The 2026 World Baseball Classic is set to initiate on March 5th, with pool play spanning across four cities: San Juan, Puerto Rico; Houston, Texas; Miami, Florida; and Tokyo, Japan. The tournament, featuring 20 national teams, will conclude on March 17th with the final game in Miami.
Italy will compete in Pool B, hosted in Houston, alongside the United States, Mexico, Great Britain and Brazil. Their first game is scheduled for March 7th against Brazil at 1 p.m. Local time. Italy aims to replicate their quarterfinal appearance from the 2023 tournament.
The tournament schedule includes a diverse range of matchups. In San Juan, Panama will face Cuba on March 6th, followed by Colombia against Puerto Rico and Canada against Colombia on March 7th. Tokyo will host Australia versus Chinese Taipei and South Korea versus the Czech Republic on March 5th. Miami will see Venezuela take on the Netherlands on March 6th, and the Dominican Republic face Nicaragua on March 7th.
The quarterfinals will be held in Miami and Houston, with the semi-finals and final taking place in Miami. The top two teams from the Americas will qualify for the 2028 Olympic baseball tournament in Los Angeles.
Japan enters the competition as the defending champion, having defeated the United States in the 2023 championship game. Shohei Ohtani was named MVP of the 2023 tournament.
Games involving Italy, as well as the decisive stages of the tournament, will be broadcast live on Sky Sport in Italy and streamed on SkyGo, and Now. OA Sport will provide live text coverage of Italy’s matches.
The qualifying tournament for the 2026 WBC saw Colombia, Nicaragua, Brazil, and Chinese Taipei secure their spots, joining the 16 teams that qualified based on their performance in the 2023 tournament. The qualifying pools were held in Taipei and Tucson, Arizona, in February and March of 2025.
Here is a detailed schedule of the pool play:
Pool A (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
- Friday, March 6th, 5:00 PM: Panama vs. Cuba
- Saturday, March 7th, 12:00 AM: Colombia vs. Puerto Rico
- Saturday, March 7th, 5:00 PM: Canada vs. Colombia
- Sunday, March 8th, 12:00 AM: Puerto Rico vs. Panama
- Sunday, March 8th, 5:00 PM: Cuba vs. Colombia
- Monday, March 9th, 12:00 AM: Panama vs. Canada
- Monday, March 9th, 5:00 PM: Colombia vs. Panama
- Tuesday, March 10th, 12:00 AM: Cuba vs. Puerto Rico
- Wednesday, March 11th, 12:00 AM: Canada vs. Puerto Rico
- Wednesday, March 11th, 8:00 PM: Canada vs. Cuba
Pool B (Houston, USA)
- Friday, March 6th, 7:00 PM: Great Britain vs. Mexico
- Saturday, March 7th, 2:00 AM: Brazil vs. USA
- Saturday, March 7th, 7:00 PM: Italy vs. Brazil
- Sunday, March 8th, 2:00 AM: USA vs. Great Britain
- Sunday, March 8th, 6:00 PM: Italy vs. Great Britain
- Monday, March 9th, 1:00 AM: Mexico vs. Brazil
- Monday, March 9th, 6:00 PM: Great Britain vs. Brazil
- Tuesday, March 10th, 1:00 AM: USA vs. Mexico
- Wednesday, March 11th, 2:00 AM: USA vs. Italy
- Thursday, March 12th, 12:00 AM: Mexico vs. Italy
Pool C (Tokyo, Japan)
- Thursday, March 5th, 4:00 AM: Australia vs. Chinese Taipei
- Thursday, March 5th, 11:00 AM: South Korea vs. Czechia
- Friday, March 6th, 4:00 AM: Czechia vs. Australia
- Friday, March 6th, 11:00 AM: Chinese Taipei vs. Japan
- Saturday, March 7th, 4:00 AM: Czechia vs. Chinese Taipei
- Saturday, March 7th, 11:00 AM: Japan vs. South Korea
- Sunday, March 8th, 4:00 AM: South Korea vs. Chinese Taipei
- Sunday, March 8th, 11:00 AM: Japan vs. Australia
- Monday, March 9th, 11:00 AM: South Korea vs. Australia
- Tuesday, March 10th, 11:00 AM: Czechia vs. Japan
Pool D (Miami, USA)
- Friday, March 6th, 6:00 PM: Venezuela vs. Netherlands
- Saturday, March 7th, 1:00 AM: Dominican Republic vs. Nicaragua
- Saturday, March 7th, 6:00 PM: Netherlands vs. Nicaragua
- Sunday, March 8th, 1:00 AM: Venezuela vs. Israel
- Sunday, March 8th, 5:00 PM: Dominican Republic vs. Netherlands
- Monday, March 9th, 12:00 AM: Israel vs. Nicaragua
- Monday, March 9th, 5:00 PM: Israel vs. Dominican Republic
- Tuesday, March 10th, 12:00 AM: Nicaragua vs. Venezuela
- Wednesday, March 11th, 12:00 AM: Netherlands vs. Israel
- Thursday, March 12th, 1:00 AM: Venezuela vs. Dominican Republic