HOUSTON – An All-Star lineup of Major League sluggers and a deep, sturdy pitching rotation gave Team USA sky-high expectations entering the World Baseball Classic. They delivered in their first game, though the process wasn’t as easy as some might have expected. Team USA beat Team Brazil, 15-5, in a

The first full day with all four World Baseball Classic pools in action provided plenty of excitement and fodder. Here’s a look at nine stats and facts from some wild games. • Let’s start where we so often do when discussing the extraordinary: with Shohei Ohtani. He hit a grand

TOKYO -- One of international baseball’s greatest rivalries -- it stretches back to 1954 -- renews on Saturday. Korea enters this matchup after defeating Czechia, 11-4, while Japan routed Chinese Taipei, 13-0. Korea will hope its powerful lineup, led by Jung Hoo Lee and fellow big leaguers Jahmai Jones and

MIAMI – As they prepared for their first game in this year’s World Baseball Classic, Juan Soto promised that the Dominican Republic team was going to have fun. “And we’re going to be loud,” Fernando Tatis Jr. added. Tatis wasn’t necessarily talking about the sound of Junior Caminero’s bat, but

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – You could hear the crowd in the parking lot of Hiram Bithorn Stadium. You could see the traffic backed up on the highway from the second deck.

HOUSTON -- A quick glance at Team Brazil’s roster provides pretty standard information about the players -- bats/throws, height/weight, date of birth, hometown and school attended, where applicable. With no disrespect to Joseph Contreras, his line reads a little bit like … a misprint.

There’s another outfielder named Ramirez wearing No. 24 and crushing huge home runs, and he has arrived on baseball’s biggest stage. Enter Angels prospect Lucas Ramirez, the son of 12-time All-Star outfielder Manny Ramirez, who made his mark from the start of Team Brazil’s World Baseball Classic opener against Team

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- By now, it’s apparent -- both inside and outside baseball circles -- that Edwin Díaz entering games to his Timmy Trumpet theme song is electric.

Twins outfielder Byron Buxton exited Team USA's World Baseball Classic opener after being hit by a pitch in the fifth inning, but avoided serious injury. "He got hit on the forearm. X-rays are fine. Just caught him in the meat of his forearm," USA manager Mark DeRosa said after Friday's

MIAMI -- Four batters into Cristopher Sánchez’s World Baseball Classic debut, it looked like he might not make it out of the first inning. By the time he walked off the mound, the left-hander had made Classic history. Sánchez became the first pitcher in the 20-year history of the tournament

With Opening Day approaching and rosters largely set, teams know what they're working with for 2026.

Colombia vs Canada. The Gateway to South America vs The Great White North. One might say hockey is Canada’s No. 1 sport (although pitcher Tyler O’Neil would beg to differ). One might say soccer is Colombia’s (although the first Latino player to ever play in MLB was from the nation).

MIAMI – After watching his team give up nine runs over the final three innings of a lopsided loss against the Dominican Republic on Friday night, Nicaragua manager Dusty Baker was excited to get back to loanDepot park for the next game.

HOUSTON -- Italy kicks off its 2026 World Baseball Classic run in a pool with two giants of the sport -- the United States and Mexico. But this Team Italy roster might be the best one yet, and the country has high hopes coming off a quarterfinal appearance in 2023.

After losing a tight one, 3-1, in Game 1 against Cuba, the Panamanians are looking to bounce back. In these short, balanced group stages, they don’t have a ton of time to get those wins.

MIAMI -- While the other four teams in Pool D took the field for their World Baseball Classic openers on Friday, Israel held an off-site workout in preparation for their opener Saturday night. Venezuela, on the other hand, played early Friday afternoon, using a four-run fifth inning to cruise to

HOUSTON -- It's time to see what Team USA's two-headed Cy Young monster can do on the World Baseball Classic stage. Up first: Tarik Skubal. The back-to-back reigning American League Cy Young Award winner will take the ball for Saturday night's showdown against Great Britain at Daikin Park, looking to

Freddy Peralta hasn't yet thrown a regular-season pitch for the Mets after arriving via trade from the Brewers this past January, but that doesn't mean he isn't ready to be with the club for a long time.

HOUSTON -- Team Mexico would like to shake off any memories of what happened the last time it played in the World Baseball Classic, if not erase them completely. On Friday, Mexico took one very big necessary first step toward creating a new narrative, topping Great Britain, 8-2, in game

Daikin Park isn't quite Buckingham Palace, although it shared some similarities on Friday. We can (sort of) explain: Pool B of the World Baseball Classic kicked off on Friday afternoon with Great Britain taking on Mexico in Houston, and over the course of the game -- which Mexico won, 8-2

MIAMI – Three years ago, Venezuela went undefeated in pool play, opening the World Baseball Classic with four straight victories before falling to the United States in the quarterfinals. The 2026 Classic started out in similar fashion for Venezuela, as a four-run fifth inning propelled them to a 6-2 win

MIAMI – Friday’s opener was a family affair for the Netherlands. Andruw Jones, who will enter the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer, is managing the team for the first time after playing for the Netherlands in 2006 and 2013. And while he had familiarity with most of his players

TOKYO -- Czechia catcher Martin Červenka is known as “Barry” by his teammates, a nickname he picked up as a child because of his love for watching Barry Bonds. While Bonds owns the Major League home run record with 762, before the start of Czechia’s must-win contest against Chinese Taipei