The World Baseball Classic, sometimes abbreviated WBC, is an international baseball tournament, first held in March 2006. It is sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation and created by Major League Baseball, the Major League Baseball Players Association, and other professional baseball leagues and their players associations around the world. The second WBC is scheduled to take place in 2009, with subsequent tournaments held every four years thereafter.

The WBC is the first international baseball tournament for national teams to feature professional players from the major leagues; the Summer Olympics have regularly featured college and minor-league players because the Games conflict with the major league season, and the Baseball World Cup historically has not had major leaguers participate. In addition to providing a format for the best baseball players in the world to compete against one another while representing their home countries, the World Baseball Classic was created in order to further promote the game around the globe.

Rule:

A pitcher cannot pitch until

1. a minimum of four days have passed since he last pitched, if he threw 50 or more pitches when he last pitched.
2. a minimum of one day has passed since he last pitched, if he threw 30 or more pitches when he last pitched.
3. a minimum of one day has passed since any second consecutive day on which the pitcher pitched.

A pitcher cannot pitch more than

1. 65 pitches per game in Round One of the tournament.
2. 80 pitches per game in Round Two of the tournament.
3. 95 pitches per game in the Semifinals and Final of the tournament.

* A pitcher can still finish a batter's plate appearance even if the limit is reached, but must come out after completing the plate appearance.

A game will be a called game if the leading team is ahead by

1. 10 or more runs when the opposing team has batted in at least seven innings.
2. 15 or more runs when the opposing team has batted in at least five innings.

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