The 2026 World Baseball Classic is an international professional baseball tournament between 20 national baseball teams, and the sixth iteration of the World Baseball Classic (WBC). It began on March 5, 2026, and will run until March 17.[1] The pool-play rounds are being played in Miami, Florida; Houston, Texas; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Tokyo, Japan. The quarterfinals will be split between Miami and Houston; the semifinals and the final will be played in Miami.[2]
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.[5][2] 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. Brazil qualified for the first time since 2013. China failed to qualify for the first time in the World Baseball Classic, as it was eliminated after it lost all three of its games in the qualifiers.
The pools and schedule were announced on August 21, 2024. Each pool contained an unspecified winner of a qualifier.[9] The pool assignments of the teams that advanced from the qualifiers (pot 5) were announced 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 announcement of the pools.[11]
Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate positions in the WBSC World Rankings at the time of the announcement of the pools. The decimal number represents the average ranking in the designated pool.
The top two teams from each pool will advance to the single-elimination bracket. Houston will host two quarterfinal games, between the top 2 teams in pool A and the top 2 teams in pool B, while the other two quarterfinals, between the top 2 teams in pool C and the top 2 teams in pool D, and the rest of the tournament, will take place in Miami. If the United States makes the knockout stage, their game will be played on March 13, regardless of whether they finished first or second in pool B. If Japan makes the knockout stage, their game will be played on March 14, regardless of whether they finished first or second in pool C. The quarterfinal winners will then be re-seeded for the semifinals.[10][13]
On February 9, 2026, the WBSC announced that the tournament would serve as an Olympic qualifier for the Americas zone. The top two teams would join the hosting United States at the 2028 Olympic baseball tournament. The three other participants would be determined at qualification events taking place later in 2026–28.[3]
Netflix reached an agreement with the World Baseball Classic Inc. for the exclusive broadcasting rights in the Japanese market for all 2026 tournament games. The agreement coincided with a separate agreement with Major League Baseball, which operates the tournament, for the global rights to air special events such as Opening Night, MLB at Field of Dreams, and the Home Run Derby.[19]
This marks the first time Samurai Japan WBC games will not be available on terrestrial television in Japan. Although most non-Japanese games for the 2006–2023 tournaments were not available on terrestrial television, instead airing on the J-Sports paid CS premium channels. The agreement ended up being divisive among Japanese fans as it requires viewers to pay for a streaming service to watch the Japanese national team games.[32][33][34]
Proponents of the deal argued that the reaction by opponents was a form of galapagos syndrome because Netflix is a very known name globally, the market has changed to the point that young people overall tend to use streaming far more over television, and, for the first time, all non-Japan games would be on a cheaper platform.[35]
In the case of Japan's casual fans, 67% of respondents said they would not watch it if it was paid.[36]
Others also saw the deal as "positive news", due to what they called "Ohtani-fatigue" or "Ohtani harassment", caused by excessive coverage of Shohei Ohtani across Japanese terrestrial TV networks. Because of the deal, most of the terrestrial TV channels would have to change focus in their timeslots for other programs other than live WBC coverage.[37][38][39] A alternative to show live games was to do small specials, for exemple, Nippon TV, did 9 specials during the tournament thanks to a Netflix partnership where NTV helped to produce the game feed to Netflix.[40]
Samurai Japan games will also have free audio telecasts on the radio as Nippon Broadcasting System broadcasts all of the Japanese national team games, while Nippon Cultural Broadcasting will broadcast one quarterfinal, one semi, and the Finals, regardless of whether Japan plays either way. Radiko streaming service will cover entire radio broadcasts from both of the radio networks.[41]
Netflix has also confirmed it will allow public viewing of games and was working with Aeon and local authorities for such events, Netflix also announced a special promotion cutting the subscription price to 500 yen for March.[42][43][44][45]
Baseball's "Dream Team" and Tarik Skubal decision
The success of the 2017 and 2023 tournaments resulted in more MLB players interested in playing for their national teams. For the 2026 tournament, the United States had significantly better players, especially pitchers, than in previous years. Some have compared the 2026 United States team to the Avengers super-heroes or the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team, known as the "Dream Team".[46][47][48][49]
In February, it was announced that Tarik Skubal had decided to pitch only a single game before returning to Spring training with the Detroit Tigers. A few hours later, that game was announced as a group pool stage game against Great Britain. The decision was met with controversy, with fans calling Skubal a "quitter", and wondering if wasn't a better option pick another pitcher in his place.[50][51][52]
Skubal blamed the calendar, saying, "If this tournament were in the middle of season, like if it was (Olympic) hockey, I'd had no problem playing those games".[53][54]
Insurance rule debate and Puerto Rico roster issues
Could we participate with 10 horrible (players) for fear that there will be some kind of retaliation? Or does the dignity of Puerto Rico have some kind of value or price?
