The World Baseball Classic returns for its sixth edition in March, featuring a 20-team field spread across four pools. In all, 47 games will be played over 13 days at four sites: the Tokyo Dome, San Juan Puerto Rico’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium, Miami’s loanDepot Park and Houston’s Daikin Park.
Team Japan, the only nation to win multiple WBC crowns (2006, 2009, 2023), is aiming for its fourth title while the Dominican Republic (2013) and U.S. (2017) are the only other winners of the event. Japan’s roster features 2025 NLCS MVP Shohei Ohtani and 2025 World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, both of the Dodgers, in addition to Angels lefty starter Yusei Kikuchi and Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki.
The U.S. roster is led by captain Aaron Judge and features both 2025 Cy Young winners in Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes. Team USA boasts a combined 65 MLB All-Star Game appearances and four former MVPs in Judge, Bryce Harper, Paul Goldschmidt and Clayton Kershaw.
Most games will be broadcast in the U.S. on the Fox family of networks (Fox, FS1, FS2) and streaming on the Fox Sports app and Tubi.
2026 World Baseball Classic pools
Pool A | Hiram Bithorn Stadium, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Canada Colombia Cuba Panama Puerto Rico
Pool B | Daikin Park, Houston
Brazil Great Britain Italy Mexico U.S.
Pool C | Tokyo Dome, Tokyo
Australia Chinese Taipei Czechia Japan South Korea
Pool D | loanDepot Park, Miami
Dominican Republic Israel Netherlands Nicaragua Venezuela
2026 World Baseball Classic schedule
All times Eastern
Pool play
Wednesday, March 4 10 p.m.: Australia vs. Chinese Taipei (FS1)
Thursday, March 5 5 a.m.: South Korea vs. Czechia (FS1) 10 p.m.: Czechia vs. Australia (FS1)
Friday, March 6 5 a.m.: Chinese Taipei vs. Japan (FS1) 11 a.m.: Panama vs. Cuba (FS2) Noon: Venezuela vs. Netherlands (Tubi) 1 p.m.: Great Britain vs. Mexico (FS1) 6 p.m.: Colombia vs. Puerto Rico (FS1) 7 p.m.: Dominican Republic vs. Nicaragua (FS2) 8 p.m.: Brazil vs. U.S. (Fox) – Daikin Park 10 p.m.: Czechia vs. Chinese Taipei (FS2)
Saturday, March 7 5 a.m.: Japan vs. South Korea (FS1) 11 a.m.: Canada vs. Colombia (FS2) Noon: Netherlands vs. Nicaragua (Tubi) 1 p.m.: Italy vs. Brazil (Fox app only) 6 p.m.: Puerto Rico vs. Panama (FS1) 7 p.m.: Venezuela vs. Israel (FS1) 8 p.m.: U.S. vs. Great Britain (Fox) 10 p.m.: South Korea vs. Chinese Taipei (FS2)
Sunday, March 8 6 a.m.: Japan vs. Australia (FS1) Noon: Cuba vs. Colombia (FS2) Noon: Dominican Republic vs. Netherlands (Fox) 1 p.m.: Italy vs. Great Britain (Tubi) 7 p.m.: Israel vs. Nicaragua (Tubi) 7 p.m.: Canada vs. Panama (FS2) 8 p.m.: Mexico vs. Brazil (FS1)
Monday, March 9 6 a.m.: Australia vs. South Korea (FS1) Noon: Israel vs. Dominican Republic (FS1) Noon: Panama vs. Colombia (FS2) 1 p.m.: Great Britain vs. Brazil (Tubi) 7 p.m.: Puerto Rico vs. Cuba (FS1) 7 p.m.: Nicaragua vs. Venezuela (FS2) 8 p.m.: U.S. vs. Mexico (Fox)
Tuesday, March 10 6 a.m.: Japan vs. Czechia (FS1) 7 p.m.: Netherlands vs. Israel (Fox app only) 7 p.m.: Puerto Rico vs. Canada (Tubi) 9 p.m.: U.S. vs. Italy (FS1)
Wednesday, March 11 3 p.m.: Cuba vs. Canada (FS1) 7 p.m.: Mexico vs. Italy (Tubi) 8 p.m.: Venezuela vs. Dominican Republic (FS1)
Thursday, March 12 No games
Quarterfinals
Friday, March 13 6:30 p.m.: TBD vs. TBD (FS1) – loanDepot Park 8 p.m.: TBD vs. TBD (Fox) – Daikin Park
Saturday, March 14 3 p.m.: TBD vs. TBD (FS1) – Daikin Park 9 p.m.: TBD vs. TBD (Fox) – loanDepot Park
Semifinals
Sunday, March 15 8 p.m.: TBD vs. TBD (FS1) – loanDepot Park
Monday, March 16 8 p.m.: TBD vs. TBD (FS1) – loanDepot Park
Championship final
Tuesday, March 17 8 p.m.: TBD vs. TBD (FS1) – loanDepot Park
The Winter Games have begun in Italy. From the rink to the slopes, a new generation of stars has emerged to chase gold. We’ll keep you connected to all of the thrilling moments and top stories as we track the medal race each day of the Games.
