Canada and Mexico now need to qualify for the 2021 World Baseball Classic

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Canada and Mexico have had teams in every World Baseball Classic thus far, but that might not be the case in 2021 after their respective showings in this year's tournament. While the top two teams in each pool advance and the third-place team earns an automatic qualification for the next WBC, the last-place team in each pool is dismissed entirely, and has to earn their way into the next main tournament through a qualifying round played the year before. That's how Colombia, Australia, and one of this year's most-significant WBC successes, Israel, made it into the 2017 tournament. And it's how Canada and Mexico are going to have to get back to the World Baseball Classic, as they are the last-place clubs in their pools.

Mexico is out because of the way standings are calculated in a tie-breaker scenario: while they defeated Venezuela 11-9 on Sunday, the WBC uses runs allowed per defensive inning to determine who gets to play in a tiebreaker game. So, out of the three 1-2 teams in in Pool D, Mexico had the most runs allowed per defensive inning, and they'll be the ones who have to win their way back to the WBC in 2021. Meanwhile, Italy and Venezuela will play on Monday for the right to join Puerto Rico in the next round. This won't be Mexico's first qualifier, either: They had to win their way into the 2017 tournament by defeating Germany, Nicaragua, and the Czech Republic, but unlike Israel, their journey stopped in round one.

As for Canada, their elimination comes amid an identity crisis. The future of Canadian baseball is bright, and yet, Team Canada's manager, Ernie Whitt, decided relying heavily on retired MLB veteran Ryan Dempster was the way to go against a stacked Team USA lineup in a win-or-go-home affair. Canadian stars like Joey Votto didn't participate, and while Canadian baseball players are talented in their own right, it's harder for them to hide that kind of loss that teams like the U.S. or Dominican Republic could shrug off thanks to depth. Maybe being outright eliminated from main tournament play will be the wake up that Canadian players and coaches need to build the team that finally makes it to round two of the WBC.

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