Baseball's premier international tournament is back. Twenty teams from all over the globe are set to vie for supremacy at the 2026 World Baseball Classic, starting Wednesday night ET. In the end, only one will stand tall. How will it all play out? We put it to a vote, asking

World Baseball Classic, Inc. today announced its more than 150 business partners from around the world that will reach the sport’s tens of millions of worldwide fans as the 2026 World Baseball Classic begins this week. With headquarters in every corner of the world, the partners are supporting the World

The World Baseball Classic is finally here and the first game could have a huge impact on how Pool C shakes out. Australia finished second in the Tokyo pool in 2023, while Chinese Taipei – which upset Japan to win the 2024 Premier12 inside the Tokyo Dome – was relegated

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- If you thought JetBlue Park was full of prideful noise for Team Puerto Rico for Tuesday night’s 5-3 win over the Red Sox, wait until the squad gets to San Juan’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium. The vuvuzelas that were ever-present at a venue that is two hours

SANTO DOMINGO – The atmosphere at Quisqueya Juan Marichal Stadium on Tuesday night was not typical of Dominican Winter League games, even though many names in the home team's lineup had played on this field in the past. The sparkle of the country's beloved team dazzled the more than 10,000

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- In the run-up to the World Baseball Classic, Team USA is taking cues from the most decorated athlete in Olympic history: 23-time gold medalist Michael Phelps. The legendary swimmer was invited to attend Team USA’s group dinner on Monday night and shared an inspiring speech that resonated

Get ready to dive into World Baseball Classic pool play. The 2026 tournament, which gets underway this week, features four pools: A, B, C and D. Each of those pools consists of five teams battling it out in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each pool then advance

We've known for a while that Team USA is positively bursting at the seams with superstar names, but it hit a little differently to see them in a real batting order. With the squad facing the Giants in an exhibition game at Scottsdale Stadium Tuesday on ESPN, we got a

The ABS system is still a work in progress for players this spring as MLB prepares to use it for the first time in the regular season. It’s even more complicated for those participating in both World Baseball Classic and Spring Training games.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- There probably isn’t a team in the World Baseball Classic with more to prove than Venezuela, which has never played in a championship game and lost to the United States in the quarterfinals three years ago after going 4-0 in pool play. While the U.S.,

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – Mark Vientos, Jeter Downs and Freddy Zamora grew up together in the Miami area, playing with and against each other during their travel ball days. Nearly two decades after they first met, the trio is back together, comprising three-fourths of the starting infield for Team

PHOENIX -- Leave it to Great Britain to bring a touch of refinement to the World Baseball Classic. While other nations may be content with a team photographer, the Brits are traveling with a team artist. Andy Brown has made a career of painting the game of baseball after falling

MESA, Ariz. -- Soccer is essentially the national sport of Brazil, a country that has produced five FIFA World Cup titles and true icons of the game from Pelé to Ronaldinho to Neymar.

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Twenty years ago, Team Cuba beat Team Puerto Rico at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to advance to the first World Baseball Classic championship round in San Diego. There, they beat the Dominican Republic in the semifinals before falling to Japan in the final.

MESA, Ariz. -- Vinnie Pasquantino has jokingly reminded his grandfather, Denny, that he has been playing games regularly for the Royals this Spring Training. Old news. His grandpa wants to hear all about Team Italy and the World Baseball Classic. “My grandfather won’t shut up asking me about Italy,” Pasquantino

TAMPA, Fla. – Watch José Caballero for a few innings and it’s easy to see what makes him so valuable. After leading the Major Leagues with 49 stolen bases last season, he has turned aggression into a signature, hunting an edge and daring opponents to do something about it. That’s

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- It feels like we’re entering an exciting new era of Canadian baseball, led by big league stars and waves of talent coming behind them.

JUPITER, Fla. -- RJ Schreck has yet to make his Major League debut, but he’ll cross off his third ballpark this Saturday in Miami. Schreck is one of three top prospects, along with shortstop Cole Carrigg and right-hander Charlie Beilenson, representing Team Israel at the 2026 World Baseball Classic in

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Team Mexico came oh so close to facing Team USA in the World Baseball Classic final three years ago, getting walked off in the ninth inning of their semifinal matchup with Japan. The loss was devastating but their performance to that point in the tournament has had

The following is an excerpt from my upcoming book, “We Sacrifice Everything to Baseball,” which follows the story of how a team of amateur ballplayers from the Czech Republic reached the World Baseball Classic and proved themselves to the entire world (Shohei Ohtani included). The following excerpt takes place before

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Nolan McLean’s World Baseball Classic experience was delayed by a few days after the Mets pitcher experienced what his manager called “some vertigo-like symptoms” last week. McLean was dealing with dizziness and a loss of appetite early last week, though the pitcher said he began

SARASOTA, Fla. -- In the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s, many young baseball players would be in their backyard imitating catches made by Andruw Jones, a premier MLB center fielder at the time. His popularity was even greater in the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao), as Jones made

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Given the way Team Colombia opened the 2023 World Baseball Classic, it was almost hard to believe the way it ended. The club pulled off a stunning upset of Mexico in its first game of the tournament, seemingly positioning Colombia well in its bid to advance out

PHOENIX -- Team USA has set its star-studded rotation for the World Baseball Classic. Manager Mark DeRosa said Monday that Logan Webb, Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes and Nolan McLean are lined up to start the first four games of pool play, in that order.

Seiya Suzuki could only watch from afar as Japan won the 2023 World Baseball Classic, as he had to withdraw from the tournament due to an oblique injury. If Tuesday was any indication, the slugger looks more than ready to make up for what he missed. Suzuki absolutely crushed a