A taste of October in March. Some international flavor baked into the national pastime, coming on the heels of an entertaining Olympics. Welcome to the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
For the sixth edition of the tournament, 20 nations have been split into four pools of five teams attempting to qualify for the eight-team, single-elimination knockout stage. Hearts and bats (and hopefully not patellar tendons) will be broken. Bars across the world will be busy. Fans tired of spring training exhibitions will be sated.
With the tournament just underway and the Americans on deck to debut Friday, here is a look at the storylines that might define the international competition:
The rise of the American pitcher
For the 2023 championship game that it would lose, Team USA turned to zero-time All-Star Merrill Kelly. No disrespect meant toward the reliable righty, but the quality of the American arms has escalated.
Both reigning Cy Young Award winners, Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes, will don the Red, White and Blue. Persistent Cy Young contender Logan Webb is the best No. 3 in the field.
With Skubal (set to make one start) and Skenes (two) expected to participate but preserve their arms, Mets spin god Nolan McLean could grab the spotlight and is lined up to pitch in the championship game.
Mason Miller’s heat will be waiting at the back of the bullpen.
The Americans have bashed their way to one WBC title and again feature a dazzling array of offensive talent led by Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr., Cal Raleigh, Bryce Harper and Gunnar Henderson. Do they now have enough firepower on the mound to avenge their loss to Japan three years ago?
Japan’s quest for further dominance
Samurai Japan is aiming for back-to-back titles and a fourth in total. No other country has won more than once. Japan also grabbed the most recent Olympic gold medal, emerging as the class of the international circuit.
Team Shohei Ohtani will be star-studded, though the two-way unicorn will solely hit (and not, say, strike out Mike Trout) this time around.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto will anchor a rotation that also includes big-leaguers Yusei Kikuchi and Tomoyuki Sugano and NPB star Hiromi Itoh.
Offensively, Ohtani will be flanked by the likes of Cubs standout Seiya Suzuki, Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida and White Sox and Blue Jays newcomers Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto, respectively.
Redemption for Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico?
Two of the most stacked rosters in the tournament are coming off disappointing showings, either failing to make it out of group play (in the Dominican Republic’s case) or past the quarterfinal round (Puerto Rico).
Anything other than gold would be a letdown for the proud and powerful Dominicans, who will field a lineup that includes Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Julio Rodríguez, Manny Machado, Junior Caminero, Ketel Marte and Oneil Cruz.
The Puerto Ricans will be depleted, particularly hard-hit by insurance providers declining coverage — including to captain Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa — but will be a threat because of their pitching (including Seth Lugo, Fernando Cruz and Edwin Díaz looming in the late innings) plus the likes of Nolan Arenado, Willi Castro and Heliot Ramos offensively.
The other threats
Venezuela is loaded, particularly on offense, with Ronald Acuña Jr., Jackson Chourio, the Contreras brothers, Salvador Perez, Eugenio Suárez, Gleyber Torres and Luis Arráez. Mexico (Randy Arozarena, Jarren Duran, Alejandro Kirk) reached the semis three years ago. Canada has pitching issues but a solid position-player core (the Naylor brothers, Tyler O’Neill, Otto Lopez, Denzel Clarke).
International tensions
Will the world outside the lines loom over every matchup?
What would the scene look like if the Americans faced off with the Venezuelans — whose leader the White House captured and deposed in January — during the knockout stage? How about a matchup of USA-Cuba, whose longtime tensions are on the rise while President Trump displays an increasingly aggressive foreign policy agenda? What kind of greeting awaits Team Israel — including manager (and Yankees bench coach) Brad Ausmus, Harrison Bader, Tommy Kahnle and Yankees prospect Harrison Cohen — amid the devastating war in Gaza?
Who will be the WBC darlings?
This title belonged to Czechia in 2023, when a ragtag group of semipros took the world stage and an electrician struck out Ohtani. The Czechs are back and facing long odds again.
Other potentially lovable underdogs include Brazil — which qualified for the first time since 2013 and has a roster that includes former Yankees prospect Dante Bichette Jr. and Joseph Contreras, a right-handed pitcher who is a high schooler in Georgia and the son of former Yankee Jose Contreras — and Nicaragua, with Dusty Baker as manager and Mark Vientos’ bat in the lineup.
