers Scott Feldman (Blue Jays), Richard Bleier (New York Yankees), and Jon Moscot (Cincinnati Reds; on the DL at the end of 2016 season).[28][29][30]

Games

Date Local Time Road Team Score Home Team Inn. Venue Game Time Attendance Boxscore
Mar 6, 2017 19:00 Israel  –  South Korea   Gocheok Sky Dome     Boxscore
Mar 7, 2017 12:30 Israel  –  Chinese Taipei   Gocheok Sky Dome     Boxscore
Mar 9, 2017 12:30 Israel  –  Netherlands   Gocheok Sky Dome     Boxscore

References

  1. ↑ Israel qualifies for World Baseball Classic for first time
  2. ↑ 2017 World Baseball Classic qualifiers are set
  3. ↑ "How a Survivor’s Son Is Bringing Baseball to Israel", The Forward
  4. ↑ "Dan Serafini Wins One For Team Italy"
  5. ↑ Omer-Man, Michael (August 7, 2011). "This Week in History: Jewish right to aliya becomes law". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  6. ↑ Ben, Daniel (May 1, 2010). "Baseball / Jewish MLB stars could play for Israel". Haaretz. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
  7. ↑ Neistat, Aimee (August 24, 2012). "Baseball / World Classic / Youkilis says he will play for Israel, if it qualifies for tournament". Haaretz. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ike Davis, Back in New York, Leads Israel Past Britain in World Baseball Classic Qualifier", The New York Times, September 23, 2016
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Israel Beats Brazil, Advances to Final of World Baseball Classic Qualifier", Haaretz
  10. ↑ The Greatest Jewish Team — Ever
  11. 1 2 Gameday | World Baseball Classic, worldbaseballclassic.com
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 "Israel advances to qualifier final with nail-biting 1-0 win over Brazil," The Jerusalem Post
  13. ↑ "Israel Takes Down Great Britain In WBC Qualifier" , Baseball America
  14. ↑ "Israel Blanks Brazil Behind Cardinals' Baker", Baseball America
  15. ↑ WBC Notes: Lakind Throws Shutout Innning; Simmons Reaches Base Three Times – Pirates Prospects
  16. 1 2 "Israel Tops Great Britain, Moves On To WBC" - BaseballAmerica.com
  17. ↑ Team Israel qualifies for World Baseball Classic
  18. ↑ Israel clinches first-ever spot in World Baseball Classic
  19. 1 2 3 "Good Bat? Cannon Arm? Jewish? Sign Him Up!", The New York Times, September 21, 2016
  20. ↑ "Ahead of Brooklyn qualifier, veterans join WBC staffs", MLB.com
  21. ↑ "Rosters For WBC Qualifier In Brooklyn", Baseball America
  22. ↑ "Israel off to great start in Baseball Classic Qualifier tournament in Brooklyn" - Israel News, Jerusalem Post
  23. ↑ Israel’s WBC roster includes stars, surprises
  24. 1 2 "Israel's World Baseball Classic team expects to feel at home playing in Brooklyn" , The Times of Israel
  25. ↑ Israel - Retrieved September 26, 2016
  26. ↑ 2017 World Baseball Classic Field set after Israel wins qualifying round
  27. ↑ Israel Advances to the World Baseball Classic
  28. ↑ "Israel's Baseball Team Is Ready to Rock Coney Island—and Maybe Shock the World", Tablet Magazine
  29. ↑ "Jason Marquis pitching for Team Israel in WBC qualifier Thursday", SILive.com
  30. ↑ "Potential Roster For Israel's World Baseball Classic Qualifying Team In September" - Hardball Scoop, Scout
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