{"id":506140,"date":"2026-03-05T23:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T23:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/506140\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T23:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T23:47:09","slug":"world-baseball-classic-2026-pool-d-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/506140\/","title":{"rendered":"World Baseball Classic 2026 Pool D Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 World Baseball Classic has technically already begun as you read this, as Australia beat Chinese Taipei in the opener, 3-0<\/a>. However, Pool C is the only member of the quartet actually underway, so we have time to look ahead at the final batch of clubs, Pool D.<\/p>\n

As Matt discussed yesterday<\/a>, Pool C has a case as the Group of Death in this year\u2019s WBC, but Pool D is at least the Group of Great Pain. Two baseball titans are expected to top the group, but all five teams feature real MLB talent. One shutdown relief performance or a ball that gets into the gap could flip the round-robin on its head. These games come in Miami, so three-and-a-half teams with majority Caribbean\/Latin representation makes sense, and while Tokyo may be slightly louder for Japan and Chinese Taipei, the crowds for the Dominican Republic and Venezuela will absolutely make themselves known in an electric atmosphere.<\/p>\n

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Dominican Republic<\/p>\n

The D.R. returns a lineup that is as good or better than any other nation in this tournament. I mean, just look at what they rolled out for a tune-up game against the poor Tigers:<\/p>\n

Now, the appearance of Austin Wells here is a little like that \u201cwhat\u2019s a polar bear doing in Texas\u201d meme, but the Yankee catcher qualifies<\/a> under the WBC\u2019s eligibility, and he\u2019s looked strong in spring training so far, making him a perfect eighth hitter for a lineup with this much talent. It\u2019s also worth noting that Geraldo Perdomo had a seven (!) win season last year, better than any other hitter on this team, and he\u2019s batting ninth. The great weakness of Team Canada<\/a>, my squad, is the pitching staff, so I\u2019m quite glad the Canucks don\u2019t have to face this group of hitters until at least the knockouts if at all.<\/p>\n

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The D.R.\u2019s pitching doesn\u2019t quite stand up to the power of the offense, but it\u2019s certainly not lacking in talent on its own. Cristopher S\u00e1nchez, Sandy Alcantara, Brayan Bello, and Luis Severino form the backbone of the rotation, with Yankee Camilo Doval, former farmhand Albert Abreu, and Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez expected to take big roles in the bullpen. This is a very, very good team.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a team that, for all the star power it boasts, has something to prove. The Dominican Republic didn\u2019t even make it out of the group stage in the 2023 tournament, going 2-2 with big losses to Venezuela and Puerto Rico. For a nation as baseball-mad as the D.R., this squad may be coming in with the most domestic pressure to perform, and new manager Albert Pujols \u2014 yes, him \u2014 will need to get a team full of big names on the same page to avenge that \u201923 disappointment and match \u201913 Robinson Can\u00f3-led D.R. squad as WBC champions.<\/p>\n

Venezuela<\/p>\n

The winners of that abovementioned group in 2023, Venezuela swept their way into the knockout stages before finally being eliminated by Trea Turner\u2019s grand slam in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

They come into this tournament ranked fifth in the world, and like the D.R., will boast a lineup that could put up serious numbers across a 162-game MLB season. Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr is The Man, even on a squad that boasts a widely-recognized leader like Salvador Perez, but Eugenio Su\u00e1rez, Jackson Chourio, old friend Gleyber Torres, and the Contreras brothers round out what should be a dynamite offense. New Red Sox starter Ranger Su\u00e1rez and veteran Eduardo Rodr\u00edguez highlight the pitching staff, which will unfortunately be missing the talents of the injured Pablo L\u00f3pez.<\/p>\n

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The marquee matchup of this pool will be Venezuela against the D.R., and whoever comes out on top will be in the driver\u2019s seat atop the group table. A longtime baseball powerhouse, the Venezuelans have only fared better than fifth once (a third-place finish in 2009), and this is the best team of the field that has never hoisted the WBC trophy.<\/p>\n

The Netherlands<\/p>\n

We get a little example of the vestiges of colonialism, with many of the Kingdom\u2019s best players coming from the Antilles, most prominently Aruba and Cura\u00e7ao. Newly-minted Hall of Famer Andruw Jones, who is one of those Caribbean-born representatives, played for the side in 2006 and 2013, before being named a bench coach for the next two tournaments, and finally getting the top job as manager for this run. Andruw\u2019s son Druw Jones, the former No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, will look to carry on Dad\u2019s legacy in his first taste of WBC action.<\/p>\n

