MIAMI -- "When we went to the World Series," Ronald Acuña Jr. said earlier this week, "I wasn't there. Thank God I'm living this great moment in my career." When the Atlanta Braves won the World Series in 2021, Acuña was reduced to spectator. A torn ACL had relegated the

MIAMI – Team Italy has heard the jabs. They understand that people look at them not as an Italian ballclub, but a group of guys from America masquerading as an Italian team. But this team doesn’t care. “There's a lot of stereotypical Italians on this team,” captain Vinnie Pasquantino joked.

Before each game in the World Baseball Classic, Team Venezuela gathers in a circle in its dugout. As pitcher Eduard Bazardo pounds upon a special drum – known as el tambor – the players take turns jumping into and out of the circle to show off their moves. This isn’t

MIAMI -- It was a team seemingly on course with destiny: 13 years after its lone World Baseball Classic title, the Dominican Republic had stormed through its first five games, battering any opponent that stood in its way. It was leading the tournament in home runs, runs scored and pitching

MIAMI – In the bottom of the fourth inning, Dominican Republic center fielder Julio Rodríguez was drilled in the hand by a Paul Skenes fastball. A half-inning later and any lingering pain had surely disappeared. With one out in the top of the fifth inning of the World Baseball Classic

MIAMI -- The Dominican Republic has had a lot of use for its home run jacket. The team, which has become renowned for its bat flips, celebrations and teamwide parties at home plate, has worn out a path around the bases during this year’s World Baseball Classic.

MIAMI -- When Venezuela finished its 8-5 victory against the defending champions Japan on Saturday night, manager Omar López wasn’t thinking about himself. Nor was he thinking about his team – not Wilyer Abreu, whose three-run home run provided the crucial blow, nor Enmanuel De Jesus, the unheralded pitcher on

Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. Ronald Acuña Jr: This is the platonic ideal of the World Baseball Classic. With a nearly packed crowd at Miami’s loanDepot park, Saturday's quarterfinal matchup -- an 8-5 Venezuela win over Japan -- started with the reigning World Series MVP Award winner taking on the 2023 NL

The Dominican Republic has thoroughly dominated the World Baseball Classic, turning each contest into less of a game than a celebration of Dominican baseball and spirit. The team has smashed a tournament-best 14 home runs, hitters launching their bats with a joyous expulsion as the rest of the team spills

MIAMI — The Dominican Republic has battered its opponents this World Baseball Classic, launching home runs with abandon, with wild celebrations at home plate. But that doesn’t mean they can’t score in other ways. In Friday night's 10-0 quarterfinal victory against Korea, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drew a second-inning walk against

MIAMI -- Dane Dunning has always straddled two cultures. His mother was from Korea, where she met his father, an American who was stationed there while serving in the military. It’s why he has a tattoo on his arm that reads “same blood” in Hangul, the Korean alphabet. He even

TOKYO -- Few people on this planet can hit the ball as hard or as far as Munetaka Murakami. The Samurai Japan slugger, who inked a two-year, $34 million deal with the White Sox earlier this offseason, proved that in Tuesday’s 9-0 victory over Czechia when he launched a massive

TOKYO -- One pitch changed Ondřej Satoria’s life -- and he thought it was a mistake. Facing Shohei Ohtani in the Tokyo Dome three years ago, Satoria -- an electrical controller at ČEZ Group in Ostrava, a city on the border of Poland – threw his changeup, which he calls

TOKYO -- Korea began its week celebrating home runs by spreading their arms wide as if they were on an airplane, carrying an inflatable "M" to stand for Miami. On Monday night, needing a win against Australia and for everything to go exactly right, it made it happen. Forget the

TOKYO -- Baseball has taken Todd Van Steensel around the world. He's pitched in the Minors for the Phillies and Twins, played for Kinheim in Holland's Honkbal Hoofdklasse, Guadalajara in the Mexican League (for current Mexican national team manager Benji Gil), the Tigres de Aragua in Venezuela's Winter League and

TOKYO -- Connor MacDonald wasn’t supposed to be a pitcher. The Brisbane native actually began his career as a first baseman and outfielder, signing with the Astros and reaching Single-A. He reinvented himself and converted to pitching full-time just three years ago. On Sunday, he was handed the opportunity of

TOKYO – For nearly seven innings, one of the greatest upsets in international baseball history was in the making. With Japan having already qualified for the quarterfinals after Chinese Taipei defeated Korea earlier on Sunday, Australia was in position to book its own ticket with a victory against the defending

TOKYO -- Pressure doesn’t faze Tim Kennelly. How could it? The longtime captain for Team Australia -- he’s held the role since 2018 -- has been in real pressure-packed situations: When he’s away from the field, he’s a firefighter in his hometown of Perth. (He’s not the only firefighter in

It will go down as one of the most memorable World Baseball Classic games in Tokyo Dome’s storied history. Chinese Taipei – which had never defeated Korea in the tournament before – needed a victory to keep its slim hopes of advancing alive. With a win, Korea would set up

TOKYO -- When Jyun-Yue Tseng raced out onto the mound in the seventh inning of Chinese Taipei's 14-0 victory over Czechia on Saturday, over 40,000 fans lifted their phones and flipped on their flashlights, turning the stadium into a sparkling globe filled with screaming, cheering fans. But this wasn’t the

TOKYO -- Seiya Suzuki missed Japan's 2023 World Baseball Classic title run with an oblique injury, with the team marking his absence by hanging his No. 51 jersey above the bench in the dugout. In Japan's 8-6 win against Korea on Saturday at Tokyo Dome, the Cubs outfielder showed what

TOKYO -- There’s not many places for a pitcher to hide when facing Samurai Japan. The lineup features one Japanese slugger after another, each with the ability to put the ball over the fence. Facing its rival Korea on Saturday night, Japan showed off that power with three home runs

TOKYO -- Hokkaido, the northernmost island in Japan, is famed for its fishing, with trout, salmon and crab among the delicacies that can be found in its waters and upon its shoreline. What Hokkaido isn’t known for is its baseball. Samurai Japan right-hander Hiromi Itoh is working on changing that.

TOKYO – Tokyo Dome was packed and the noise was ear-splitting. The fans were cheering and stomping, with horns blaring and drums pounding. But this wasn’t Samurai Japan who was playing: This was the visiting Chinese Taipei, who defeated Czechia 14-0 in a seven-inning mercy rule victory on Saturday afternoon.

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