Pool play in the 2026 World Baseball Classic is officially over, and we\u2019re headed to the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
The opening round of the tournament was not without excitement — or surprises. Team USA, the favorite to win it all with a deep, star-studded lineup, almost didn\u2019t advance to the quarterfinals after a loss to Italy left its fate to be decided by the final matchup between Italy and Mexico. Italy won to go undefeated in pool play — allowing the U.S. to move on — while Mexico was eliminated.<\/p>\n
Canada also surprised in the early games, going 3-1 and beating Puerto Rico to win Pool A and advance to its first quarterfinals of the tournament since its inception in 2006.<\/p>\n
How do the final eight squads stack up against each other? And how have their rankings changed since the tournament began? As the event moves forward to its elimination rounds, ESPN MLB experts Jeff Passan, Alden Gonzalez, Jorge Castillo and David Schoenfield rerank the quarterfinal field and break down what we\u2019ve learned about each country\u2019s team so far.<\/p>\n
1. Dominican Republic<\/p>\n
Pre-WBC rank: 2 | Title odds: +230<\/p>\n
Next opponent: Korea (Fri. at 6:30 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n
What we\u2019ve learned about Team D.R. so far: That the players can mash, and they know how to celebrate. The Dominican team has accumulated a tournament-high 13 home runs in their four games, with five of their players — Junior Caminero, Oneil Cruz, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr. — all hitting a couple. Upon impact, they all flip their bats, yell, gesture toward each other, salute the fans, take their sweet time rounding the bases, then come into a dugout filled with props to continue their celebration. D.R. manager Albert Pujols said this is the best energy he has been around in all his years in the big leagues, and it\u2019s easy to see why. His team is stuffed with superstars, but the scariest part? They\u2019re playing loose. — Gonzalez<\/p>\n
2. United States<\/p>\n
Pre-WBC rank: 1 | Title odds: +140<\/p>\n
Next opponent: Canada (Fri. at 8 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n
What we\u2019ve learned about Team USA so far: Baseball is an unrelenting game. Talent does not always equate to winning, and the tumult Team USA faced after losing to Italy scared the team straight. The Americans know they can hit as well as any team left in the WBC. With Logan Webb, Paul Skenes and Nolan McLean lined up on the mound, they\u2019ve got the best trio of starters. Now is the time for manager Mark DeRosa to dispense with trying to get everyone on the roster in the game and focus on aggressively deploying his treasure trove of resources. Canny managing can win a tournament, and to beat Canada (and potentially the D.R. in the semifinals and Japan in the finals), the United States is going to need the best of DeRosa as much as its players. — Passan<\/p>\n
3. Japan<\/p>\n
Pre-WBC rank: 3 | Title odds: +450<\/p>\n
Next opponent: Venezuela (Sat. at 9 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n
What we\u2019ve learned about Team Japan so far: Japan went 4-0 in pool play, but it wasn\u2019t easy — other than a 13-0 blowout of Chinese Taipei. Japan rallied late to beat Korea 8-6, trailed Australia through six innings, and was held scoreless by Czechia\u2019s amateur pitchers until the eighth inning. Shohei Ohtani has done his part, going 5-for-9 with two home runs in three games, but remember: He\u2019s not pitching. With the competition now getting much tougher, the offense can\u2019t count on rallying against non-MLB pitchers. We\u2019ll see how the rotation lines up, but Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Yusei Kikuchi are lined up to pitch the quarters and semifinals, which could leave 23-year-old Hiroto Takahashi to start a potential championship game. — Schoenfield<\/p>\n
4. Venezuela<\/p>\n
Pre-WBC rank: 4 | Title odds: +900<\/p>\n
Next opponent: Japan (Sat. at 9 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n
