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 – 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

Facing Shohei Ohtani with the bases loaded in a tie game is a scary situation for any opponent. Team Australia found itself in that predicament in the fourth inning of Sunday’s World Baseball Classic game vs. Team Japan. Then catcher Robbie Perkins bailed out the Aussies with some heads-up defense

Shohei Ohtani grabs a lot of headlines and rightfully so, but Japan’s roster for the World Baseball Classic is much more than a one-man show. The reigning WBC champions are stacked with stars, and arguably no one shone brighter during Saturday’s game versus Korea than Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki, who

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.

The first full day with all four World Baseball Classic pools in action provided plenty of excitement and fodder. Here’s a look at nine stats and facts from some wild games. • Let’s start where we so often do when discussing the extraordinary: with Shohei Ohtani. He hit a grand

TOKYO – When Shohei Ohtani plays in Japan, he makes sure to put on a show. He regularly takes batting practice on the field -- something he rarely does in the Majors -- making sure to reward his home country’s fans who fill the ballpark.

TOKYO -- The defending champs and the most talented baseball player on the planet make for a dangerous combination. On Friday night, Samurai Japan began its World Baseball Classic title defense, taking on a Chinese Taipei team that upset it in the 2024 Premier12 tournament.

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

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

Baseball fans can’t help but go crazy for Shohei Ohtani. Especially in his home country. When the two-way Dodgers superstar and the rest of Team Japan arrived at Shin-Osaka Station on Sunday in Osaka, just days before the start of the 2026 World Baseball Classic, fans watching the team disembark

With Masataka Yoshida of the Red Sox selected as the final roster spot, Samurai Japan’s squad is now complete. The team features a record nine Major League players, along with 10 members from the previous championship-winning roster. Under manager Hirokazu Ibata, the lineup is built with an emphasis on balance,

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Yuki Matsui’s status for Team Japan at next month’s World Baseball Classic is in doubt after the lefty reliever sustained a groin injury during a live batting practice session at Padres camp on Thursday. Matsui ended that session early and is dealing with a bout of what

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- The budding friendship between Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kazuma Okamoto has been put on hold. The moment Guerrero rolls out of Dunedin Saturday night and heads to Miami, where he’ll join his Dominican teammates to prepare for the World Baseball Classic, Okamoto isn’t his Blue Jays teammate,

MIYAZAKI, Japan -- When Shohei Ohtani is around, he is the main event. On Friday night in Nagoya, Samurai Japan -- Japan's national team -- had an exhibition game against NPB's Chunichi Dragons. This was before the start of the official World Baseball Classic camps, so Major League players weren't

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

As Samurai Japan gears up to defend its World Baseball Classic title, its roster is beginning to take shape. While superstar Shohei Ohtani had previously announced his intent to play for the tournament's reigning champs, seven other players were named by Samurai Japan manager Hirokazu Ibata on Friday in Tokyo,

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Major Leagues may be considered the top baseball league globally. But in international competition, Japan reigns supreme. Since the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006, Samurai Japan is the only country to win multiple titles, having come out on top of three of the five events

Shohei Ohtani says he will play for Team Japan in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, seeking yet another repeat after his Dodgers successfully defended their title this past season. Ohtani on Monday announced his intention to play in the upcoming WBC, adding baseball's biggest global superstar to the already star-studded

TEMPE, Ariz. -- It’s fair to say the atmosphere was a bit different for Shohei Ohtani in his start in a Minor League game on Friday compared to his previous outing earlier in the week. Ohtani, fresh off picking up the save to lead Team Japan to the World Baseball

PEORIA, Ariz. -- It took Yu Darvish several minutes Thursday morning to make it from one end of the Padres' clubhouse to his locker on the other side. He entered the room -- there was Manny Machado, ready to greet him with a congratulatory hug. He took a step toward

When the World Baseball Classic started, we knew what Roki Sasaki was already doing in Japan. We knew the 21-year-old might be one of the nastiest pitchers in the world. Now we have proof. Sasaki's phenomenal talent was on display in his WBC semifinal start against Mexico. And since he