MIAMI -- The bat-flipping, chest-pounding, dancing Dominican Republic team is on a roll entering its World Baseball Classic quarterfinal matchup.
A Korean team that advanced with a dramatic win over Australia in its final game of pool play will do its best to stop the top offense in the Classic.
The D.R. and Korea face off in the first WBC quarterfinal game on Friday night at loanDepot park. The winner will move on to play the winner of Team USA vs. Canada in the semifinals on Sunday.
2026 World Baseball Classic
Quarterfinals presented by Capital One
• Bracket, schedule and how to watch
• WBC scoreboard
• Tickets
• Rosters
• Players by MLB team
• Complete coverage
The Dominican Republic will be the favorites after slugging their way through an undefeated Pool D run, including a big win over rival Venezuela on Wednesday night to clinch first place in the pool.
The D.R. has hit 13 home runs already in the 2026 Classic, one shy of the all-time WBC record set by Mexico in 2009. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr., Oneil Cruz and Junior Caminero have each hit two homers, and Julio Rodríguez, Ketel Marte and Austin Wells each have one.
"We are going to continue doing what we are doing," Guerrero said Thursday at the Dominican Republic's workout at loanDepot park. "We are not going to change. We don't have to change anything to beat any team. There are no weak teams in this tournament, no matter how they play. Maybe the style is different in Asia, but we just have to play baseball. And there is no weak enemy. We have to try to win the game."
The Dominicans will also have their ace on the mound: Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sánchez, the 2025 National League Cy Young runner-up. But Sánchez wasn't at his best in his first start of the World Baseball Classic, allowing three runs and six hits in just 1 1/3 innings against Nicaragua, although he did strike out four.
Korea doesn't have the MLB star power of the Dominican Republic, but the team is led by the Giants' Jung Hoo Lee, the Dodgers' Hyeseong Kim and longtime MLB lefty Hyun Jin Ryu, who will start Friday's game. The team also has exciting young stars from Korea's KBO League like 22-year-old Do Yeong Kim of the Kia Tigers and 22-year-old Hyun Min Ahn of the KT Wiz.
Bo Gyeong Moon, a 25-year-old from the LG Twins, is having a huge tournament, batting .538 with a 1.779 OPS, two home runs and 11 RBIs during pool play.
"I think we'll have Korean fans come out too," Moon said. "Obviously it would be great to have their support. The atmosphere is gonna be a little different than what I'm used to, but at the end of it all, it's baseball. With the Dominican Republic, they are star players playing in the big leagues. So just being able to play baseball with them, it's exciting. It's something I'm looking forward to."
Here’s what you need to know about the Korea-D.R. matchup:
When and where: Friday, 6:30 p.m. ET, loanDepot park
How you can watch: Korea vs. the D.R. will air on FS2.
How you can listen: There is an English-language audio stream available for every game on Sirius XM, and free on MLB.com.
Team results: The Dominican Republic swept through its pool, going 4-0 with wins over Nicaragua (12-3), the Netherlands (12-1), Israel (10-1) and finally Venezuela (7-3). With both the D.R. and Venezuela unbeaten entering their showdown, Soto, Vlad Jr., Marte and Tatis all homered to set up the matchup with Korea while sending Venezuela into a game against defending WBC champion Japan.
Korea advanced by the skin of its teeth as the second seed out of Pool C, which Japan won handily. Korea needed a head-to-head win over Australia on the last day of pool play -- plus some help from the WBC's tiebreaker rules -- to make it through to the quarterfinals. Korea finished in a three-way tie with Australia and Chinese Taipei with a 2-2 record in Pool C, beating Czechia and Australia but losing to Japan and Chinese Taipei. But its 7-2 win vs. Australia in the last game was the perfect margin of victory to push Korea through ahead of the other two teams.
Probable starting pitchers: LHP Hyun Jin Ryu (Korea) vs. LHP Cristopher Sánchez (Dominican Republic)
What’s at stake: It's win or go home now. The winner of this game moves on to the semifinals in Miami, where they'll face either the United States or Canada. The loser is eliminated.
Both teams are looking to reclaim past WBC glory. The Dominican Republic won the World Baseball Classic in 2013 but was knocked out in the first round in the 2023 tournament. Korea was the runner-up of the 2009 WBC, losing an extra-inning heartbreaker to Japan in the finals, but this is the country's first time making it past the first round since.
Matchup history: Despite the long history of both these countries participating in the World Baseball Classic, they have never played against each other in a WBC game.