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What is the World Baseball Classic?
The World Baseball Classic is an international baseball tournament that was founded in 2005 ahead of the first-ever tournament in 2006. There have been five previous tournaments (2021 was cancelled), meaning the 2026 tournament will be the sixth.
Originally, it started off with sixteen teams, it remained that way during the first four tournaments before being expanded ahead of the 2023 tournament, and it now features twenty teams.
Those teams can qualify via different routes. In 2026, for example, sixteen of the twenty have been made up by the teams finishing in the top four during the pool stages of the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
The remaining four places are then made up via a qualification route. There are two pools in qualification, and the top two from each pool book their place at the World Baseball Classic.
The final has always been hosted in the US, but pool matches have been played in multiple countries, with Japan, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Taiwan and South Korea all hosting pool matches in the past.
The winners of the World Baseball Classic are given the official title of 'World Champions', with Japan being the World Champions on three occasions.
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2026 World Baseball Classic Preview
The tournament gets underway on the 5th of March and will run through to the final on the 17th of March, with, for the second tournament running, twenty teams taking part and Japan as the defending champions.
| World Baseball Classic 2026 18 Mar @ 01:00 - Win Tournament | ||
|---|---|---|
| USA | 1.91 | |
| Japan | 4.50 | |
| Dominican Republic | 5.25 | |
Pool A will feature the hosts Puerto Rico, Cuba, Canada, Panama and Colombia, with the Pool matches all being played at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium.
Pool B will play their games at Daikin Park (Houston) with the hosts United States, Mexico, Italy, Great Britain and Brazil making up the pool.
Pool C will be hosted by Japan, with Australia, South Korea, Czechia and Chinese Taipei making up the pool and games being played at the Tokyo Dome.
Pool D will play their games in Miami at the LoanDepot Park and will be made up of Venezuela, Dominican Republic, the Netherlands, Israel and Nicaragua.
The knockout stages will be made up of the top two teams from each pool, with pool winners facing pool runners-up. Miami and Houston will host the knockout stages, with Miami hosting the final.
Who will win the 2026 World Baseball Classic? Head over to the baseball predictions to see which teams the OLBG baseball tipsters are picking daily and which teams they think will advance to the playoffs.
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Past World Baseball Classic Champions
We have had five previous tournaments under this format, and as you can see below, Japan have won three of those (60%).
Their first win came in the inaugural tournament in 2006 when they defeated Cuba 10-6, and then they backed that up three years later in 2009, beating South Korea 5-3.
They had a long wait for their third title, which came in 2023 when facing the United States in the final for the first time and came out as 3-2 winners.
The other two to pick up wins were the Dominican Republic (2013) and the United States (2017).
The Dominican Republic defeated Puerto Rico 3-0 in 2013, and then the United States set the record for the biggest win in a final with an 8-0 win over Puerto Rico in 2017.
Here are the last five winners of the World Baseball Classic Champions:
| Year | Winners | Score | Losers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Japan | 3-2 | United States |
| 2017 | United States | 8-0 | Puerto Rico |
| 2013 | Dominican Republic | 3-0 | Puerto Rico |
| 2009 | Japan | 5-3 | South Korea |
| 2006 | Japan | 10-6 | Cuba |
How do WBC Favourites Perform?
You cannot really compare the WBC to the likes of the MLB, KBO or NPB when it comes to comparing favourites, the quality between teams is very different and the format too.
As you can see below, over the last five tournaments, the favourites have on average won 72% of matches, with the last two around the 75% mark, that is, 3 in 4 favourites winning.
| Season | Favourites | Underdogs |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 27-38 (71.1%) | 11-38 (29.0%) |
| 2013 | 26-39 (66.7%) | 13-39 (33.3%) |
| 2017 | 30-40 (75.0%) | 10-40 (25.0%) |
| 2023 | 35-47 (74.5%) | 12-47 (25.5%) |
| Total | 118-164 (72.0%) | 46-164 (28.0%) |
2023 World Baseball Classic Knockout Recap
Here is how the 2023 World Baseball Classic was won, looking at the tournament from the knockout stages.
Article Contributor Information
Andy Powell stands as the linchpin behind OLBG's dynamic baseball content, blending his passion for the MLB and international leagues like NPB and KBO by creating and maintaining the baseball content on OLBG, which includes this World Baseball Classic preview.
The statistics used in this blog include only regular-season games from the beginning of the 2021 season until the end of the 2025 season.
Andy Powell
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