User:Galatz/Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic

Israel is scheduled to compete in 2017 World Baseball Classic, after winning the 4th qualifying round in September 2016. This marked the second time Israel competed at the World Baseball Classic qualifier, and first time qualifying for the main tournament.

Israel's qualifiers took place in MCU Park, Brooklyn, New York, United States against Pakistan, Brazil, and Great Britain. Colorado Rockies coach Jerry Weinstein served as the team's manager. Israel won the first two games of the competition, beating Great Britain and Brazil. They then defeated Great Britain 9-1 in the finals.

With the win, they will play in South Korea in March 2017, as the 16th and final team in the WBC. They will be in Pool B, playing against South Korea, Taiwan, and Netherlands.

Player eligibility
Under WBC rules, any player eligible for citizenship of a country, even if they do not have it, may play for that team. Therefore, this entitles Israel to have non-Israeli citizens of Jewish heritage play for the team. Based on the Law of Return anyone with one Jewish grandparent, or people married to a Jew, is eligible for citizenship.

Before the 2013 tournament, a number of Major League players of Jewish descent, including Ian Kinsler and Kevin Youkilis, publicly expressed interest in playing for Israel in the World Baseball Classic. However, while some of the qualifying rounds were played after the conclusion of the 2012 season and included Major League players, Israel's qualifier was played in September 2012, during the Major League season. Without its Major League players, Israel narrowly lost its qualifier to Spain (which had no Major League players at the time, and thus was not affected by the scheduling). Israel is in the same position during the qualifiers for the 2017 tournament, with their games scheduled for September 2016 even though the other three qualifiers took place during 2016 spring training and included Major League players.

Results
Israel, Pakistan, Brazil, and Great Britain played a modified double-elimination format. Israel's schedule was positioned in a way that they would play the afternoon game on Friday, under any circumstances, in order to avoid the need to play on Shabbat, and the Saturday night game, should Israel need to play, would start after Shabbat was over.

Israel beat Great Britain 5-2 in Game One, with RBIs from pinch-hitter/DH Ike Davis and third baseman Cody Decker. In addition, left fielder Rhett Wiseman singled and scored, right fielder Zach Borenstein had an RBI single, and catcher Ryan Lavarnway had three hits. Jason Marquis started and was removed after throwing 41 pitches in order to allow him to return later in qualifiers. (WBC rules require four days rest after throwing at least 50 pitches.) Josh Zeid struck out six hitters in 3-2/3 innings of relief, and Craig Breslow got the win. Decker said: “I never played on a team with more than three Jews since Little League in Santa Monica.”

Israel beat Brazil 1-0 in Game Two, with Decker driving in DH Nate Freiman for the only run of the game. Freiman and shortstop Scott Burcham got the team's other hits. Corey Baker started and gave up one hit in five innings and was pulled after throwing 83 pitches, two fewer than the qualifying round’s single-game limit. Ryan Sherriff, Jared Lakind, and Jeremy Bleich pitched in relief, and Brad Goldberg picked up his second save.

Israel defeated Great Britain in the finals 9-1 on September 25, 2016. Starter Jason Marquis struck out five batters while pitching four perfect innings, and Josh Zeid pitched three shutout innings and was credited with the win. The pitching duo did not allow a hit through their 7 innings of play. Center fielder Blake Gailen broke the scoreless tie in the fifth inning with a two run home run. Ryan Lavarnway and Cody Decker also homered for Israel.

Qualifier roster
Team Israel for the 2016 qualifying competition was assembled by Peter Kurz (President of the Israel Association of Baseball), with an informal team of baseball scouts and experts of Jewish baseball, including Scott Barancik (Jewish Baseball News) and Ephraim Moxson and Shel Wallman (Jewish Sports Review).

On August 15, 2016, it was announced that MLB veteran pitcher Craig Breslow would join the Team Israel pitching staff. The official roster was released on August 26, 2016. Israel's roster includes 20 MLB-affiliated minor leaguers, making up 86% of the team, more than any other team in the qualifiers even before including recent Major Leaguers Breslow (an 11-year MLB veteran), Ike Davis, Josh Satin, catcher Ryan Lavarnway, former 15-year MLB veteran All Star pitcher Jason Marquis, Cody Decker, Nate Freiman, and Josh Zeid. One of Israel's minor leaguers, Ty Kelly, had to withdraw from the qualifier after he was called up to the New York Mets. Additionally 10 of the Israeli players had reached Triple-A.

The team's oldest player is pitcher Shlomo Lipetz, 37, who grew up in Israel and lives in New York. Team Israel's youngest player is pitcher Dean Kremer, 20, a Californian drafted by the Dodgers whose parents are Israeli expatriates.

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Main tournament
Israel is scheduled to compete in Pool A of the 2017 WBC, in Seoul, South Korea, on March 7-10. They will be matched up against South Korea, Taiwan, and Netherlands.

Current major leaguers who were not able to play in September 2016 because they were playing in the majors, but would be eligible to play for Team Israel in March 2017, include former All Stars outfielder Ryan Braun (Milwaukee Brewers), second baseman Ian Kinsler (Detroit Tigers), and center fielder Joc Pederson (Los Angeles Dodgers), as well as outfielder Kevin Pillar (Toronto Blue Jays), third baseman/outfielder/first baseman Danny Valencia (Oakland A’s), shortstop/third baseman Alex Bregman (Houston Astros), and pitchers Scott Feldman (Blue Jays), Richard Bleier (New York Yankees), and Jon Moscot (Cincinnati Reds; on the DL at the end of 2016 season).

Main tournament roster
In January 2017 as promotion for the tournament, ten players with MLB affiliations were announced as roster members, and traveled to Israel to participated in various events. These players included Ike Davis, Sam Fuld, Ryan Lavarnway, Ty Kelly, Corey Baker, Jeremy Bleich, Jon Moscot (will not play due to arm injury), Danny Valencia, and Cody Decker. On January 12, Alex Katz officially confirmed his spot, as did Nick Rickels, on their respective Twitter accounts. It was later announced that additional players include Tyler Krieger, Dean Kremer, Jake Kalish, Blake Gailen, RC Orlan, Joey Wagman, Scott Burcham and Gabe Cramer.

Games

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