World Baseball Classic 2026 (Includes 2025 Qualifying Action)

[Ro Mueller]

The next World Baseball Classic is scheduled to take place from March 5-17, 2026 in Miami, Houston, San Juan and Tokyo.

20 countries will participate, with 16 pre-qualified based on their 2023 WBC performance. Japan is the defending champ.

4 additional countries will qualify from contests scheduled from February 21 - March 6, 2025, with these games played in Taipei and Tucson.

[Ro Mueller]

INF Freddy Zamora is part of the Nicaraguan squad attempting to qualify for WBC 2026 as one of 2 teams from a group that includes South Africa, Spain and Chinese Taipei. 

 

[nate82]

I am going to assume Chourio will play for Venezuela.  

[Ro Mueller]

3 hours ago, nate82 said:

I am going to assume Chourio will play for Venezuela.  

Yeah, we're over a year away from the main competition, but I'd imagine that guys like Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick and Tyler Black will be interested.

Here's a reminder of some current and former Brewers who participated in 2023:

• Francisco Mejia, Gary Sanchez, Willy Adames, Jean Segura - Dominican Republic
• Hernan Perez, Eduardo Escobar, Omar Narvaez, Elieser Hernandez, Jhoulys Chacin - Venezuela
• Martin Maldonado, Jorge Lopez, Alex Claudio - Puerto Rico
• Carlos F. Rodriguez - Nicaragua
• Robert Stock - Israel
• Chavez Young, Jack Seppings, Michael Peterson - Great Britain
• Abraham Toro, Rob Zastryzny, John Axford - Canada
• Jorge Alfaro, Julio Teheran - Colombia
• Luis Urias, Rowdy Tellez, Victor Castaneda - Mexico
• Devin Williams - USA
• Eric Sogard - Czech Republic
• Alex Hall - Australia
• Christian Bethancourt, Andy Otero, Matt Hardy, Javy Guerra - Panama
• Jonathan Schoop - Netherlands
• Sal Frelick, Brett Sullivan, Michele Vassalotti, Vinny Nittoli - Italy  
• Wei-Chung Wang - Chinese Taipei 

[Frisbee Slider]

1 hour ago, Ro Mueller said:

Wei-Chung Wang - Chinese Taipei 

Still only 32 years old, pitching in China

[SomewhereInTime]

On 1/14/2025 at 6:16 PM, Frisbee Slider said:

Still only 32 years old, pitching in China

Taiwan

[Jim Goulart]

RHP Stiven Cruz of Nicaragua was denied permission by the Brewers to participate in the WBC qualifiers, as per this post:

 

[Ro Mueller]

INF Freddy Zamora is headed to Taiwan before 2026 WBC qualifiers against South Africa, Spain and Chinese Taipei later this month: 

 

[Jim Goulart]

"Manager Jendrick Speer announced Germany's 28-player roster for the World Baseball Classic Qualifier, which is due to take place at the Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium in Tucson (Arizona), USA from March 2 to 6. World No. 17 Germany will face No. 13 Colombia, No. 20 China and No. 23 Brazil."

Current Brewers organization catcher Yannic Walther, 20, made his professional debut in 2023.

 

[Ro Mueller]

Nicaragua (including SS Freddy Zamora) and South Africa kick off WBC Qualifiers tonight at 10:00pm CST, with the game available live on YouTube:

 

[Ro Mueller]

Nicaragua’s is on the board, thanks to a SS Freddy Zamora RBI single in the bottom of the 7th inning. He then appeared to score on a balk for a 2-1 lead, but was instead called out on a hidden ball trick. Chaos.

 

[Ro Mueller]

Nicaragua walks it off in the 10th to defeat South Africa 2-1. SS Freddy Zamora was 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. 

 

[Jim Goulart]

12 hours ago, Ro Mueller said:

He then appeared to score on a balk for a 2-1 lead, but was instead called out on a hidden ball trick.

Video and story behind that play

[Ro Mueller]

The Nicaragua vs. Spain contest is underway and can be watched live: 

 

[Ro Mueller]

Two games, two 2-1 walk-off victories in 10 innings for Nicaragua, this time defeating Spain. Spain had 2 or more runners on with 1 out in each of the 8th, 9th and 10th innings, but failed to push a run across.

SS Freddy Zamora (0-for-2, 2 walks) made a nifty play here: 

 

[Ro Mueller]

Here’s the game-winning hit: 

 

[Ro Mueller]

The final group match is Nicaragua (2-0) against Chinese Taipei (1-1). Spain finished with a 2-1 record, while conceding 8 total runs (the main tiebreaker).

Nicaragua can automatically qualify for the 2026 WBC with a victory OR by holding Chinese Taipei to 6 or fewer runs. Otherwise they’ll drop to 2nd or 3rd place in the group and play a win-or-else re-match against Chinese Taipei for the 2nd qualifying spot: 

 

[Ro Mueller]

SS Freddy Zamora is contributing both ways and Nicaragua leads Chinese Taipei 3-0 through 6 innings: 

 

[Ro Mueller]

Nicaragua punches their ticket to the March 2026 WBC with a 6-0 victory. They allowed just 2 runs in 29 innings across 3 games. 

 

[Ro Mueller]

The second set of WCB qualifiers are commencing this minute in Tucson, Arizona, with 20-year old Brewers’ catcher Yannic Walther starting Germany’s opening game (and hitting clean-up!) against China: 

 

[Ro Mueller]

Germany took advantage of 3 early errors by China to build a 6-2 lead, then added 6 more runs in the 7th inning to win 12-2 by mercy rule. C Yannic Walther went 0-for-3 (line out, fly out, reached on fly out error) and was 0-for-1 attempting to throw out basestealers.

Colombia prevailed 5-0 over Brazil in the other match-up.

Today at 12:00pm CST, Germany (1-0) faces Brazil (0-1), with Colombia (1-0) and China (0-1) playing at 7:00pm CST.

 

[Ro Mueller]

Germany's second qualifier (against Brazil) is under way, with the Brewers' Yannic Walther batting 6th and playing right field. Unfortunately, Germany has left 5 on base through the first 2 innings: 

 

[dlk9s]

https://x.com/MLBPipeline/status/1896643326407057529

[Ro Mueller]

Oh my. Our man Yannic Walther (1-for-4) struggled in right field as Germany lost 9-7 to Brazil, going 1-for-11 with RISP and stranding 14 baserunners. They drop to a 1-1 record and play Colombia tomorrow at 7pm CST. 

 

[Ro Mueller]

Germany (1-2) fell 10-0 to Colombia (3-0) in their final group match, with Yannic Walther not seeing action.

Fortunately, the format now pits them in a qualify-or-go-home rematch against Brazil (2-1) on Thursday at 7pm.