The first round of the 2009 World Baseball Classic was played between March 5 and March 19, 2009 at four regional sites. The 16 teams were divided into four pools which played a double-elimination tournament. The winners for the first games matched up in the second game, while the losers faced each other in an elimination game. The winner of the elimination game then played the loser of the non-elimination game in another elimination game. The remaining two teams then played each other to determine seeding for the second round.

Pool A

Games of Pool A played at the Tokyo Dome

Tokyo Dome

Tokyo Dome is a 55,000-seat baseball stadium located in Bunkyo Ward of Tokyo, Japan.The stadium opened for business on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of the Velodrome which was next door to the site of the predecessor ballpark, Kōrakuen Stadium...

, Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

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Results

Pool A
0 4 ◄ linescore	0 9 ◄ linescore	1 4 ◄ linescore	14 ◄ 2 (F/7) linescore	0 (F/7) 14 ◄ linescore	1 ◄ 0 linescore

Japan 4, China 0

• Game time: March 5, 2009 - 18:30 JST
  Japan Standard Time
  Japan Standard Time or JST is the standard timezone of Japan, and is 9 hours ahead of UTC. For example, when it is midnight in UTC, it is 09:00 in Japan Standard Time. There is no daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated several times. Japan Standard Time is the same as...
  
  
• Attendance: 43,428 (103.4%)

South Korea 9, Chinese Taipei 0

• Game time: March 6, 2009 - 18:30 JST
  Japan Standard Time
  Japan Standard Time or JST is the standard timezone of Japan, and is 9 hours ahead of UTC. For example, when it is midnight in UTC, it is 09:00 in Japan Standard Time. There is no daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated several times. Japan Standard Time is the same as...
  
  
• Attendance: 12,704 (30.2%)

China 4, Chinese Taipei 1

• Game time: March 7, 2009 - 12:30 JST
  Japan Standard Time
  Japan Standard Time or JST is the standard timezone of Japan, and is 9 hours ahead of UTC. For example, when it is midnight in UTC, it is 09:00 in Japan Standard Time. There is no daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated several times. Japan Standard Time is the same as...
  
  
• Attendance: 12,890 (30.7%)

Japan 14, South Korea 2

• Game time: March 7, 2009 - 19:00 JST
  Japan Standard Time
  Japan Standard Time or JST is the standard timezone of Japan, and is 9 hours ahead of UTC. For example, when it is midnight in UTC, it is 09:00 in Japan Standard Time. There is no daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated several times. Japan Standard Time is the same as...
  
  
• Attendance: 45,640 (108.7%)

Completed early due to mercy rule (7 Innings).

South Korea 14, China 0

• Game time: March 8, 2009 - 18:30 JST
  Japan Standard Time
  Japan Standard Time or JST is the standard timezone of Japan, and is 9 hours ahead of UTC. For example, when it is midnight in UTC, it is 09:00 in Japan Standard Time. There is no daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated several times. Japan Standard Time is the same as...
  
  
• Attendance: 12,571 (29.9%)

Completed early due to mercy rule (7 Innings).

South Korea 1, Japan 0

• Game time: March 9, 2009 - 18:30 JST
  Japan Standard Time
  Japan Standard Time or JST is the standard timezone of Japan, and is 9 hours ahead of UTC. For example, when it is midnight in UTC, it is 09:00 in Japan Standard Time. There is no daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated several times. Japan Standard Time is the same as...
  
  
• Attendance: 42,879 (102.1%)

Pool B

Games of Pool B played at Foro Sol Stadium, Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

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Results

Pool B
1 8 ◄ linescore	17 ◄ 7 (F/8) linescore	14 ◄ 3 linescore	5 ◄ 4 linescore	16 ◄ 1 (F/6) linescore	4 (F/7) 16 ◄ linescore

Cuba 8, South Africa 1

• Game time: March 8, 2009 - 12:00 CST
• Attendance: 11,270 (43.3%)

Australia 17, Mexico 7

• Game time: March 8, 2009 - 19:00 CST
• Attendance: 20,821 (80.1%)

Completed early due to mercy rule (8 Innings).

Mexico 14, South Africa 3

• Game time: March 9, 2009 - 20:00 CST
• Attendance: 10,311 (39.7%)

Cuba 5, Australia 4

• Game time: March 10, 2009 - 20:00 CST
• Attendance: 13,396 (51.5%)

Mexico 16, Australia 1

• Game time: March 11, 2009 - 20:00 CST
• Attendance: 16,718 (64.3%)

Completed early due to mercy rule (6 Innings).

