2026 World Baseball Classic

The 2026 World Baseball Classic is an international professional baseball tournament between 20 national baseball teams, planned to be the sixth iteration of the World Baseball Classic (WBC), and to be played from March 5 to 17, 2026.^[1] Its pool-play rounds will be played in Miami, Florida; Houston, Texas; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Tokyo, Japan. The quarterfinals will be split between Miami and Houston, for both semi-finals and final will be played in Miami.^[2]

Japan is the defending champion, having defeated the United States in the 2023 WBC championship game.^[3]

16 teams qualified for the 2026 WBC tournament by virtue of having placed in the top four of their respective pools in the 2023 World Baseball Classic tournament.

Four additional teams qualified through the 2026 WBC qualifying tournament.^[4][5] The qualifying tournament included 8 teams, downsized from the 12 teams that had competed in the 2023 WBC qualifiers. The first pool took place in Taipei, and included Chinese Taipei, Spain, Nicaragua, and South Africa; the second pool took place in Tucson, Arizona, and included Colombia, China, Brazil, and Germany.^[6] The Taipei pool ran from February 21–25, 2025, and the Tucson pool ran from March 2–6, 2025.^[7]

Colombia, Nicaragua, Brazil, and Chinese Taipei all qualified for the 2026 WBC. China failed to qualify for the first time in a major baseball tournament, as it was eliminated after it lost all three of its games in the qualifiers.

¹ Ranking as of November 11, 2025

The pools and schedule were announced on August 21, 2024.^[9] The teams that advanced from the qualifiers were added on April 9, 2025.^[10] The pool assignments prioritized the hosts (Japan, Puerto Rico, and the United States). The remaining pool assignments were made based on WBSC World Rankings, competitive balance, and commercial and geographic interest.

Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate positions in the WBSC World Rankings at the time of the draw.^[11]

Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate positions in the WBSC World Rankings at the time of the draw. The decimal number represents the average ranking in the designated pool.

The main tournament will be held in four stadiums.^[12]

To prepare for the tournament, teams will play friendly preparation games between November 2025 and March 2026.

South Korea played Czechia in two games on November 7–8 at a sold out Seoul Sky Dome, Korea won both.^[13][14] South Korea and Japan played two games later in November at the Tokyo Dome.^[15] Japan won the first game and both korea and Japan tied the second game.^[16] No MLB players were called to play in those games, as those games were used to test potential non-MLB players that would be part of the final roster decision in December and early-February.^[17]

After the final roster decisions, teams will make extra friendly games, Japan will make games in Miyazaki and at Nagoya Dome with Fukuoka Softbank Hawks and Chunichi Dragons respectively, meanwhile, Chinese Taipei will play against The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and SoftBank Hawks in a send-off series at Taipei Dome. ^[18][19]

In March, before the tournament, every team will play two last friendly games each, 14 of 15 teams of pools A, B and D against MLB teams at Spring Training sites in Florida and Arizona on March 3–4.^[20] The Dominican Republic, the lone team to not play in Arizona or Florida, will play the Detroit Tigers twice across the same two dates at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo.^[21] For pool C, Japan and Korea will play against the Orix Buffaloes and Hanshin Tigers main squads at the Osaka Dome. Australia, Chinese Taipei and Czechia will play against the NPB Farm squads of the Buffaloes, Yomiuri Giants and the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in Miyazaki.^[22]

Scheduled locations and dates are as follows:^[10]

The top two teams from each pool will advance to the single elimination bracket. Houston will host two quarterfinal games, while the other two quarterfinals and the rest of the tournament will take place in Miami.^[10]

If the United States advances, they will play their quarterfinal game on March 13, while if Japan advances, they will play on March 14, both regardless of pool stage position.^[10]

• Official website