Women's hockey will look to keep rolling in the semifinals, while the women's curling team will look to keep the momentum after a thrilling win on Sunday. Figure skating continues with pair skating, and medals will also be handed out in women's monobob and the 1000m in women's short track speed skating.
Here are the top five things to watch on Monday at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics:
Women's hockey looks to advance to final (10:40 a.m. ET)
Team USA is on a roll after a 6-0 win over Italy in the quarterfinals, but it'll face a tough test against Sweden in the semifinals on Monday. Sweden is the only other undefeated team in the tournament, with a +16 goal differential to Team USA's +19. The U.S. women are riding four straight shutouts after allowing one goal to Czechia in their opening game.
The winner of this game will face the winner of Canada-Switzerland on Thursday.
Women's curling riding high in group play (1:05 p.m. ET)
Team USA women's curling will take on Italy in group play Monday, riding its momentum from Sunday's comeback victory over China. After falling behind 4-1 after the fifth end, Team USA was able to cut China's lead to one, adding two points in the fifth. Despite giving up another point, the U.S. was able to rattle off three more points in the final three ends for an improbable victory.
The U.S. women are second in the standings at 4-1. Only Sweden has a better record at 5-0.
U.S. teams shoot for a medal in pairs figure skating (2 p.m. ET)
Team USA pairs figure skaters Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, and Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe, return to the ice on Monday after their short programs on Sunday. Kam and O'Shea sit in seventh after scoring 71.87, while Chan and Akira Howe are in ninth (70.06) going into the free skate.
Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin lead the field with a score of 80.01.
The last U.S. medal in pairs figure skating, a bronze, came at the 1988 Games in Calgary.
Elana Meyers Taylor leads medal charge in women's monobob (3 p.m. ET)
After two heats, the U.S. women are in prime position for the podium. Behind Germany's Laura Nolte, who sits in first, Team USA's Elana Meyers Taylor, Kaysha Love and defending Olympic gold medalist Kaillie Armbruster Humphries are in the hunt.
Meyers Taylor won silver in the monobob in 2022, and she'll compete in two-woman bobsleigh later this week.
Team USA looks for first medal in short track speed skating (5 a.m. ET)
Kristen Santos-Griswold is still looking for her first Olympic medal, and she'll tackle the 1000m on Monday. She advanced to the quarterfinals after finishing second in her qualifying heat, and she'll go up against the Netherlands' Xandra Velzeboer, Hungary's Diana Laura Vegi and Korea's Gilli Kim and Dohee Noh.
Olympics schedule for Monday, Feb. 16 (Day 10)
Alpine Skiing
Slalom
4 a.m.: Men’s run 1 (USA Network)
7:20 a.m.: Men’s run 2 (USA Network coverage begins at 7:30 a.m.; NBC will air both runs at 2:45 p.m.)🏅
Bobsled
Two-man
4 a.m.: Runs 1, 2 (airs on USA Network at 7 a.m.)
