World Baseball Classic Tiebreaker Rules: How Can USA Advance To Quarterfinals?

Two quarterfinal spots, three contenders. Pool B of the World Baseball Classic will go down to the wire with the USA, Mexico and Italy looking to advance to the next round. 

The USA beat Mexico, 5-3, in Monday’s game but trails Italy in Tuesday’s matchup.  Italy and Mexico play each other on Wednesday. The other two teams in the pool (Brazil and Great Britain) are eliminated. 

That could lead to tiebreakers to see who’ll advance.

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According to the World Baseball Classic rules, these are the tiebreakers: 

The two teams with the highest such percentages in each pool shall advance to the Quarterfinal Round. If, at the end of pool play in Round One of the Tournament, teams within a pool are tied with an identical winning percentage, the tie shall be broken in the following order of priority:

• The team that won the games between the teams tied shall be given the higher position. If three or more teams are tied and one of those teams won its games against all other teams it is tied with, then it will be placed in the higher spot. Similarly, if one of those tied teams lost its games against all other teams it is tied with, then it will be placed in the lowest spot.
• The tied teams shall be ranked in the standings according to the lowest quotient of fewest runs allowed divided by the number of defensive outs recorded in the games in that round between the teams tied.
• The tied teams shall be ranked in the standings according to the lowest quotient of fewest earned runs allowed divided by the number of defensive outs recorded in the games in that round between the teams tied.
• The tied teams shall be ranked in the standings according to the highest batting average in games in that round between the teams tied.
• Standings shall be determined by the drawing of lots, conducted by WBCI.