Facts, stats from homer-happy final day of Classic pool play

What a day of baseball. The final day of pool play in the 2026 World Baseball Classic began with plenty of intrigue and did not disappoint, with excitement abound.

At the end of the day, we have Canada advancing past pool play for the first time in the WBC, and Italy and the United States clinched spots as well, joining Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Japan and Korea, which had already secured their places.

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Along the way there were a bunch of home runs and even a WBC first. Let’s dig in.

• There were nine home runs across the three games, starting with one off the bat of Canada’s Abraham Toro. That brings us to 92 home runs so far in this WBC. That’s the most in a single tournament -- and pool play just ended. The previous most was 85 homers, in both 2023 and 2009.

• The most home runs belonged to Italy’s Vinnie Pasquantino, who became the first player in World Baseball Classic history with three home runs in a game. There had been 25 two-homer games in the tournament’s history entering Wednesday, but none of those had included a third home run. Until Pasquantino finally became the first -- and authored what must be the most caffeinated three-homer game in baseball history, with three celebratory espresso shots.

• There have now been eight individual multi-homer games this WBC. That’s the most in a single WBC. The prior record was six in 2009. Two have been by Team Italy, with Pasquantino and Dante Nori, tied for the most by a team in a single tournament, with 2009 Mexico and 2006 Dominican Republic.

• Italy hit four home runs, with Pasquantino and one from Jon Berti. The Dominican Republic hit four as well -- with Fernando Tatis Jr., Ketel Marte, Juan Soto and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. becoming the first top four in a lineup to all go yard in the same WBC game. There have now been six games this WBC where a team hit at least four home runs. That’s the most in a single tournament, surpassing the four in 2009. The Dominican Republic is the first team to do it twice in a single WBC.

• Soto now has four career World Baseball Classic homers, tying Nelson Cruz and Adrian Beltré for most in Team Dominican Republic history. Both were around the cage when Soto took batting practice before the game.

• With all those homers Wednesday, these teams are now quite close to setting the single-tournament record. The Dominican Republic has 13 home runs, tied with 2009 Venezuela for the second most in a WBC, behind only 14 from Mexico in 2009. Italy is just one home run behind, with 12, tied with the United States in both 2023 and 2009.