No moment in baseball history had ever felt quite as scripted as Shohei Ohtani striking out Mike Trout to win the 2023 World Baseball Classic. The two biggest stars in the sport matched up with two outs in the ninth inning of a one-run game, and they happened to be major-league teammates. Perfection, even though it was a little too unrealistic for Hollywood.<\/p>\n
A moment that perfect won\u2019t happen again, but the fact that we\u2019re still talking about the WBC from three years ago is proof that something is going right. The tournament was introduced in 2006 and championed by then-commissioner Bud Selig as a way to grow the game internationally. You don\u2019t \u201chave to hand it to him,\u201d but \u2026 well, dang it, you kind of have to hand it to him.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what you need to know about the 2026 tournament.<\/p>\n
You can watch the World Baseball Classic on Fubo (Stream Free Now!<\/a>).<\/p>\n What are the dates of the 2026 World Baseball Classic?<\/p>\n The games begin on Wednesday, March 4, with Australia hosting Chinese Taipei in the Tokyo Dome. More games follow on March 5, with two more games at the Tokyo Dome: Czechia at Korea, and Australia at Czechia.<\/p>\n The full slate of first-round action begins the following day, with eight games scheduled between Tokyo, Houston, Miami, and San Juan.<\/p>\n Once the first round is decided, eight teams will advance to the quarterfinals on March 13 and 14 and will be split between loanDepot Park in Miami and Daikin Park in Houston.<\/p>\n From there, four teams will move to the semifinals in Miami, held on March 15 and March 16 at loanDepot Park.<\/p>\n The final will be on March 17 at 8:00 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n Exact first-pitch times vary by host city and broadcast window.<\/p>\n Which teams are playing?<\/p>\n The 2026 World Baseball Classic again features 20 teams, divided into four pools of five. The field includes automatic qualifiers from the 2023 event, along with teams that advanced through the 2025 WBC Qualifiers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pool A (San Juan)<\/a><\/p>\n Canada Pool B (Houston)<\/a><\/p>\n Brazil Pool C (Tokyo)<\/a><\/p>\n Australia Pool D (Miami)<\/a><\/p>\n Dominican Republic Where are the games taking place?<\/p>\n The 2026 tournament will use four stadiums for group play:<\/p>\n Hiram Bithorn Stadium, San Juan, Puerto Rico (Pool A); Daikin Park, Houston (Pool B); Tokyo Dome (Pool C); loanDepot park, Miami (Pool D)<\/p>\n Wait, do they really stylize \u201cloanDepot park\u201d with a lowercase \u201cp\u201d in \u201cpark\u201d?<\/p>\n Yes. And somehow it was the beautiful, innocent sculpture<\/a> that was the problem with the place.<\/p>\n How can I watch?<\/p>\n In the United States, games are broadcast across FOX networks and related apps. The first-round games will be aired on FS1, FS2, Tubi, the FOX Sports app and FOX.<\/p>\n The quarterfinals will air on FS1, FS2 and FOX. The semifinals will be on FS1, and the championship game will be on FOX.<\/p>\n Internationally, local broadcast partners carry games in participating countries, including Japanese-language games on Netflix. You can find the full broadcast schedule here<\/a>.<\/p>\n What is the tournament format?<\/p>\n The first round (pool play) features four groups of five teams, each team plays the others once. The best winning percentages advance, with head-to-head results deciding any tiebreakers. There are more tiebreakers after that, all the way down to \u201cthe drawing of lots,<\/a>\u201d but it probably won\u2019t come to that. Probably.<\/p>\n After that, it\u2019s single-elimination time. And that\u2019s when the baseball gets goofy in the best possible way.<\/p>\n Quarterfinals: The top two teams from each pool (by winning percentage, with tiebreakers if necessary) advance to single-elimination quarterfinals.<\/p>\n Semifinals and Final: Single elimination.<\/p>\n It\u2019s win-or-go-home from the quarterfinals on.<\/p>\n Who\u2019s playing? Any names I\u2019ll recognize?<\/p>\n ONLY THE BIGGEST STARS IN THE SPORT.<\/p>\n Sorry, sorry. But you should be excited. Shohei Ohtani has a claim to being the best baseball player who has ever lived, and he\u2019s playing for Samurai Japan again, although he\u2019ll be restricted to hitting only. The U.S. roster features the Cy Young winners from both leagues, and that\u2019s just the start of an all-time rotation. It\u2019s also possible that the Dominican Republic team can have anywhere between two and eight Hall of Famers in the lineup, depending on how you count. These teams are loaded.<\/p>\n Every team has players to watch, though. Cuba will have former White Sox shortstop Alexei Ram\u00edrez at first base, even though he\u2019s 44 and hasn\u2019t played in the majors in a decade. Colombian second baseman Michael Arroyo is one of the Mariners\u2019 best prospects. Team Brazil will feature Joseph Contreras, the son of former big leaguer and Cuban legend Jos\u00e9 Contreras. There\u2019s a lot happening here.<\/p>\n What are the rules?<\/p>\n Ah. Well, for the first time, there will be a pitch clock<\/a>, so that should be a major difference. There will not be an Automatic Ball-Strike System in place, however.<\/p>\n There will be pitch limits for the pitchers, and they\u2019re not suggestions. It\u2019s a hard cap. Pitchers can throw no more than 65 pitches in the first round, 80 pitches in the quarterfinals and semifinals and 95 pitches in the final. Any pitcher who throws more than 50 pitches will need a minimum of four days\u2019 rest, and more than 30 pitches will require an automatic day of rest in the following game. Pitchers who make back-to-back appearances out of the bullpen will also get a guaranteed day off the next game.<\/p>\n There are also mercy rules for the first two rounds, with a game ending if a team is leading by 10 runs or more after the seventh inning, or 15 runs or more after the fifth.<\/p>\n Otherwise, the official rules for on-field play in international tournaments hew closely to Major League Baseball\u2019s official rules, and you can find those here<\/a>.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the deal with WBC insurance?<\/p>\n
Colombia
Cuba
Panama
Puerto Rico<\/p>\n
Great Britain
Italy
Mexico
United States<\/p>\n
Chinese Taipei
Czechia
Japan
Korea<\/p>\n
Israel
Netherlands
Nicaragua
Venezuela<\/p>\n