Monobob
1 p.m.: Women's runs 3, 4 (airs on NBC at 3:30 p.m.)🏅
Curling
Women's round-robin
3:05 a.m.: Sweden vs. Switzerland, China vs. Canada (airs on USA Network at 10:15 a.m.), Denmark vs. Great Britain
1:05 p.m.: USA vs. Italy (airs at 5 p.m. on CNBC), South Korea vs. China, Switzerland vs. Great Britain, Japan vs. Canada
Men's round-robin
8:05 a.m.: Great Britain vs. Norway (airs at 11:30 a.m. on USA Network), Czechia vs. Canada, Sweden vs. Germany, Italy vs. China
Figure Skating
Pairs
2 p.m.: Free skate (USA Network; airs on NBC at 3:55 p.m.)🏅
Freestyle Skiing
Big air
1:30 p.m.: Women's final (NBC)🏅
Hockey
Women's semifinals
10:40 a.m.: Teams TBD (NBC)
3:10 p.m.: Teams TBD (airs on USA Network on 4:15 p.m.)
Short Track
5 a.m.: Men’s 500m qualifying, men’s 5000m relay semifinals, women’s 1000m final (airs on USA Network at 6:15 p.m.)🏅
Ski Jumping
Large hill
12 p.m.: Men’s super team final (airs on USA Network at 11 p.m.)🏅
Snowboarding
Slopestyle
4:30 a.m.: Women's qualifying (USA Network coverage begins at 4:50 a.m.; airs on NBC at 10 a.m.)
8 a.m.: Men's qualifying (USA Network coverage begins at 8:35 a.m.)
Day 8 of the 2026 Winter Olympics saw the United States return to the podium after a tough Day 7 in which the Americans did not add to their medal count. On Saturday, however, one of Team USA's brightest stars increased his growing legend. And the U.S. lost out on another gold, demonstrating how thin the line between first and second place can be.
Here are the top five stories of the day:
Jordan Stolz speeds to second gold in Milan Cortina
Speed skater Jordan Stolz came into the Milan Cortina Games with an opportunity to join Eric Heiden among the greatest in U.S. history. He's halfway to fulfilling his ambition of winning four gold medals after sprinting to victory in the 500 meters.
Stolz set an Olympic record on his dash to gold, finishing with a time of 33.77. That overtook Gao Tingyu's 34.32, set at the 2022 Beijing Games, for the fastest in Olympics history. Stolz needed that record time to win as the Netherlands' Jenning de Boo was only 11 hundredths of a second behind him. Laurent Dubreuil of Canada earned bronze, finishing a half-second behind Stolz.
Men's hockey beats Denmark
Denmark played the U.S. tough in the first period and closed the margin to one goal at the end of the second. But Team USA increased its offensive pressure in the Danish zone, resulting in five goals over the final two periods and an eventual 6-3 victory.
Six players scored goals for the U.S.: Matt Boldy, Brady Tkachuk, Jack Eichel, Noah Hanifin, Jake Guentzel and Jack Hughes. Team USA fired 47 shots on net, while Denmark managed 21.
Up next for the U.S. is Germany as pool play continues Sunday at 3:10 p.m. ET.
Slight mistake costs Jaelin Kauf gold in women's dual moguls
Despite tripping over a mogul, U.S. freestyle skier Jaelin Kauf finished her semifinal race in women's dual moguls against France’s Perrine Laffont. However, in the final, Kauf slightly bobbled when her left ski slipped out for just a second. That was enough for Australia’s Jakara Anthony to overtake her to win on the scorecard, 20-15, and earn the gold medal.
Kauf's silver medal is her second of the Milan Cortina Games and teammate Elizabeth Lemley took bronze over Laffont, adding to the gold she won in women's moguls on Wednesday.
Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen first South American to medal at Winter Games
History occurred during Saturday's men's giant slalom with Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen winning gold. As if that wasn't impressive enough, Pinheiro Braathen became the first-ever South American athlete to earn a medal at the Winter Olympics.
A HISTORIC MOMENT FOR BRAZIL. A HISTORIC MOMENT FOR SOUTH AMERICA. 🇧🇷
With a combined time of 2:25.00, Pinheiro Braathen beat out Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, who won gold in 2022 at Beijing. Before competing for Brazil, Pinheiro Braathen began his Alpine skiing career representing Norway, his father's home country. After retiring for less than a year, he returned to competitive ski racing for Brazil. He was one of the country's flag bearers at the Opening Ceremony.
U.S. women's curling continues ascent; American men rebound
After defeating Canada on Friday for the first time since women's women's curling was introduced to the Olympics in 1998, the American women improved to 3-1 in round-robin competition on Saturday with a 7-4 win over Japan. At the moment, they are tied for second with Switzerland. Sweden is first and unbeaten.