The nation has had legitimate success at the WBC, with two memorable upset wins<\/a> over the D.R. in 2009 and more meaningfully, a pair of fourth-place finishes in \u201913 and \u201917. But they were unable to escape the group stage in \u201923, as Italy beat them in the Pool A finale behind Matt Harvey (yes, really) to send \u2019em home. Kenley Jansen and Xander Boegarts, two stalwarts of the WBC, will lead the team\u2019s pitching and lineup respectively, and Ceddanne Rafaela brings his excellent outfield defense to the center field slot. The infield is rounded out by Ozzie Albies and old friend Didi Gregorius, still kicking around at age-36. Jurickson Profar was supposed to be involved as well, but, uh, that isn\u2019t happening<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Israel<\/p>\n

Appearing in its third WBC and featuring a roster of primarily American players with Jewish heritage, Israel didn\u2019t fare as well in 2023 as it did in its first WBC in 2017, with an opening round sweep against Netherlands, South Korea, and Chinese Taipei. They only mustered a single win last time around, going 1-3 and failing to advance out of the group stages.<\/p>\n

Former Yankees Harrison Bader, Tommy Kahnle, and Matt Bowman are on Israel\u2019s roster for 2026, and Triple-A arm Harrison Cohen is also expected to be in the mix. Orioles starter Dean Kremer will lead the rotation. As he is in New York, Brad Ausmus was the bench coach during the last WBC under Ian Kinsler, but like Jones, he\u2019s now running the show. Best-forgotten 2013 Yank\/old nemesis Kevin Youkilis is the hitting coach, and long-ago Yankees catcher Jerry Narron is on the staff as well.<\/p>\n

Nicaragua<\/p>\n

Nicaragua is sort of the little brother of the quartet of Latin\/Caribbean teams here, with a winless debut tournament in 2023 but sweeping its way through the qualifying process a year ago. That qualification was capped with a stunning win over #2 ranked Chinese Taipei in the final. The team does feature some very real pitching talent, but the lineup is likely to be a little thin \u2014 although adding the Mets\u2019 Mark Vientos will help with some of the thump.<\/p>\n

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Maybe the feel-good story of the tournament will be Dusty Baker, who may have the best case to be considered the current Mr. Baseball, and who will take over managerial duties for the very young underdog squad. A win for Nicaragua would represent a huge step forward in baseball development for the small nation, and I\u2019d be lying if I said I\u2019m not rooting for it.<\/p>\n

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Find more Pinstripe Alley WBC pool previews here: Pool A<\/a>, Pool B<\/a>, Pool C<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 World Baseball Classic has technically already begun as you read this, as Australia beat Chinese Taipei…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[230186,42610,181598,4700,47417,33559,69861,178467,146353,44626,78574,13665,47126,10005,26057,69762,102582,7842,18709,56663,143487,36366,209683,75876,363,48262,18700,148588,32036,28624,9884,25928,17881,110085,99,1022,67650,115092,5531,18232,230185,72364,12404],"class_list":{"0":"post-506140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-albert-abreu","9":"tag-albert-pujols","10":"tag-andruw-jones","11":"tag-austin-wells","12":"tag-brayan-bello","13":"tag-ceddanne-rafaela","14":"tag-chinese-taipei","15":"tag-dean-kremer","16":"tag-didi-gregorius","17":"tag-dominican-republic","18":"tag-eduardo-rodriguez","19":"tag-eugenio-suarez","20":"tag-geraldo-perdomo","21":"tag-gleyber-torres","22":"tag-harrison-bader","23":"tag-ian-kinsler","24":"tag-jackson-chourio","25":"tag-juan-soto","26":"tag-jurickson-profar","27":"tag-kenley-jansen","28":"tag-luis-severino","29":"tag-mark-vientos","30":"tag-matt-bowman","31":"tag-matt-harvey","32":"tag-mlb","33":"tag-orioles","34":"tag-ozzie-albies","35":"tag-pablo-lopez","36":"tag-ranger-suarez","37":"tag-red-sox","38":"tag-ronald-acuna-jr","39":"tag-salvador-perez","40":"tag-sandy-alcantara","41":"tag-seranthony-dominguez","42":"tag-sports","43":"tag-texas","44":"tag-the-mets","45":"tag-tommy-kahnle","46":"tag-trea-turner","47":"tag-venezuela","48":"tag-wbc-champions","49":"tag-world-baseball-classic","50":"tag-yankees"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}