The World Baseball Classic (WBC), also referred to as the World Classic is a quadrennial international baseball tournament sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the sport's global governing body, and organized by World Baseball Classic Inc., a partnership of the WBSC and Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), also in the U.S. It is one of the two main adult baseball tournaments sanctioned by the WBSC, alongside the other event, but the only one to grant the winner the title of "world champion". and award them the World Baseball Classic Championship Trophy.
After a three-year gap between the first two installments of the tournament, plans were made for the WBC to be repeated every four years following the 2009 event. The 2021 event was delayed to 2023 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; the 2026 event proceeded as originally scheduled. Japan is the only team to win the tournament multiple times, with back-to-back wins in 2006 and 2009, and a third win at the 2023 tournament.
History
Pre-WBC era (2006–09) 2006: No qualifying competition The 16-team field for the inaugural 2006 tournament was pre-selected, featuring the countries judged to be the "best baseball-playing nations" in the world; no qualifying competition was held. The tournament format featured round-robin group play in the first and second rounds, followed by single-elimination semifinals and finals. In the ninth, Japan would counter by pushing their offensive limit over Cuba's, which would result in a final score of ten to six. The aftermath of the final most notably included notice from MLB, from Cuba's increase in defection to Matsuzaka's impact for the World Series champion Boston Red Sox in the next year.
2009: Modified double-elimination The next iteration of the tournament, taking place in 2009, featured the same 16 teams from 2006. However, the controversial round-robin format from 2006 was replaced by a modified double-elimination format for the first two rounds (the semifinals and final game remained single-elimination). Darvish made short work of South Korea, capping with a strikeout of Keun-woo Jeong to clinch Japan's successful defense of their 2006 championship.
Pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka of Japan was awarded the tournament MVP for the second consecutive time, with a 3−0 record and 2.45 ERA.
After the match the team was congratulated immediately for their victory by Japanese prime minister Taro Aso, and South Korean president Lee Myung-bak invited the South Korean team to come and encourage the team.
Modern era (2013–present) 2013: Direct qualification The buildup to the 2013 tournament included a qualifying round for the first time, with the four lowest finishers from 2009 having to re-qualify against 12 additional teams.
The round-robin format was revived for the tournament's first-round, while the second-round remained double-elimination. This was the third time in the tournament that the Dominican Republic defeated Puerto Rico. 35,703 fans attended the game at AT&T Park in San Francisco. An additional 50,000 Dominican fans watched the game at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In Puerto Rico, the final was the most watched sporting event for the past year with nearly of all households tuning in.
The Dominican Republic completed the tournament with an 8–0 record, becoming the first undefeated team to win the WBC. Robinson Canó was named the Most Valuable Player of the Classic after he batted 15-for-32 (.469), the most hits in tournament history.
After the match, the team was congratulated for their victory by Dominican president Danilo Medina.
2017: Tournament format and tiebreakers The 2017 tournament returned to the format used in 2006, where both the first and second rounds were round-robin, though with the addition of tiebreaker games if needed.
The United States won its first WBC championship, defeating Japan and Puerto Rico in the semifinals and finals, respectively. Puerto Rico had been undefeated in the tournament before losing in the final.
2023: Extension In January 2020, MLB announced that the 2021 WBC would be expanded to 20 teams. The additional four participants would be determined through qualifying tournaments, which were originally planned to take place in March 2020. After defeating Cuba in the semifinals by a wide margin, the United States faced Japan in the championship game.
The final was incredibly popular in Japan, drawing over 54 million Japanese viewers. With a 3–2 lead, two outs, and no runners on base in the bottom of the ninth inning, Japan's Shohei Ohtani, one of the finest pitchers in recent memory, stood on the mound as his Angels teammate Mike Trout, widely considered the greatest player of his generation, stepped up to the plate. After the first pitch of this matchup, Fox Sports commentator Joe Davis reflected on the spectacle, saying, "As Benji Gil said last night, 'Baseball's already won.'" The two battled to a full count. Ohtani lured Trout to swing and miss with a slider down and away, sealing the victory for Japan.
The championship game was one of the most watched games in baseball history. The game was widely praised as an instant classic, with the ending duel between team captains Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani being considered as one of the greatest moments in the history of the sport.
After the match, Japan was congratulated for their victory by Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida. They became the second team to win the WBC without losing a single game the entire tournament, joining the Dominican Republic in 2013.
2026: New heights The event proved to be quite popular, however, providing many memorable moments including a first-round game between Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.
Venezuela had landslide victories over Japan and Italy in the quarterfinal and semifinal and won this year's World Baseball Classic tournament, beating the United States 3–2 in the championship game, with Eugenio Suarez hitting a go-ahead double in the top of the 9th to clinch their first title. It was the first major international sporting competition won by Venezuela since the 1945 Amateur World Series, and the second time in Latin America. Maikel García of Venezuela was named the MVP of the tournament.
The tournament has hit new high levels in attendance and US Television viewership: the 2023 attendance record was broken before the pool play was ended, and US viewership of the final hit 10 million viewers for the first time ever.
