After a three-year wait, the World Baseball Classic is back. Team Japan will look to defend its title after taking down Team USA in the 2023 final. That contest ended in the most dramatic way possible, as Shohei Ohtani faced his then-teammate Mike Trout with the game on the line in the ninth inning. 

Delivering an encore to that at-bat will be a tall task for the 2026 World Baseball Classic, but it helps that some of the biggest names in baseball have committed to playing in the tournament this time around. 

With the 2026 World Baseball Classic fast approaching, here's everything you need to know about the event, including the schedule, bracket, rosters and where you can watch every game.

2026 World Baseball Classic schedule

The 2026 World Baseball Classic begins March 5 and runs through March 17. Games will be played in four stadiums spread across Puerto Rico, Japan and the United States. 

The pool stage will run from March 5 to March 11. The quarterfinals will occur March 13 and March 14. The semifinals will take place March 15 and March 16, setting up the WBC final on March 17 in Miami.

2026 World Baseball Classic teams

A total of 20 teams will take part in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Those teams are broken up into five pools to begin the event. Here's how each pool shakes out:

Pool A

Puerto Rico
Cuba
Canada
Panama
Colombia

Pool B

United States
Mexico
Italy
Great Britain
Brazil

Pool C

Japan
Australia
Korea
Czechia
Chinese Taipei

Pool D

Venezuela
Dominican Republic
Netherlands
Israel
Nicaragua

2026 World Baseball Classic format

The 2026 WBC will begin with the pool stage. In this stage, teams will play every other team in their pools. Puerto Rico, for example, will play the four other teams in Pool A during this portion of the tournament. After that, the two teams with the best records in each pool will advance to the quarterfinals. In the event of a tie, head-to-head record is the first tiebreaker. From there, things get slightly more complicated, with the "lowest quotient of runs allowed divided by the number of defensive outs recorded in games between the teams that are tied" coming into play, per ESPN.

In the quarterfinals, the winner of Pool A will play against the runner-up from Pool B, and the winner of Pool B will play the runner-up from Pool A. The same format will occur on the other side of the bracket featuring the winners and runners-up from Pools C and D. The tournament is a single-elimination bracket, meaning teams that lose are eliminated. 

The four teams left standing after the quarterfinals advance to the semifinals. Teams are reseeded for the semifinal round, so a team from Pool A could face a team from Pool D for the first time in the semifinal. Once again, games are single-elimination.

The two teams that advance to the final will play one winner-take-all game to determine the champion.

Previous World Baseball Classic winners

Since the first World Baseball Classic in 2006, three countries have won the championship. Here are the winners — and runners-up — from the five previous editions of the WBC.

2006: Japan defeated Cuba 10-6
2009: Japan defeated South Korea 5-3
2013: Dominican Republic defeated Puerto Rico 3-0
2017: United States defeated Puerto Rico 8-0
2023: Japan defeated United States 3-2

Japan has won three of the five World Baseball Classics, with the Dominican Republic and the United States taking the other two editions of the tournament.

Christopher Pasatieri via Getty Images

2026 World Baseball Classic rosters

Many MLB superstars have committed to the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Team USA will feature MLB stars including Aaron Judge, Paul Skenes, Bryce Harper and Bobby Witt Jr. A full rundown of Team USA's roster can be viewed here. 

Japan should also have plenty of MLB talent once again, led by Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Ohtani, however, will not pitch in the event. Team Japan will also feature Chicago Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki and new MLB additions Kazuma Okamoto and Munetaka Murakami.

The Dominican Republic is also loaded with talent. Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. are among the MLB stars playing for the country in 2026. They'll be joined by Brayan Bello, Sandy Alcantara, Ketel Marte and Julio Rodriguez, among others.

Mexico and Venezuela also have some MLB stars on their rosters. Mexico will feature Alejandro Kirk, Jarren Duran and Randy Arozarena. Venezuela will have Ronald Acuña Jr., Jackson Chourio and Salvador Perez.

MLB players will appear across the rest of the WBC rosters, too. Nolan Arenado will play for Puerto Rico, which will be without Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa due to insurance issues. Vinnie Pasquantino will play for Team Italy. Jose Quintana will play for Colombia. And Liam Hendriks will take the mound for Australia.

For a comprehensive list of MLB players in the 2026 WBC, go here.

How to watch the 2026 World Baseball Classic

World Baseball Classic games will air on FOX Media in 2026. Games will appear on FOX, FS1, FS2, the FOX Sports App, FOX One and Tubi. FOX Deportes will carry 28 games in Spanish during the event. 

The 2026 World Baseball Classic championship game will be broadcast on FOX.