Many of the best baseball players/ in the world/ are competing for their home countries/ this month/ in a new international baseball tournament. The games/ are being played/ in Japan, Puerto Rico and the United States.

It is called The World Baseball Classic. It will be held again/ in two thousand nine, then every four years. It is the first series/ of international baseball games/ to include professional major league players/ from the United States and Canada.

It is being played/ before the North American professional baseball season opens/ in April/ so the players/ can take part. Experts say/ the tournament/ is an attempt/ by North American professional baseball/ to increase the popularity/ of the sport/ around the world.

Players/ are competing for their home countries and territories. Sixteen countries and territories/ are taking part in the competition. They are Australia, Canada, China, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Italy, Japan, Mexico. Also the Netherlands, Panama, Puerto Rico, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States and Venezuela.

American sports writers say/ the games/ so far have been fun. The fans/ are excited/ to see competition/ between their favorite players/ and others/ who are not so famous. Some of the players/ are former professionals. Others/ have other jobs/ and just enjoy playing good baseball.

And some players/ from the same professional team/ are playing against each other. For example, New York Yankees player Derek Jeter/ is on the United States team. His teammate Bernie Williams/ is playing for Puerto Rico.

This is/ how the games/ are being played: The sixteen teams/ were divided into four groups/ of four teams/ each. Each team/ played the other three teams/ in the group. The top two teams/ from that competition/ then moved into the second series of games.

In these games, the top teams of each group/ compete against each other. Then the group champions/ play each other/ in the semifinals. The winners of those games/ will face each other/ to decide the World Baseball Classic champion.

The semifinals and championship games/ will take place Saturday and Monday/ in San Diego, California.