2023 World Baseball Classic

It began on March 8, 2023, and ran until March 21.

2023 World Baseball Classic

Tournament details
Countries	Japan Taiwan United States
Dates	March 8–21, 2023
Teams	20 (from 4 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	Japan (3rd title)
Runner-up	United States
Third place	Mexico
Fourth place	Cuba
Tournament statistics
Games played	47
Attendance	1,165,857 (24,805 per game)
MVP	Shohei Ohtani
← 2017 2026 →

It was originally scheduled to take place in 2021, four years after the previous event, but was canceled in May 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was later announced that qualifications for the Classic would start in September 2022, as agreed by World Baseball Classic Inc. (WBCI) The tournament expanded from 16 to 20 national teams, with all teams that participated in the 2017 edition automatically qualifying, plus four additional spots. Unlike in 2009, 2013 and 2017, the U.S. lineup attracted some distinguished players and attracted significant attention for the tournament.

Japan won their record-extending third title after defeating defending champions United States 3–2 in the championship game, becoming the second team since the Dominican Republic in the 2013 World Baseball Classic to win the WBC with an undefeated record. Shohei Ohtani was named the World Baseball Classic Most Valuable Player.

Qualification

 

In January 2020, the WBC announced that the 16 national teams which participated at the 2017 World Baseball Classic would automatically qualify for the 2023 tournament.

A qualifying tournament was scheduled for March 2020 in Tucson, Arizona, United States, to determine the last four teams. Twelve teams were split into two pools, and the top two teams in each pool would qualify. On March 12, 2020, Major League Baseball announced that the qualifying tournaments were being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The qualification tournament ended up postponing to September 16–21, 2022, for the Africa/Europe qualifiers and September 30 – October 5, 2022, for the Americas/Asia/Oceania qualifiers.

The Czech Republic, Great Britain, and Nicaragua made their first appearance in the World Baseball Classic, while Panama returned after having missed out on two World Baseball Classic appearances. This was the third consecutive time that South Africa, the only African team, did not qualify for the World Baseball Classic, and the second consecutive time that both Brazil and Spain did not qualify. With Panama qualified for the World Baseball Classic for the first time since 2009, South Africa now has the longest active WBC appearance drought at 14 years, having not qualified since 2009.

Qualified teams

Region	Team	Qualification method	Prev. apps	Previous best result	WBSC World Rankings
Americas	Canada	Automatically qualified	4	Pool stage (2006, 2009, 2013, 2017)	14
	Colombia	Automatically qualified	1	Pool stage (2017)	11
	Cuba	Automatically qualified	4	Runners-up (2006)	8
	Dominican Republic	Automatically qualified	4	Champions (2013)	9
	Mexico	Automatically qualified	4	Quarterfinals (2006, 2009)	5
	Puerto Rico	Automatically qualified	4	Runners-up (2013, 2017)	13
	United States	Automatically qualified as hosts	4	Champions (2017)	3
	Venezuela	Automatically qualified	4	Third place (2009)	6
	Panama	Qualifier 2 Winners	2	Pool stage (2006, 2009)	12
	Nicaragua	Qualifier 2 Runners-up	0	None (debut)	17
Asia	China	Automatically qualified	4	Pool stage (2006, 2009, 2013, 2017)	30
	Chinese Taipei	Automatically qualified as hosts	4	Quarterfinals (2013)	2
	Japan	Automatically qualified as hosts	4	Champions (2006, 2009)	1
	South Korea	Automatically qualified	4	Runners-up (2009)	4
Europe	Israel	Automatically qualified	1	Quarterfinals (2017)	20
	Italy	Automatically qualified	4	Quarterfinals (2013)	16
	Netherlands	Automatically qualified	4	Fourth place (2013, 2017)	7
	Great Britain	Qualifier 1 Winners	0	None (debut)	22
	Czech Republic	Qualifier 1 Runners-up	0	None (debut)	15
Oceania	Australia	Automatically qualified	4	Pool stage (2006, 2009, 2013, 2017)	10

Draw

The pool draw was announced by World Baseball Classic Inc. (WBCI) on July 7, 2022. Organizers prioritized placement in separate pools of the four nations which reached the semifinals of the 2017 WBC (Japan, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, and the United States) and the three hosts (Japan, the United States, and Taiwan). Remaining pool assignments were made based on WBSC World Rankings, competitive balance, and commercial and geographic interest.

Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate positions in the WBSC World Rankings at the time of the draw.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5
Japan (1) (H)   Chinese Taipei (2) (H)   United States (5) (H)   Puerto Rico (16)	Netherlands (8)   South Korea (3)   Mexico (4)   Dominican Republic (6)	Venezuela (7)   Cuba (9)   Australia (10)   Colombia (11)	Canada (12)   Italy (17)   Israel (20)   China (21)	Panama (13)   Czech Republic (14)   Nicaragua (15)   Great Britain (24)

Four stadiums were used during the main tournament.

Pool A	Pool B & Quarterfinals	Pool C	Pool D, Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Championship
Taichung, Taiwan	Tokyo, Japan	Phoenix, United States	Miami, United States
Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium	Tokyo Dome	Chase Field	LoanDepot Park
Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 45,600	Capacity: 48,686	Capacity: 36,742

Attendance

The first round of the tournament drew 1,010,999 fans across all four venues, nearly double the previous record for the WBC. This included 361,976 fans in Tokyo for Pool B and 295,850 fans in Miami for Pool D. Total attendance for the tournament across all rounds was 1,306,414, the highest in WBC history.

Team base camps

National squads' base camps
Team City   Australia Fuchu   Canada Mesa   China Hioki   Chinese Taipei Taichung   Colombia Mesa   Cuba Okinawa, Taipei   Czech Republic Miyazaki   Dominican Republic Fort Myers   Great Britain Phoenix   Israel Jupiter	Team City   Italy Taichung   Japan Miyazaki   Mexico Scottsdale   Netherlands Taichung   Nicaragua Vero Beach   Panama Taichung   Puerto Rico Fort Myers   South Korea Tucson   United States Scottsdale   Venezuela West Palm Beach

Participating nations had to submit their final 30-man rosters no later than February 7, 2023. WBC rules required teams to carry at least 14 pitchers and two catchers on their rosters.

On March 7, 2023, Major League Baseball and the World Baseball Softball Confederation released the list of officials for the tournament.

Umpires

^Note Incorrectly listed as Ki Talk Park

Supervisors

The prize money allocation was released by Major League Baseball and the World Baseball Softball Confederation on March 7, 2023. Teams collect each stage they qualify in – the champions can collect a maximum of $3 million if they are a pool winner.

Scheduled locations and dates are as follows:

Pool A

Pool A was contested in Taichung during March 8–12, 2023.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	RF	RA	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Cuba	4	2	2	25	15	.500	—	Advance to quarterfinals Qualification for 2026 World Baseball Classic
2	Italy	4	2	2	20	17	.500	—
3	Netherlands	4	2	2	13	19	.500	—	Qualification for 2026 World Baseball Classic
4	Panama	4	2	2	19	21	.500	—
5	Chinese Taipei (H)	4	2	2	26	31	.500	—