World Baseball Classic sets venues, dates

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The World Baseball Classic announced the dates and venues for the 2013 tournament.

The World Baseball Classic is awesome. Did you realize there was a guy named Sneideer Santos playing for France? Of course there is. There's also a guy pitching for Spain who was born in 1963 -- the same year as Mike Greenwell, Bobby Bonilla, and Cecil Fielder. He throws 89.

You know you want to watch. And now the schedule is out, confirming that the bulk of the action will be in March, when you're already baseball-starved, you probably will watch. The schedule, along with the venues:

First Round

Pool A

Dates	Location	Teams
Sat, March 2 - Wed. March 6	Fukuoka Yahoo! Dome, Japan	China, Cuba, Japan, Qualifier TBD

Pool B

Dates	Location	Teams
Sun. March 2 - Tues. March 5	Taichung, Taiwan	Australia, Korea, Netherlands, Qualifier TBD

Pool C

Dates	Location	Teams
Thurs. March 7 - Sun. March 10	San Juan, Puerto Rico	Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Qualifier TBD

Pool D

Dates	Location	Teams
Thurs. March 7 - Sun. March 10	Chase Field, Phoenix	Italy, Mexico, United States, Qualifier TBD

Second Round

Pool 1

Dates	Location	Teams
Fri. March 8 - Tues. March 12	Tokyo, Japan	Pool A winner, Pool A runner-up, Pool B winner, Pool B runner-up

Pool 2

Dates	Location	Teams
Tues. March 12 - Sat. March 16	Marlins Park, Miami	Pool C winner, Pool C runner-up, Pool D winner, Pool D runner-up

Championship

Dates	Location	Teams
Sun. March 17 - Tues. March 19	AT&T Park, San Francisco	Pool 1 winner, Pool 1 runner-up Pool 2 winner, Pool 2 runner-up

Two of the last qualifiers are already known: Spain and Canada. The last two qualifiers are yet to be determined, per a WBC press release:

The four teams competing in Taiwan include host Chinese Taipei, New Zealand, the Philippines and Thailand, while the teams competing to advance from Panama include host Panama, Brazil, Colombia and Nicaragua.

Good luck to the team that fills out Pool C. Yeesh.