Cuba 16, Mexico 4

• Game time: March 12, 2009 - 19:00 CST
• Attendance: 20,149 (77.5%)

Completed early due to mercy rule (7 Innings).

One out when winning run scored.

Pool C

Games of Pool C played at Rogers Centre

Rogers Centre

Rogers Centre is a multi-purpose stadium, in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated next to the CN Tower, near the shores of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989, it is home to the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League...

, Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

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Results

Pool C
5 6 ◄ linescore	0 7 ◄ linescore	15 ◄ 6 linescore	6 ◄ 2 linescore	1 10 ◄ linescore	5 ◄ 3 linescore

United States 6, Canada 5

• Game time: March 7, 2009 - 14:00 EST
  Eastern Time Zone
  The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
  
  
• Attendance: 42,314 (85.4%)

Venezuela 7, Italy 0

• Game time: March 7, 2009 - 20:00 EST
  Eastern Time Zone
  The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
  
  
• Attendance: 13,272 (26.8%)

United States 15, Venezuela 6

• Game time: March 8, 2009 - 20:00 EDT
  Eastern Time Zone
  The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
  
  
• Attendance: 13,094 (26.4%)

Italy 6, Canada 2

• Game time: March 9, 2009 - 18:30 EDT
  Eastern Time Zone
  The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
  
  
• Attendance: 12,411 (25.1%)

Venezuela 10, Italy 1

• Game time: March 10, 2009 - 17:00 EDT
  Eastern Time Zone
  The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
  
  
• Attendance: 10,450 (21.1%)

Venezuela 5, United States 3

• Game time: March 11, 2009 - 18:30 EDT
  Eastern Time Zone
  The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
  
  
• Attendance: 12,358 (24.9%)

Pool D

Games of Pool D played at Hiram Bithorn Stadium

Hiram Bithorn Stadium

Hiram Bithorn Stadium is a baseball park in San Juan, Puerto Rico, operated by the municipal government of the city of San Juan. Its name honors the first Puerto Rican to play in the major leagues, Hiram Bithorn, who first played with the Chicago Cubs in 1942...

, San Juan

San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...

, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

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Results

Pool D
3 ◄ 2 linescore	0 7 ◄ linescore	0 9 ◄ linescore	1 3 ◄ linescore	1 (F/11) 2 ◄ linescore	0 5 ◄ linescore

Netherlands 3, Dominican Republic 2

• Game time: March 7, 2009 - 12:00 AST
  Atlantic Standard Time Zone
  The Atlantic Standard Time Zone is a geographical region that keeps time by subtracting four hours from either Coordinated Universal Time or Greenwich Mean Time , resulting in UTC-4 or GMT-4...
  
  
• Attendance: 9,335 (51.9%)

Puerto Rico 7, Panama 0

• Game time: March 7, 2009 - 18:00 AST
  Atlantic Standard Time Zone
  The Atlantic Standard Time Zone is a geographical region that keeps time by subtracting four hours from either Coordinated Universal Time or Greenwich Mean Time , resulting in UTC-4 or GMT-4...
  
  
• Attendance: 17,348 (96.4%)

Dominican Republic 9, Panama 0

• Game time: March 8, 2009 - 16:30 AST
  Atlantic Standard Time Zone
  The Atlantic Standard Time Zone is a geographical region that keeps time by subtracting four hours from either Coordinated Universal Time or Greenwich Mean Time , resulting in UTC-4 or GMT-4...
  
  
• Attendance: 9,221 (51.2%)

Puerto Rico 3, Netherlands 1

• Game time: March 9, 2009 - 18:30 AST
  Atlantic Standard Time Zone
  The Atlantic Standard Time Zone is a geographical region that keeps time by subtracting four hours from either Coordinated Universal Time or Greenwich Mean Time , resulting in UTC-4 or GMT-4...
  
  
• Attendance: 19,479 (108.2%)

Netherlands 2, Dominican Republic 1

• Game time: March 10, 2009 - 18:30 AST
  Atlantic Standard Time Zone
  The Atlantic Standard Time Zone is a geographical region that keeps time by subtracting four hours from either Coordinated Universal Time or Greenwich Mean Time , resulting in UTC-4 or GMT-4...
  
  
• Attendance: 11,814 (65.6%)

Two outs when winning run scored.

Puerto Rico 5, Netherlands 0

• Game time: March 11, 2009 - 17:30 AST
  Atlantic Standard Time Zone
  The Atlantic Standard Time Zone is a geographical region that keeps time by subtracting four hours from either Coordinated Universal Time or Greenwich Mean Time , resulting in UTC-4 or GMT-4...
  
  
• Attendance: 19,501 (108.3%)