The qualifying round of the 2026 World Baseball Classic, officially called the World Baseball Classic 2025 Qualifiers, was held from February 21 to March 6, 2025. The top four teams in each pool of the 2023 World Baseball Classic automatically qualified for the 2026 tournament. The qualifiers consisted of two tournaments with four teams each, and was held in Taipei, Taiwan, and Tucson, United States of America. Two teams of each tournament qualified for the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
Qualified teams
TeamWorld rankingMethod of qualificationClassic appearancePrevious best position12th2023 World Baseball Classic pool stage top four6thQuarterfinals (2023)22nd6thPool stage10th6thRunners-up (2006)15th2ndPool stage11th6thChampions (2013)18th2ndPool stage19th3rdQuarterfinals (2017)14th6thQuarterfinals (2013, 2023)1st6thChampions (2006, 2009, 2023)4th6thThird place (2023)7th6thFourth place (2013, 2017)8th4thPool stage9th6thRunners-up (2013, 2017)6th6thRunners-up (2009)5th6thChampions (2017)3rd6thFourth place (2009)16thPool A winner2ndPool stage2ndPool A second-place playoff winner6thQuarterfinals (2013)13thPool B winner3rdPool stage23rdPool B second-place playoff winner2ndPool stage
Players
Venues Qualifier 1Qualifier 2 Taipei, Taiwan Tucson, U.S.Taipei DomeKino Veterans Memorial StadiumCapacity: 40,000Capacity: 11,000
Pools composition
Pool APool B (2) (hosts) (13) (16) (17) (24) (20) (31) (23)
The format consisted of two rounds. The first round was a round-robin, with the teams playing each other once. After the six games from each group, the first-placed team qualified for the final tournament, while the second and third-placed teams play in a seventh game where the winner also qualified.
Pool A Pool A took place at the Taipei Dome in Taipei, Taiwan, from February 21–25, 2025.
Opening round
Second-place playoff
Pool B
Pool B took place at the Kino Sports Complex's Veterans Memorial Stadium in Tucson, Arizona, United States, on March 2–6, 2025.
Opening round
Second-place playoff
Statistical leaders
Batting leadersStatisticNameTotal/AvgBatting average* Dilson Herrera .583Hits Po-Hsuan Wang 8Runs Dante Bichette Jr. 5Runs batted in Rusber Estrada Jesús Marriaga 7On-base percentage* Po-Hsuan Wang .632Slugging percentage* Jesús Marriaga 1.000OPS* Jesús Marriaga 1.538 * Minimum 2.7 plate appearances per team game
Pitching leadersStatisticNameTotal/AvgERA* Adrián Almedia Yeudy García Jesús Garrido Pablo Guillén Dancaireng Hua Dilmer Mejía Julio Teherán Dylan Unsworth 0.00Innings pitched Yeudy García 7.0Strikeouts Ramón Rosso 9 * Minimum 0.8 innings pitched per team game
Awards While no official awards were given, MLB.com named 10 standout players from the qualifiers. NamePositionNotes Leonardo Reginatto3B5-for-13 with three doubles and four RBIs Brandon LeytónIF6-for-13 with two doubles, a homer, and two RBIs. Jesús MarriagaOF.500/.538/1.000 line with a home run, double, triple, and seven RBIs Rusber EstradaCTwo home runs and seven RBIs Ronald MedranoSPFive IP and eight strikeouts Yu ChangSS7-for-18 with four doubles and a home run Jo-Hsi HsuRPFive strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings of work Julio TeheránSPNo hits in first five innings Brayan BuelvasOF5-for-11 with a double, triple, four RBIs and a stolen base Simon Baumgardt2BSix hits, three walks, two RBIs and a stolen base
Broadcast On February 3, alongside the first pool roster reveals, it was announced that the 2025 WBC qualifiers would be shown on the WBC YouTube channel, WBC Facebook page, MLB.tv and WBC website (WorldBaseballClassic.com). MLB Network will also broadcast select games for all its covered areas (including US).
Like the 2022 qualifiers, qualifiers and already qualified teams also have broadcast partners locally, as follows:
Territory Rights holder(s) Ref. Brazil China Colombia GermanySportdigital Latin America (excluding Brazil) Panama South KoreaSpoTV Sub-Saharan AfricaESPN Africa Taiwan United States BahamasMLB Network Bonaire CanadaCayman IslandsCuraçaoPuerto RicoUS Virgin IslandsSint Maarten
See also List of sporting events in Taiwan
Notes
References
External links Official website