The 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) rules have been announced.
The US Major League Baseball (MLB) announced the 2023 WBC rules on the 7th (Korean time). According to this, the ‘Ohtani Rule’ is applied in the designated hitter system. It is a rule that a player who played as a starting pitcher can continue to play in the game as a designated hitter even if he goes down from the mound.
If a player is injured during a match, the player can be changed within the list of 50 players submitted to the WBC. A KBO official told Sports Seoul, “There is a slight change from the previously announced 50 WBC interest lists. This is because there are players who have received minor injuries.” 스포츠토토
In the video review part, instead of eliminating the referee’s right to request a review, directors can request a video review. Until the quarterfinals, the number of requests for each team per game is once, and from the quarterfinals, twice.
As in the last tournament, there is a WBC-specific pitch limit rule to protect pitchers before the regular season. The maximum number of pitches for a pitcher is 65 in the first round, 80 in the quarterfinals, and 95 in the semifinals and beyond.
A pitcher must face at least three batters. Measures such as defensive shift restrictions and pitch timers enforced by the US Professional Baseball Major League (MLB) Secretariat this year in the regular league this year will not be applied in this tournament.
If the winner is not decided in regular innings (9 innings), a match-up will be held from the beginning of the 10th inning with a runner on second base.
In the first round, if more than 10 points are scored by the 7th inning and 15 points or more by the 5th inning, the game ends as a called game. If there is a tie in the first round, the rankings are determined in the order of winner-to-win – least team lost – least team earned run – best team batting average – lottery.
Meanwhile, the Korean men’s national baseball team will begin its WBC journey in Tokyo, Japan, starting with Australia on March 9th.