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Classic’s final team to be unveiled in Brooklyn
- Updated: September 21, 2016
NEW YORK — There’s one spot remaining in next year’s World Baseball Classic field of elite 16 nations, and it will be decided this weekend at MCU Park, the home of the Class A Brooklyn Cyclones on Coney Island with an expansive view of the Atlantic Ocean.
Brazil, Israel, Great Britain and Pakistan make up the field of the Brooklyn qualifier. The winner of Sunday’s championship game at 6 p.m. ET will travel to Seoul, South Korea, next March and compete against host Korea, The Netherlands and Chinese Taipei in Pool B of the tournament.
There are day-night doubleheaders scheduled for Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, Pakistan, making its first appearance in the Classic, faces Brazil — this weekend’s favorite, managed by Hall of Famer Barry Larkin — in a noon ET start. Israel plays the English in a 7 p.m. ET nightcap.
• Brooklyn qualifier schedule and tickets
Friday’s games are at the same times, with the matchups determined by Thursday’s winners. Israel will play in the day game and Great Britain at night.
A semifinal game is set for 8 p.m. ET on Saturday.
All the games will be streamed live and free of charge on MLB.com. Tickets for each individual game are priced at a flat $15 and are available via the box office or worldbaseballclassic.com.
“All things considered, Brooklyn is baseball ground zero,” said Eric Adams, Brooklyn’s borough president, before introducing the managers of each team at a media conference on Tuesday. “We love the game.”
The Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field in the Flatbush section of the borough on Sept. 24, 1957, almost 59 years ago. Baseball returned in 2001, with the opening of what is now called MCU Park, a beatific and cozy 7,000-seat facility that stands under the shadow of the long defunct parachute jump on the Coney Island boardwalk.
There were only 16 teams in the Major Leagues when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, so it’s poetic justice that baseball in its now global form will be played on these streets for four days beginning on …