Participating teams
Number of MLB players by country (or possession) (2026 Season Total)RankCountry (or possession) 1 1081 2 144 3 93 4 34 5 27 6 22 7 15 8 13 9 8 10 6 11 5 12 4 13 3 14 2 2 2 2 2
The first two iterations of the Classic featured the same 16 teams, chosen by invitation. A qualifying round was added leading into the 2013 tournament and takes place in the year before the main tournament. Brazil and Spain were the first new countries to earn berths in the WBC via qualification, and so far the addition of qualifying has allowed seven nations to play in the tournament who were not part of the original 16.
The qualification setup for the 2013 and 2017 WBCs featured the top 12 finishing teams from the previous WBC being automatically entered in the following edition, while the four lowest finishers (the teams that finished in last place in their first-round pools) were relegated to the qualifying round. Qualifying consisted of four four-team modified double-elimination tournaments, with the winners earning the last four slots in the main tournament.
With the 2023 WBC expanding to 20 teams, the qualifying format changed, as well. All 16 participants from the 2017 WBC received automatic bids. The restructured qualifying round consisted of a pair of six-team double-elimination tournaments, from which the winners and runners-up advanced to play in the 2023 WBC.
Trophy
Rules of play
Results
+YearHosts First place game Semifinalists Teams Champion Score Runner-up Third place Fourth place12006 10–6Petco Park, San Diego 16220095–3(F/10)Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles 1632013 3–0AT&T Park, San Francisco 1642017 8–0Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles 1652023 3–2LoanDepot Park, Miami2062026 3–2LoanDepot Park, Miami20
Medal table
Honors Most Valuable Player
The inaugural winner of the Most Valuable Player award in 2006 was Japan's Daisuke Matsuzaka, who pitched 13 innings and finished with a 3–0 record. Soon after this performance, Matsuzaka received a multi-million dollar contract to join the Boston Red Sox of MLB. Again in the 2009 WBC, Matsuzaka received the world classic MVP, finishing with a record of 3–0 and an ERA of 2.54. In 2013, Robinson Canó won MVP after hitting .469 with two home runs and six RBI in the tournament. Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman won the award in 2017 for the U.S. Stroman posted a 2.35 ERA over three starts and no-hit Puerto Rico through six innings in an 8–0 win in the Finals.
In 2023, Los Angeles Angels two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani claimed MVP honors after slashing .435/.606/.739 as a hitter and posting a 1.86 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 9 innings as a pitcher, also pitching the final inning of Japan's win over the U.S. in the final. The 2026 MVP was Kansas City Royals third baseman Maikel García, who registered 10 hits and 7 RBI, including a key home run in Venezuela's upset quarterfinal win over Japan and an RBI in the championship game.
Year Player Position Team2006 Starting pitcher 2009 Daisuke Matsuzaka (2) Starting pitcher 2013 Second baseman 2017 Starting pitcher 2023 Starting pitcherDesignated hitter 2026 Third baseman
All-WBC teams At the end of each tournament, an all-star team is selected based on their play in the tournament. Three pitchers, eight other position players (one each at each position, including three outfielders), and a designated hitter are named to the team. Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, Puerto Rican catcher Yadier Molina and Puerto Rican shortstop Javier Báez are the only players to be named to the All-WBC team twice. Japanese two-way player Shohei Ohtani is the only player to be named to the All-WBC team at two separate positions, having been named to the 2023 team as both a designated hitter and a pitcher.
2006 2009 2013 2017 2023 2026 C Tomoya Satozaki Iván Rodríguez Yadier Molina Yadier Molina Salvador Pérez Austin Wells 1B Seung-yuop Lee Tae-kyun Kim Edwin Encarnación Eric Hosmer Yu Chang Luis Arráez 2B Yulieski Gourriel José López Robinson Canó Javier Báez Javier Báez Brice Turang 3B Adrián Beltré Bum-ho Lee David Wright Carlos Correa Yoán Moncada Maikel García SS Derek Jeter Jimmy Rollins José Reyes Francisco Lindor Trea Turner Ezequiel Tovar OF Ken Griffey Jr. Norichika Aoki Nelson Cruz Wladimir Balentien Randy Arozarena Roman Anthony Jong-beom Lee Frederich Cepeda Ángel Pagán Gregory Polanco Mike Trout Fernando Tatís Jr. Ichiro Suzuki Yoenis Céspedes Michael Saunders Christian Yelich Masataka Yoshida Dante Nori DH Yoandy Garlobo Hyun-soo Kim Hirokazu Ibata Carlos Beltrán Shohei Ohtani Shohei OhtaniP Yadel Martí Jung-keun Bong Nelson Figueroa Kodai Senga Shohei Ohtani Paul Skenes Daisuke Matsuzaka Hisashi Iwakuma Kenta Maeda Marcus Stroman Patrick Sandoval Logan Webb Chan Ho Park Daisuke Matsuzaka Fernando Rodney Josh Zeid Aaron Nola Overall, players representing 13 countries have been named to an All-WBC team, with Japan and the United States leading the way with 13 representatives each.
Rank 2006 2009 2013 2017 2023 2026 Total 3 3 2 1 3 1 13 2 1 1 3 2 4 13 0 1 3 5 1 0 10 1 0 5 1 0 2 9 3 4 0 0 0 0 7 3 2 0 0 2 07 0 1 0 0 1 3 5 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 22 0 0 1 0 0 01 0 0 0 1 0 01 0 0 0 1 0 01 0 0 0 0 1 01
Statistical leaders All-time WBC individual leaders in various counting statistical categories through the end of the 2023 tournament, excluding qualifier games.
Batting