SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Ask any baseball fan in Puerto Rico and they’ll tell you about the 2006 World Baseball Classic game against Cuba. How they lost in a crushing 4-3 defeat to the international superpower. How it was the loudest they’d ever heard Hiram Bithorn Stadium. How they’ve

Rumors about Cuba losing its swagger on the international baseball scene may, in fact, have been greatly exaggerated. The global hardball titans won again on Sunday afternoon, beating Colombia, 7-4, and moving them to 2-0 in World Baseball Classic’s Pool A while eliminating Colombia (0-3) from advancing to the knockout

PUERTO RICO -- Watching Alexei Ramirez taking swings under the setting Puerto Rican sun, it looks similar to how he looked during his star-filled seasons for the White Sox on Chicago's South Side more than 10 years ago. It somehow looks similar to how he looked 20 years ago --

Coming into the 2026 World Baseball Classic, there’d been so much talk of Cuba not having the kind of team, or the same historically strong footprint in the baseball world that they’d had for so many years. Still, outside of the noise, Cuba entered this year’s Classic looking to keep

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

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.

“When you put those four letters -- CUBA -- on your chest, it means a lot. It’s very emotional. For me, it’s also about my dad. Playing for Cuba was his dream for me. He told me that if I ever had the opportunity, I should take it. That’s one

Below is a list of the players in every Major League organization who have been included on the rosters for the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Pitchers denoted with ^ are part of the Designated Pitcher Pool (DPP), a reserve of up to six pitchers per federation that can be called

The World Baseball Classic begins on Wednesday, March 4, at 10 p.m. ET in a game between Australia and Chinese Taipei. It will kick off a fortnight of absolute madness, with the best baseball players on the planet highly motivated by patriotism, pride and plain old competitiveness squaring off in

Cuba will come into the 2026 World Baseball Classic as one of the most successful nations in the event’s history, reaching the finals in the first edition of the tournament in 2006 and the semifinal round in 2023. Having advanced from group play in all five previous Classics, Cuba now

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The White Sox soon will be getting the whole band back together. Soon, as in Thursday, when manager Pedro Grifol expects the remaining World Baseball Classic competitors to return to Arizona. Luis Robert Jr. is slated to be in the starting lineup for the White Sox on

MIAMI -- Team USA is one win away from becoming back-to-back World Baseball Classic champions. With a 14-2 semifinal victory over Cuba on Sunday night at loanDepot park, USA advanced to face the winner of the Mexico-Japan semifinals game on Monday (7 p.m. ET on FS1).

MIAMI -- For weeks, Team Cuba prepared for World Baseball Classic pool play in Taichung, Taiwan. It was a 12-hour time zone difference from Miami, where the single-elimination tournament they were pursuing was scheduled to be played. Cuba arrived on Thursday to begin preparing for its Sunday semifinal at loanDepot

After Japan’s 9-3 victory on Thursday, joining Cuba in the World Baseball Classic semifinals, the tournament now has only six teams left. On Friday night Mexico will play Puerto Rico in Miami for the right to play Japan on Monday, and then on Saturday the United States will square off

After Pool A of the World Baseball Classic ended in a five-way tie, Cuba and Italy are advancing to the next round. Cuba wins the pool based on tiebreakers and will face Australia, the Pool B runner-up, in the quarterfinals. Italy advances as the runner-up team -- clinching a spot

TAICHUNG, Taiwan -- Coming into Pool A of the World Baseball Classic, Cuba looked to be one of the favorites. The Cubans lost to Netherlands, then they lost to Italy -- falling into an 0-2 hole and having to deal with questions about team unity and why nobody was hitting.

TAICHUNG, Taiwan -- Cuba and Italy had never faced off in World Baseball Classic play before their matchup in Pool A at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium. But after Thursday night, fans may want them to face off in every WBC.

When Pool A play in Taichung, Taiwan, concludes, many expect that Cuba and the Netherlands will move on to the quarterfinals in Tokyo, but the margins are a lot closer than you may think at first glance. Italy -- led by manager Mike Piazza -- has Major League stars joined

TAICHUNG, Taiwan -- Cuba against the Netherlands. The two favorites from Pool A. It’s the matchup everyone was waiting for and, amazingly, it was the first one on the docket in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Wednesday’s game between the two international powers proved to be just as advertised for

It’s nearly here. After a six-year wait, the World Baseball Classic has returned, and it’s bigger than ever. That’s not hyperbole, either: The tournament field has been expanded to 20 teams, with three first-time participants in Great Britain, the Czech Republic and Nicaragua hoping for a Cinderella run. But they’ll

TAICHUNG, Taiwan -- When you first see him, you probably wouldn't think Alfredo Despaigne is a legendary home run hitter. He's 5-foot-7 and, most of the time, he's laughing or goofing around with his teammates. He's easily approachable, not the fierce, towering persona prolific sluggers generally give off. But look

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Neither Yoán Moncada nor Luis Robert seemed particularly excited for the 14-hour flight to Taiwan they were preparing to take Thursday. The experience awaiting them once they get there, however, is one they have each been dreaming about for years. Both White Sox stars will be representing

Baseball is said to have been introduced in Cuba in 1864 by students returning from the U.S. The first official game on record on the island happened a decade later at Estado Palmar de Junco in Matanzas, which is considered the oldest active baseball stadium in the world. Thus began

Team Cuba is gearing up for the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and there are some exciting players on its roster who have either made a name for themselves in the Major Leagues or are in the process of doing so. Most notably, former A’s and Mets slugger Yoenis Céspedes and