The World Baseball Classic started as a cockamamie idea in Bud Selig's noggin, but it's turned out to be quite the sucess. The last two finals were held in San Diego and Los Angeles, respectively, and in 2013, the powers that be are sticking with California, awarding the semi-finals and final games to San Francisco and AT&T Park.

AT&T Park in SF will host semis & finals of 2013 World Baseball Classic & @Marlins Park will host 2nd round games. @SFGiants

— MLB Public Relations (@MLB_PR) July 25, 2012

The first-round games will be held in Arizona, both at Chase Field and the Diamondbacks' sparkling new spring-training facilities at Salt River.

The World Baseball Classic used to be held every three years, before the International Baseball Foundation switched the format to every four years. The 2013 games will be the first since 2009, which were won by Japan for the second consecutive tournament. The finals were held at Dodger Stadium in front of over 54,000 people -- a near sell-out.