NBC World Series releases schedule for opening week
The National Baseball Congress revealed its first pool-play schedule Tuesday for the World Series that begins Friday at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.
Sixteen teams are divided into four pools in the first week, with the pool winners meeting in Aug. 4 matchups that send the two winners into the championship-week pools of 16 more teams.
Each team is guaranteed three games over a five-day span. Tournament director Kevin Jenks said that prevents a scenario in the old bracket format that could see a team lose twice and head home within a 24-hour period.
Barring weather postponements, no games will start before 2 p.m.
“It allows us to be more schedule friendly with our game times,” Jenks said recently.
If two teams are tied in their pool with the best record after three games, the head-to-head winner advances. If three teams are tied, total run differential in all three of a team’s games will be the first tie-breaker.
Stars game gets more tickets – The NBC added 500 standing room-only tickets to the Kansas Stars’ Aug. 6 opener. The Stars are a team of primarily former major-league players, including Roger Clemens and Tim Hudson. Those tickets will enable fans to stand in the right-field foul area or beyond the outfield fence.
Qualifying Pools
Pool A: Fort Worth Whitetails, Laurel (Miss.) Black Cats, Park City Rangers, Jayhawk League second team
Pool B: Austin Action Baseball, Kansas Cannons, San Bernardino (Calif.) Golden Bears, Jayhawk League first team
Pool C: Cape Girardeau (Mo.) Capahas, Colorado Cyclones, Wichita Sluggers, Mid-Kansas Regional champion
Pool D: Colorado Sox, Ozark (Mo.) Generals, Parker (Colo.) GameDay Saints, Valley Center Diamond Dawgs
Friday
Sluggers vs. Mid-Kansas champion, 4:30 p.m.
Jayhawk No. 2 vs. Laurel, 7
Colorado Cyclones vs. Cape Girardeau, 9:30
Park City vs. Fort Worth, midnight
Saturday
Austin vs. San Bernardino, 4:30 p.m.
Valley Center vs. Colorado Sox, 7
Kansas Cannons vs. Jayhawk No. 1, 9:30
Ozark vs. Parker, midnight
Sunday
Fort Worth vs. Laurel, 2 p.m.
Mid-Kansas champion vs. Colorado Cyclones, 4:30
Jayhawk No. 2 vs. Park City, 7
Cape Girardeau vs. Wichita Sluggers, 9:30
Monday
Austin vs. Kansas Cannons, 2 p.m.
Jayhawk No. 1 vs. San Bernardino, 4:30
Ozark vs. Valley Center, 7
Parker vs. Colorado Sox, 9:30
Tuesday
Colorado Cyclones vs. Wichita Sluggers, 2 p.m.
Laurel vs. Park City, 4:30
Cape Girardeau vs. Mid-Kansas champion, 7
Fort Worth vs. Jayhawk No. 2, 9:30
Aug. 3
Colorado Sox vs. Ozark, 2 p.m.
Valley Center vs. Parker, 4:30
Jayhawk No. 1 vs. Austin, 7
San Bernardino vs. Kansas Cannons, 9:30
Aug. 4
Pool A winner vs. Pool C winner, 7 or 9:30 p.m.
Pool B winner vs. Pool D winner, 7 or 9:30 p.m.
This story was originally published July 26, 2016 at 5:22 PM with the headline "NBC World Series releases schedule for opening week."