The quadrennial World Baseball Classic begins in a few days.
Between March 5th and 17th national teams from around the world compete for global baseball supremacy. For those unfamiliar with the tournament, it is kind like of the World Cup except better because it is baseball.
The tournament consists of 20 teams broken into four pools of 5 teams for the preliminary round of play.
Pools are as follows:
Pool A: San Juan
- Canada
- Colombia
- Cuba
- Panama
- Puerto Rico
Pool B: Houston
- Brazil
- Great Britain
- Italy
- Mexico
- USA
Pool C: Tokyo
- Australia
- Chinese Taipei
- Czechia
- Japan
- Korea
Pool D: Miami
- Dominican Republic
- Israel
- Netherlands
- Nicaragua
- Venezuela
The top two teams from each pool will move on to the quarterfinals which will be played in Houston and Miami. The semifinals and finals will then be played in Miami.
Who are the best teams:
United States- the entire team is comprised of MLB stars
Japan- winners of the 2023 WBC are always competitive with their roster comprised of MLB and NPB players.
Dominican Republic- loaded with MLB players.
Best of the rest:
Venezuela
Puerto Rico
Mexico
Canada
Who are some of the MLB stars playing in the tournament:
USA- Aaron Judge
Japan- Shohei Ohtani
Dominican Republic- Juan Soto
Venezuela- Salvador Perez
Mexico- Randy Arozarena
Puerto Rico- Nolan Arenado
Canada-Josh Naylor
Looking forward to a great tournament.
There is a predyx market for this tournament for anyone inclined. https://beta.predyx.com/market/champion-of-the-2026-world-baseball-classic-1767723217
Sats for all,
GR
Who are your favorites to win it all?
US. Then Japan and DR.
There are some pretty big travel disparities within those groups.
Yes. Pretty sure the Tokyo group are the only games for the first couple days so they can get a head start.
Long haul for Czechia (formerly joined with Slovakia to form Czechoslovakia, @k00b and @Car).
They are just happy to be included. It's vacation for them.
Pools look fun — especially with teams like Italy and Great Britain that could surprise. The WBC is always more interesting when there are unexpected storylines.
Do you enjoy baseball?
Yeah, I enjoy baseball. WBC is my favorite — love seeing the underdog teams shake things up. Which team are you rooting for this year?