The U.S. men's team had dropped back-to-back games entering Saturday but returned to the win column with an 8-6 victory against a Germany squad that was 2-1 entering the weekend. Now the Americans and Germans are tied for sixth, meaning they're both on the outside looking in at the four-team playoffs at the moment. Round-robin play is far from over, though. The U.S. still has five games left.
Team USA medal count is now up to 17
Highlight of the day
Stolz's thrilling finish takes the cake. He barely held off de Boo and needed quite the final push to win his second gold. Four days earlier, Stolz overtook the Dutchman on the final lap of the men’s 1,000 meters.
Jordan Stolz has done it AGAIN with an OLYMPIC RECORD and a GOLD medal finish! 💪🥇 pic.twitter.com/bkVr0azJ3B
The Olympics are full of inspiring stories, including those of perseverance. Another of that kind was on full display Saturday when Swedish cross-country skier Ebba Andersson raced on one ski for about half a minute during the women’s 4 x 7.5km relay. Sweden entered the event as gold medal favorites, and remarkably, still won silver. But amid the second leg of the event, Andersson fell — more than once, actually, and ultimately lost her right ski. She retrieved it, except it was broken. She kept going, trudging through the course until a Swedish technician, after falling himself, handed her another working ski. By the time Andersson reached the handover zone, Sweden had plummeted to eighth.
Frida Karlsson followed with a strong third leg. Jonna Sundling brought the relay home and Sweden all the way back to second. Andersson's relentless effort, however, will be remembered as well. She now has three silvers in these Games.
The 68th Daytona 500 will officially kick off the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season on Sunday. The iconic race at the 2.5-mile oval in Daytona Beach, Florida, begins at 2:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on Fox.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the race, as NASCAR has made significant changes to its championship format ahead of the season.
Can William Byron win 3 in a row?
William Byron is attempting to be the first driver to win three consecutive Daytona 500s.
Just six drivers have won at least three Daytona 500s and none of them ever won them in back-to-back-to-back seasons. And of those six, only three — Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and Denny Hamlin — won Daytona 500s in back-to-back seasons.
Byron is one of seven drivers with two Daytona 500 wins and he’s scored those victories by avoiding late crashes and being in the right place at the right time on late restarts.
In 2024, Byron was able to escape a 23-car crash at the front of the field with less than 10 laps to go. That crash set up a restart with four laps to go as Byron led all four of the remaining circuits on his way to the win. Those were the only four laps Byron led all race.
A season ago, a crash with five laps to go on the backstretch set up a green-white-checkered restart. Byron was in seventh as the field exited Turn 2 on the final but was somehow able to get past the race leaders as they crashed down the backstretch to steal the win.
Can Byron somehow continue his luck for an unprecedented three wins in a row?
The winner of the Daytona 500 is no longer a virtual lock for the playoffs
NASCAR’s cumulative 10-race playoff format has returned.
The sanctioning body announced in January that it was returning to a version of its original playoff format that it launched in 2004. After the first 26 races of the season, the top 16 drivers in the points standings will qualify for the playoffs and will be seeded based on their position in the standings. The driver who has the most points in the final 10 races of the season will be crowned the champion at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
NASCAR had a cumulative 10-race playoff from 2004 through 2013 before it launched a multi-round version of the playoffs in 2014. In that playoff format, a driver who won a race in the regular season could virtually guarantee himself a spot in the playoffs.
For the past 12 seasons, the 10-race playoffs included four rounds and three drivers were eliminated in each of the first three rounds before four drivers raced straight-up for the championship in the season finale. In 2025, Hamlin dominated the final race of the season at Phoenix, but a late caution for Byron’s tire failure shook up the field on pit strategy, and Kyle Larson exited pit road ahead of Hamlin and beat him to the finish line for his second Cup Series title.
Can Denny Hamlin win a fourth Daytona 500?
Hamlin, 45, would tie Cale Yarborough for the second-most Daytona 500 wins if he gets a fourth victory. Hamlin is one of four drivers who have three Daytona 500 wins and, along with Byron, is one of just two active full-time drivers who have scored multiple Daytona 500 wins.
