AREQUIPA, Peru – The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) made known this Wednesday the qualifying groups for the upcoming World Baseball Classic to be held in 2026.
In section A, based in Puerto Rico, in addition to the hosts, the following were located: Cuban national teamsCanada and Panama; while Group B, which will be played in Texas, will feature teams from the United States, Mexico, Italy and Great Britain.
For its part, Japan will host the matches in Group C where the locals will face South Korea, Australia and the Czech Republic and in Group D, with a seat in MiamiVenezuela, the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands and Israel will compete.
The last four teams to be classified have yet to be defined, and will complete each group.
This will be the sixth edition of the tournament, where the team from the Land of the Rising Sun has won three times and the teams from the United States and the Dominican Republic have won once each.
At the final event, held last year, the Japanese claimed their third crown, the Americans came second, Mexico third and Cuba fourth.
The World Baseball Classic or simply the World Classic is the main official international tournament of that sportsanctioned by the WBSC and created by the World Baseball Classic Inc. (MLB in English) and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) which brings together the best national teams in the world.
The tournament, one of the most-watched baseball events in the world, previously co-occurred with Olympic Baseball and the Baseball World Cup as International Baseball Federation tournaments, but both tournaments have been discontinued in favor of the World Baseball Classic.
Therefore, it is from the 2013 edition that the winner of the event is recognized as “The World Champion”.
The tournament is the first of its kind with which the national teams Baseball teams feature professional players from the world’s top leagues, including the Major Leagues.
