Fresh off its comeback victory over the U.S. on Saturday, the Dominican Republic looks to finish pool play undefeated in its Pool C finale against Colombia at 12:30 p.m. ET on Sunday at Marlins Park.
If the Dominican Republic (2-0) wins, the 2013 Classic champs will advance to the second round. But if Columbia (1-1) upsets the Dominicans, it gets a little tricky.
"Tomorrow's game is extremely important for us," D.R. manager Tony Pena said Saturday.
A Colombia win and U.S. win over Canada (both 1-1) at 7 p.m. would set up a three-way tie with the D.R., Colombia and U.S. all being 2-1 in pool play. If the Dominicans win and Canada beats the U.S., then the tiebreaker rules would determine which of the three 1-2 teams (U.S., Colombia, Canada) advances to the second round with the undefeated Dominicans.
Here are the tiebreaker rules:
• The first tiebreaker considers each team's runs allowed per inning of defense played (including partial innings), only in games against the other two teams that are tied.
• If necessary, the second tiebreaker is the same as the first, except only earned runs are counted.
• If there is still a tie, the relevant teams then would be ranked in order of highest batting average -- again considering only contests played against each other.
• Finally, the last resort would be a drawing of lots, conducted by World Baseball Classic, Inc.
But, keep in mind: If the D.R. and U.S. both win on Sunday, they would advance at 3-0 and 2-1, respectively.
Colombia will start right-hander Nabil Crismatt on Sunday, though manager Luis Urueta said Saturday the young righty would be on a short leash. The Dominican Republic tabbed Wily Peralta of the Brewers.