Just as Lin Guanglai's pitcher development plan was proceeding according to schedule, the World Baseball Classic was drawing nearer—an international baseball tournament organized jointly by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, the American Major League Baseball, and its players' union, now enjoying increasingly important status.
Especially since the other two "major competitions," the Olympics and the Baseball World Cup, were discontinued in 2008 and 2011 respectively, the World Baseball Classic is currently the only certified official world championship, and only the champion of the Classic can be truly called the "world champion."
The WBC competition is primarily divided into three stages:
The top 12 teams from the previous Classic (2009) and 4 teams that passed the selection will be invited to participate in the first stage of the competition, where 16 teams will be grouped into four pools and will compete at four different venues.
