This summer, billions of people will tune in to the most-watched sporting event in the world: the FIFA World Cup. However, this March, baseball’s lesser-known equivalent of the tournament will take place. The 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) is the sixth iteration of the tournament, which was established in 2006.
While many members of the Concord Academy community may be hesitant to follow Major League Baseball (MLB) due to its extremely long, 162-game regular season, the WBC offers a manageable workload. The tournament lasts 12 days, and the maximum number of games any team will play is seven.
The tournament will host 20 national teams from around the world, including from countries in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. The teams are grouped into four pools, with each pool containing five teams. Each team will start by playing the other teams in their pool in a round-robin style, which will go from March 4th to 12th. The top two teams in each pool will advance to the quarterfinals, where the single elimination format, which lasts the rest of the tournament, will begin.
One major downside to the WBC is that many players, especially pitchers, do not go to the tournament for fear of injury. Many players do not want to risk derailing their professional careers. This was a major reason why Team USA’s 2023 pitching roster did not have many superstars. However, for 2026, the complete opposite is true. Among a myriad of talented arms, the US has brought in the two reigning MLB Cy Young winners — the highest award for a pitcher — in Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes. The US’s offense is also filled with superstars, including Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr., and Kyle Schwarber.
Japan, the reigning WBC champion, also brings a very strong team to this year’s tournament. Japan’s team — called Samurai Japan — will look to repeat the feat, centered around the consensus best player in the world: Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani will be joined by World Series MVP pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto to lead Japan’s extremely talented pitching roster. While Japan's lineup of hitters will not carry the same starpower as the US’s, it will feature many solid players.
The Dominican Republic’s (DR) team rivals the above two teams in roster strength. DR’s roster consists of some very good pitchers and eight MLB Silver Sluggers—a yearly award given to the best hitter in each position for each league. While these three powerhouse teams are the widely regarded top contenders, other teams such as Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Mexico, and Korea all have a very real shot at winning the tournament.
Some critics of the tournament argue that the WBC is not as serious as the MLB, and the extra injury risk could harm MLB rosters. However, players find the tournament extremely meaningful and really enjoy representing their homelands. During the 2023 tournament, Puerto Rican catcher Christian Vazquez said, “Wearing your homeland's colors on the playing field is unexplainable. And this is an even bigger responsibility for all of us because it's not representing a team, but an entire island. Our home country. And you give it all for your family and for all the people who got you here today. I was a World Series champion with the Red Sox, and this experience just has no comparisons. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.”
In 2023, the WBC ended with Shohei Ohtani striking out his MLB teammate and three-time MVP Mike Trout. This went down as one of the most memorable moments in baseball history, capping off an incredibly entertaining tournament. However, the 2026 tournament is shaping up to be even grander than the last iteration, with even more star players joining the tournament. The 2026 WBC is a must-watch.