.The Planet Baseball Classic is actually readied to return for a 6th version in 2026. The tournament, which includes international groups composed of a number of the globe's best baseball talent, will definitely start with four Swimming pool Groups contending coming from March 5-11. Japan will certainly contend once more as the ruling WBC champs after defeating the U.S., 3-2, in the national championship in 2023 with the support Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani.The to begin with 16 teams set to complete in the 2026 WBC are: Puerto Rico, Cuba, Canada, Panama (Pool A) U.S.A., Mexico, Italy, Great Britain (Swimming Pool B) Japan, Australia, Korea, Czechia (Swimming Pool C) Venezuela, Dominican Commonwealth, Netherlands, Israel (Swimming Pool D). Four more training groups will certainly be actually added before the tournament to complete the final 20, and the preliminary round of play will definitely happen depending on to the observing schedule: MARCH 5-10Pool C at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, JapanMARCH 6-11Pool A at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto RicoPool B at Moment Maid Park in Houston, TexasPool D at LoanDepot Playground in Miami, FloridaMiami is going to additionally throw the semifinals as well as championship game.Japan is the only country to have actually gained the WBC more than as soon as, take away the championship hardware in 2009 as well as 2006 aside from 2023. Other past winners consist of the united state (2017) as well as the Dominican Commonwealth (2013 ). [Want wonderful tales provided straight to your inbox? Develop or even log in to your FOX Sports profile, follow leagues, groups and also gamers to acquire an individualized email list daily.] Adhere to Follow your faves to tailor your FOX Sports take in Globe Baseball Classic Get much more coming from World Baseball Standard Observe your favorites to get information concerning activities, headlines and even more.