What we\u2019ve learned about Team Venezuela so far: This team knows how to fight. It was evident late in Wednesday\u2019s pool-play game against the Dominican Republic, the first time Venezuela had really been tested in this tournament, when it trailed by four runs heading into the ninth inning and managed to bring the winning run to bat. Venezuela\u2019s lineup isn\u2019t as good as that of the D.R. or the U.S., but it\u2019s close, with Ronald Acuna Jr., Jackson Chourio, Gleyber Torres and Eugenio Suarez leading the way. The question is whether Venezuela can pitch enough. Ranger Suarez, who will take the ball opposite Yamamoto in the quarterfinals, needs to have a big game. And a bullpen headlined by Daniel Palencia and Eduard Bazardo needs to come through behind him. — Gonzalez<\/p>\n
5. Italy<\/p>\n
Pre-WBC rank: 9 | Title odds: 18-1<\/p>\n
Next opponent: Puerto Rico (Sat. at 3 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n
What we\u2019ve learned about Team Italy so far: The Italians arrived ahead of schedule, like a big league team with a great farm system that puts everything together earlier than anticipated. The lineup is real. Even with Kyle Teel on the shelf after tweaking his hamstring, Italy has big leaguers with experience (Vinnie Pasquantino, Jon Berti), youngsters with ceiling (Jac Caglianone, Jakob Marsee) and prospects with talent (Andrew Fischer, Dante Nori, Sam Antonacci). Even if the pitching doesn\u2019t match the bats, Italy has limited homers and walks while punching hitters out. Pool-play upsets are part of WBC history. A team like Italy making the final four would be history. — Passan<\/p>\n
6. Puerto Rico<\/p>\n
Pre-WBC rank: 6 | Title odds: 16-1<\/p>\n
Next opponent: Italy (Sat. at 3 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n
What we\u2019ve learned about Team P.R. so far: The Puerto Ricans will go as far as their pitching staff takes them. Puerto Rico began pool play at home with a shutout win over Colombia and allowed just seven runs over the four games. The offense, however, scored just 15 runs. Five were manufactured in the fifth inning of the opener against the Colombians. Three were produced on soon-to-be-retired 39-year-old Martin Maldonado\u2019s bases-clearing double against Cuba. That\u2019s more than half of their scoring output in just two innings. Not having Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa, Javier Baez and Enrique Hernandez on the team has had the expected effect on the lineup. Heliot Ramos, the team\u2019s best hitter on paper, went 1-for-13 in San Juan. Puerto Rico\u2019s firepower is limited if he doesn\u2019t turn it around. Run prevention is paramount. — Castillo<\/p>\n
7. Canada<\/p>\n
Pre-WBC rank: 8 | Title odds: 30-1<\/p>\n
Next opponent: United States (Fri. at 8 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n
What we\u2019ve learned about Team Canada so far: Canada has a very real lineup. San Juan\u2019s Hiram Bithorn Stadium played big in pool play by benefiting pitchers on all teams, but the Canadians posted the two largest scoring outputs and finished with a pool-high 21 runs as they advanced to the WBC quarterfinals for the first time in their history. Left fielder and top-100 prospect Owen Caissie (1.458 OPS) and veteran utilityman Abraham Toro (1.529 OPS) carried a lineup that also features Josh Naylor and Tyler O\u2019Neill in the middle. Canada starts big leaguers at nearly every position. Moving to hitter-friendly Daikin Park should help this formidable group. — Castillo<\/p>\n
8. Korea<\/p>\n
Pre-WBC rank: 7 | Title odds: 50-1<\/p>\n
Next opponent: Dominican Republic (Fri. at 6:30 p.m. ET)<\/p>\n
What we\u2019ve learned about Team Korea so far: Korea hadn\u2019t advanced out of pool play in the previous three tournaments, so reaching the quarterfinals — even if just barely, doing so via a tiebreaker over Australia and Chinese Taipei after all three finished pool play 2-2 — removes a lot of pressure for a team that had success in the first two WBCs. First baseman Bo Gyeong Moon has been the hitting star, batting .538 with two home runs and 11 RBIs, but Korea will need more production from its MLB players since its pitching depth is lacking. Shay Whitcomb has two home runs, but Hyeseong Kim (.100), Jahmai Jones (.222) and Jung Hoo Lee (.278) haven\u2019t done much. — Schoenfield<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pool play in the 2026 World Baseball Classic is officially over, and we\u2019re headed to the quarterfinals. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-533736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}