Jose Quiles, President of Puerto Rican Baseball Federation[55]
If players are on Major League Baseball 40-man rosters, they must have an insurance policy that compensates teams (in case a player is injured during the tournament)[h] or else have a written waiver allowing the player to play. The reasons to refuse a player are various, but often related to age, extensive injury history or recent injuries.[56][57] Most of WBC and MLB-related insurances are done by National Financial Partners, an Aon company.[56][58]
This rule has long been a point of contention for fans, teams, and organizers, because it often affects the performance of teams and makes teams heavily dependent on knowing the eligibility of a player beforehand. For example, in 2023, Clayton Kershaw was not allowed to play for Team USA due to an insurance refusal, but was allowed to play in 2026 because he is now technically classified as a free agent due to his retirement following the 2025 MLB season.[56][59][60]
The rule reached another boiling point in 2026 due to widespread insurance refusal among players, such as Jose Altuve and Miguel Rojas of Venezuela.[61]
The most notable case in 2026 was with Team Puerto Rico, which suffered from the refusal of several potential players, the most notable being Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa. The impact on the team prompted fans to boycott the tournament, and the federation, alongside the local government, considered withdrawing from the tournament completely due to the insurance issues with the players.[56][62][63] The situation quickly reached escalated to WBC and MLB leaderships, resulting in an emergency meeting with Puerto Rico on the afternoon of January 31. After the meeting, it was reported that WBCI, MLB, MLBPA were negotiating with insurers to change some decisions.[64][65] On February 1, another meeting was held between MLB and Puerto Rican federation. Reports indicated that the Puerto Rican federation and local businesspeople were working to secure backup insurance in case the original insurance re-refused the players, but the three players asked by Puerto Rico were unable to be selected due to the insurance rules.[66][55]
The president of WBSC Americas and Venezuelan Baseball Federation, Aracelis León, also voiced her displeasure at the insurance issues on February 1, asking WBCI and MLBPA to fix the situation.[67] Lindor would be ruled out for the Classic on February 11 due to having surgery on his hand for a hamate bone injury.[68]
Visa denials for Cuban staff
The Baseball Federation of Cuba announced on February 25, 2026, that American officials had denied visas to eight members of its traveling party, including the organization's president and general secretary. The visa denials were tied to the tightening of immigration policies, which currently require specialized licensing for Cuban team officials to enter the U.S. All Cuban players and coaches were cleared to enter the country due to visa exemptions for athletes and coaches participating in big sporting tournaments, Olympic qualifiers, and events supported by Major League Baseball.[69][70]
Debate about the lack of ABS (Automated Ball-Strike System)
On the opening game of tournament between Chinese Taipei and Australia, umpire Omar Peralta was heavily criticized by Taiwanese fans and media for missing key calls, leading Taiwanese media to describe his strike-zone an "amoeba". Chinese Taipei ended up losing 3–0 against Australia, in one of the most critical games of Pool C, which caused the controversy to deepen and raised calls for an early adoption of the ABS System.[73][74][75][76]
↑Staff, Sportsnet (January 29, 2026). "Blue Jays' Yariel Rodriguez to pitch for Cuba at World Baseball Classic". Sportsnet.ca. Archived from the original on February 1, 2026. Retrieved February 1, 2026. The World Baseball Classic is back for its sixth edition, running from March 5-17 in Miami, Houston, San Juan and Tokyo. Catch all the action on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
↑"CJ ENM, 2026 월드 베이스볼 클래식(WBC) 중계권 체결! 다각화된 스포츠 콘텐츠 전략 이어간다". CJ Newsroom (in Korean). December 17, 2025. Archived from the original on February 1, 2026. Retrieved December 31, 2025. '2026 WBC(World Baseball Classic)'는 디지털에선 TVING 독점으로 전경기가 생중계되며, TV는 지상파 3사와 계열 스포츠채널, 그리고 tvN SPORTS 채널에서 중계될 예정으로 세부적인 방송계획은 논의 중에 있다.[The 2026 World Baseball Classic will be exclusively live-streamed on TVING for all games. Broadcasts on TV will be available on the three major FTA (SBS, KBS and MBC), their affiliated sports channels, and tvN SPORTS.]
↑"WBC「ネットフリックス独占放映」が歓迎される"大谷疲れ"の正体"[Netflix's Exclusive Broadcast of the WBC is being welcomed due to “Ohtani Fatigue”.]. Weekly SPA! (in Japanese). Retrieved January 29, 2026– via Nifty News.
↑Rymer, Zachary D. "Team USA's 2026 WBC Roster Is Taking Shape—and It's Loaded". bleacherreport.com. Retrieved January 15, 2026. A dream team for the Americans started coming together when Aaron Judge and Paul Skenes signed on early last summer. The roster has only gotten more ridiculous, and the hits kept on coming when Tarik Skubal, Logan Webb, Mason Miller and David Bednar joined up on Thursday.
↑"2026 World Baseball Classic rules and rule modifications". Major League Baseball. Archived from the original on March 5, 2026. Retrieved March 5, 2026. All Tournament games shall be played according to the provisions of the 2025 Official Baseball Rules, as supplemented by these Rules:
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