It’s been a tumultuous last four months for Hamlin. After losing the championship in heartbreaking fashion in November, Hamlin and his 23XI Racing team that he co-owns with Michael Jordan went to trial against NASCAR over the Cup Series’ franchising agreement. The trial ended with a settlement that granted permanent charters to teams — a main sticking point in the lawsuit that 23XI and Front Row Motorsports filed against NASCAR.
Later in December, Hamlin’s father, Dennis, was killed and his mother, Mary Lou, was significantly injured in a fire that destroyed their home in North Carolina. Just two weeks ago, Hamlin revealed that he reinjured his right shoulder while climbing through the rubble at the site of the fire and will wait to have surgery until after the 2026 Cup Series season.
Hamlin has won 60 career Cup Series races across 721 starts and is the most successful driver to have never won a Cup Series title. Can 2026 finally be the year after he came so close in 2025?
A lot of big names are still looking for their first Daytona 500 win
Along with Byron and Hamlin, there are only five other full-time drivers who have Daytona 500 wins to their name; Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell, Austijn Cindric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
You’ll notice that a lot of star power is absent from that list. Drivers like Larson, 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, 2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott, 2015 and 2019 Cup Series champ Kyle Busch are still searching for their first wins in the Daytona 500.
Busch has the longest drought of anyone in that group. The 2026 Daytona 500 will be Busch’s 21st start and his luck in February at Daytona just simply hasn’t been good. Busch has just one win over 41 total starts at Daytona and only five of his 13 top-10 finishes in those races have come in the Daytona 500.
If he wins for Richard Childress Racing on Sunday, he’ll break a streak that was longer than Dale Earnhardt’s. The seven-time Cup Series champ finally won his first Daytona 500 in his 20th start in 1998.
Busch is also starting the race from the pole. He won his first Daytona 500 pole position on Wednesday night and would be the first driver since Dale Jarrett in 2000 to win after starting first.
Connor Zilisch is the only Cup Series rookie
The 19-year-old doesn’t have to do much to win Rookie of the Year in 2026 as he’s the only driver running for the award. Zilisch is moving up full-time to the Cup Series this season for Trackhouse Racing after 36 starts in what’s now the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
After winning once over four starts in 2024, Zilisch was dominant in 2025 with 10 victories and 23 top-10 finishes across 32 races for JR Motorsports in 2025. However, he didn’t win the series championship after he finished third behind champion Jesse Love in the final race of the season.
Zilisch is already an accomplished road racer and could quickly be the main foil for his Trackhouse teammate Shane van Gisbergen on road courses. van Gisbergen won five of six Cup Series road course races in 2025.
Jimmie Johnson returns
The seven-time Cup Series champion is continuing his part-time run in NASCAR with another Daytona 500. After taking the 2021 and 2022 seasons off from the Cup Series and trying his hand in IndyCar, Johnson has raced in the last three Daytona 500s for Legacy Motor Club and even finished third a season ago.
This season, Johnson doesn’t have to worry about qualifying for the race, either. Under a rule NASCAR implemented in 2025 that granted Helio Castroneves a guaranteed spot in the race, Johnson is locked into the field via the Open Exemption Provisional granted at NASCAR’s discretion to accomplished drivers running a part-time schedule.
Johnson’s inclusion into the field means 41 cars will start the Daytona 500 instead of 40. With 45 cars attempting to make the race, four drivers will fail to qualify for the race.
Who made it into the Daytona 500?
Casey Mears and BJ McLeod raced their way into the Daytona 500 during Thursday night's Duel qualifying races. And they accomplished their feats quite differently.
Mears spun entering pit road midway through the first Duel and was at the back of the main pack on the final lap. But Corey LaJoie — one of two drivers he was racing for a transfer spot into the 500 — was involved in a crash while running at the front of the field. Mears floored it as the crash occurred, and even ran into Daniel Suarez as Suarez hit the wall. But he crossed the finish line ahead of Chandler Smith as LaJoie's car was damaged in the infield grass.
In the second Duel, McLeod exited his car certain that he didn't make the 500. McLeod finished ahead of JJ Yeley but behind Anthony Alfredo in that race's transfer spot. However, Alfredo's car failed post-race inspection, and his disqualification put McLeod into the race.
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