After the official 30-man World Baseball Classic rosters were announced last week, there was just one question left ahead of the tournament’s opening on March 4: Who would be listed in the Designated Pitcher Pools (DPP)? The way the DPP works is that each federation can place up to six

A version of this story first ran in February 2022.

The biggest event in global baseball is fast approaching. And with the tournament just one month away, the rosters for the 20 teams competing for the title of the world's greatest have been announced. Read on below for everything else you need to know about the tournament, which is entering

Twenty years ago, the first World Baseball Classic in history began, forever reshaping the global game. Plenty of superstars and future Hall of Famers took the field that year, with Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro Suzuki, Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltrán (the latter two being elected to the Hall of Fame

Korea comes to the tournament at a turning point for its baseball program. The team dominated in the early-aughts, winning gold at the 2008 Olympics and going to extra innings before losing to Japan in the 2009 World Baseball Classic finals. Since then, however, the national team has struggled, failing

Ten years ago, Jazz Chisholm Jr. – then just an 18-year-old playing his first summer in the Minor Leagues – pulled on a Great Britain jersey for the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers held in Brooklyn. Despite his youth, Chisholm more than held his own, going 4-for-16 with a double and

With a roster almost entirely homegrown and with players having day jobs ranging from firefighter to teacher to electrician (even the manager, Pavel Chadim, is a noted neurologist in Brno), Czechia became fan favorites at the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Despite having just one Major Leaguer on its roster --

The fan favorite Czechia -- a team consisting almost entirely of amateur players born and developed in the Czech Republic -- has a new Major Leaguer joining the team for the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Though second baseman Eric Sogard will have to miss the tournament due to injury (his

With 113 wins across 14 big league seasons, Jose Quintana sits atop the list of Major League wins for a Colombian-born pitcher. Now, the veteran left-hander, who is currently a free agent, is back to represent the national team as its captain in March's World Baseball Classic. The Federacion Colombiana

This is an excerpt from the latest edition of Michael Clair's International Beat Newsletter, bringing global baseball news to your inbox every month. Sign up for future installments HERE and check out the full newsletter HERE.

Team USA general manager Michael Hill wanted his roster to make a statement, one that affirmed the USA Baseball team as the best in the world. The lineup is filled with stars and the rotation is crammed with aces. Now, with only a handful of spots on the 30-man team

Shohei Ohtani is getting some company. On Friday morning in Japan, the national team announced the next 11 players who are set to join the Dodgers superstar in the World Baseball Classic. Leading the way is veteran starter Tomoyuki Sugano, currently a free agent after spending the 2025 season with

Team USA has put together a strong rotation thus far, but what about the bullpen? On Wednesday, USA Baseball announced the additions of left-hander Gabe Speier of the Mariners and right-hander Griffin Jax of the Rays.

The Dutch baseball community is in mourning this week as legendary Netherlands national team catcher and coach Sidney de Jong passed away unexpectedly at the age of 46. de Jong, who represented the national team 200 times during his playing career, was a crucial player and captain for some of

As we come upon the end of the year and begin to look back at the incredible Major League season, we find ourselves staring at a … fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man or even the scorekeeper. This dimension, as vast as the Rockies outfield and as

This is an excerpt from the latest edition of Michael Clair's International Beat Newsletter, bringing global baseball news to your inbox every month. Sign up for future installments HERE and check out the full newsletter HERE.

Dusty Baker's got his slugger! On Friday afternoon, Nicaragua announced that Mark Vientos, the Mets' power-hitting third baseman, intends to play for the team at the upcoming World Baseball Classic this March. Originally born in Norwalk, Conn., Vientos is eligible for the national team through his mother, Katy Wilmore, who

The World Baseball Classic may not begin until March, but you could be forgiven for thinking that it all kicked off in December. On Tuesday, managers, general managers, and team officials for all 20 teams participating in next year's tournament gathered at the Signia by Hilton Orlando for the 2026

Eight years ago, A's two-way prospect Shotaro Morii was just a 10-year-old student with a dream of playing baseball. That year, he arrived to Japan's MLB Cup, a tournament featuring over 1,700 fourth- and fifth-grade ballplayers, where he and his team eventually won it all.

As you sit down to your Thanksgiving turkey this year and are about to carve that sucker up, just remember this: You could have dealt a professional ballplayer in exchange for your feast. At least, you could have if this was 1931 and your baseball team was owned by Joe

When the news broke that Seibu Lions ace Tatsuya Imai was posted, many Major League fans had one question: Would he also want to join the Dodgers? After all, not only is Los Angeles arguably the closest flight back to Japan, but he'd be able to join fellow countrymen Yoshinobu

Venezuela came a Trea Turner grand slam away from reaching the semifinals in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. They can thank their catcher, Royals veteran Salvador Perez for that. In '23, Perez slashed .429/.467/.929 with a home run, four doubles, and six RBIs -- five of which came in a

When the first name was called at the inaugural Women’s Pro Baseball League draft on Thursday night, there was little surprise: When it comes to the world of women’s baseball, Kelsie Whitmore stands out as a giant. “Kelsie worked her whole life for this moment,” said WPBL co-founder Justine Siegal,

This is an excerpt from the latest edition of the International Beat Newsletter, bringing global baseball news to your inbox every month. Sign up for future installments HERE and check out the full newsletter HERE.

"I know that I could go everywhere I wanted to in Japan and never see another scout," Ted Heid, the longtime Mariners Pacific Rim scout who helped the team land Ichiro Suzuki, told MLB.com recently. "It was easy to see somebody who was not Japanese in the crowd behind home