which would cost them in the tiebreaker. Due to the Dominican Republic losing to Puerto Rico, who would lose to Venezuela, these results would lead to a head-to-head tiebreaker. Since the Dominican Republic and Cuba both finished with two wins and one loss while the other countries did not, they would both advance to the semi-finals. However, since Cuba lost to the Dominican Republic, the Cubans would finish in second place as well in Pool 2. Semifinals The United States was granted the right to host the 2006 World Baseball Classic semifinals and finals, although the Americans did not advance to this level. The stadium that would hold the semifinals and finals is Petco Park in San Diego, home to the San Diego Padres. As a rule in the World Baseball Classic, the team with the higher winning percentage of games in the tournament were to be the home team. If both teams hold a similar winning percentage, a coin flip would occur to determine the home and away team. By this rule, this favored South Korea the most as they had an undefeated record up to this point. The first semifinal was played on March 18, 2006 at 12:00 p.m. PT that featured the 2nd-seed Dominican Republic and 3rd-seed Cuba. The match was met with frequent hitting from both teams that relied on a power hitting playstyle. Both countries scored a combined total of 20 hits. However, in terms of runs the match was scored in specific innings from both sides, due to the pitching battle and clutch defenses. The Dominican Republic would score one run in the sixth inning, and Cuba would respond with three runs in the seventh inning immediately. This would become the final score, and Cuba would advance to the championship. The second semifinal was played on March 18, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. PT that consisted of undefeated 1st-seed South Korea and 4th-seed Japan. The match would be instrumental in their sports rivalry, as the winner of this match would reach the final and outplace the loser. Japan would avenge South Korea by overwhelming Korean batting in seven scoreless innings led by pitcher Koji Uehara. However, Japan would offensively struggle up to the 7th inning until Kosuke Fukudome rapidly paced the offense to score five runs in the seventh through his home run. Japan would end up scoring another run in the eighth, and securing