[MrNFL_FanIQ]

The first-ever Baseball Grand Championship was hosted in Caracas, Venezuela in 2010. It would be the only version of the event using a divisional format with a Round Robin against division foes, following by the two division winners playing in a best-of-seven.

In Division 1 was San Diego (MLB), Haiti (CABA), Yongin (EAB), Santa Cruz (BSA), Zurich (EBF), Omsk (EPB), Melbourne (OBA), Davao (APB), Kolkata (SAB), and Addis Ababa (AAB). In Division 2 was Philadelphia (MLB), Ecatepec (CABA), Kyoto (EAB), Recife (BSA), Dublin (EBF), Chendgu (CLB), Hanoi (SAB), Amman (ALB), Cotonou (WAB), and Rawalpindi (ABF). Hanoi was the “wild card” addition as a runner-up with a 121-41 record from a league without two auto-bids.



In Division 1, the World Series champion San Diego was the top team at 8-1. AAB champ Addis Ababa, Caribbean champ Haiti, and EBF runner-up Zurich each tied for second at 6-3. Oceania champ Melbourne was fifth in the division at 5-4. Division 2 had MLB’s Philadelphia first at 8-1, while WAB champ Cotonou and ABF champ Rawalpindi were next at 6-3. The only other team above .500 was European champ Dublin at 5-4.

With that, the best-of-seven was a rematch of the World Series. San Diego had beaten Philadelphia 4-1 for the MLB title, but the Phillies got revenge. Philadelphia took the rematch 4-1 to be crowned the 2010 and first-ever Grand Champion.

Winning MVP honors was 29-year old right fielder Mohamed Osman, who had won NACS MVP a few weeks earlier for Philadelphia. The Sudanese lefty in 14 tournament games had 13 hits, 16 runs, 3 doubles, 9 home runs, 18 RBI, and 43 total bases.

Seven-time Pitcher of the Year Juliao Costa was also the BGC’s Best Pitcher. The 34-year old Brazilian went 3-0 in three starts with 25 innings, a 0.72 ERA, 30 strikeouts, 8 hits allowed, 2 walks, 2 complete games, and 1 shutout.



Other notes: The first Grand Championship was a critical success, although there were those upset to see a World Series best-of-seven rematch. Even Philadelphia and San Diego weren’t thrilled to have to do it again, although the Phillies were happy to get revenge. That’s why the best-of-seven and divisional format was scrapped after 2010. The inaugural result did show that MLB was still king of the pro baseball world, although other world leagues certainly had a strong showing.

In 2011, the Grand Championship was switched to a round robin with all 20 teams playing each other team once. This gave each team more games and allowed for a larger sample size and forced more of a marathon strategy. There wouldn’t be any playoffs afterward as whichever team had the best record would earn the Grand Champion crown.