MIAMI -- When MLB instituted its current postseason format in 2022, it did away with coin flips that determined home-field advantage in October, because a new, mathematical tiebreaker system was instituted.
But lovers of the coin toss will be pleased to know it can still happen in the World Baseball Classic. And it could determine which team bats last in Tuesday’s final at loanDepot park.
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If Team Italy defeats Venezuela in the semifinal tonight (8 ET on FS1), there is nothing to determine. Italy would be 6-0 in that scenario and will have earned the home-field edge over the United States in the final.
But if Venezuela is victorious, both Venezuela and the United States would be 5-1. A coin flip between the two teams would determine home field, and the U.S. would get to make the heads or tails call on the flip based on the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings from the start of the 2026 tournament.
Note that neither Venezuela nor Team USA won its pool. But even if one of the two teams had won its pool, it wouldn’t matter because their overall records in the tournament were identical. A coin flip would still have been necessary in that scenario.