World Baseball Classic

Pre-WBC era (2006–17)

The 16-team field for the inaugural 2006 tournament was pre-selected, featuring the countries judged to be the "best baseball-playing nations" in the world; no qualifying competition was held. The tournament format featured round-robin group play in the first and second rounds, followed by single-elimination semifinals and finals. Japan then defeated Cuba 10–6 to be crowned the first champion of the World Baseball Classic.

The next iteration of the tournament, taking place in 2009, featured the same 16 teams from 2006. However, the controversial round-robin format from 2006 was replaced by a modified double-elimination format for the first two rounds (the semifinals and final game remained single-elimination). The eight teams advancing from the first round were the same as in 2006, except for a "Cinderella" performance by the Netherlands, which twice defeated the Dominican Republic to reach the second round.

Darvish made short work of South Korea, capping with a strikeout of Keun-woo Jeong to clinch Japan's successful defense of their 2006 championship. In fact, the final series in 2006 and 2009 rank among the highest-rated sporting events in Japanese television history.

The buildup to the 2013 tournament included a qualifying round for the first time, with the four lowest finishers from 2009 having to re-qualify against 12 additional teams. The round-robin format was revived for the tournament's first-round, while the second-round remained double-elimination. As a result, two new teams competed for the first time: (Brazil and Spain, respectively replacing Panama and South Africa).

Although Chinese Taipei lost its 2−0 lead in Korea's three-run eighth-inning rally, and then lost the game, they emerged as winners of the pool and of the second-round berth since Korea's margin of victory was only one run.

The tournament ended in an all-Caribbean championship game, with the Dominican Republic defeating Puerto Rico. In the final game, the Dominican Republic defeated Puerto Rico to become the first WBC champion from the Western Hemisphere, as well as the first team to complete the WBC with an undefeated record.

The Dominican Republic completed the tournament with an 8–0 record, becoming the first undefeated team to win the WBC. Robinson Canó was named the Most Valuable Player of the Classic after he batted 15-for-32 (.469), the most hits in tournament history.

35,703 fans attended the game at AT&T Park in San Francisco. An additional 50,000 Dominican fans watched the game at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In Puerto Rico, the final was the most watched sporting event for the past year with nearly 3⁄4 of all households tuning in. After the match, the team was congratulated for their victory by Dominican president Danilo Medina.

The 2017 tournament returned to the format used in 2006, where both the first and second rounds were round-robin, though with the addition of tiebreaker games if needed. Colombia and Israel qualified for the first time, with Israel using a roster mostly of Jewish American players.

The United States won its first WBC championship, defeating Japan and Puerto Rico in the semifinals and finals, respectively.

Modern era (2023–present)

In January 2020, MLB announced that the 2021 WBC would be expanded to 20 teams. However, on March 12, MLB announced that the 2021 tournament would be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Qualification for the tournament concluded on October 5, 2022, with Nicaragua claiming the final berth in a victory against Brazil.

Meanwhile, Japan faced Mexico in the semifinals, who were on a Cinderella run, led by Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena.

After defeating Cuba in the semifinals by a wide margin, the United States faced Japan in the championship game. The final was incredibly popular in Japan, drawing over 54 million Japanese viewers. With a 3–2 lead, two outs, and no runners on base in the bottom of the ninth inning, Japan's Shohei Ohtani, one of the finest pitchers in recent memory, stood on the mound as his Angels teammate Mike Trout, widely considered the greatest player of his generation, stepped up to the plate. After the first pitch of this matchup, Fox Sports commentator Joe Davis reflected on the spectacle, saying, "As Benji Gil said last night, 'Baseball's already won.'"

After the match, Japan was congratulated for their victory by Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida. They became the second team to win the WBC without losing a single game the entire tournament, joining the Dominican Republic in 2013.

The event proved to be quite popular, however, providing many memorable moments including a first-round game between Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.

Venezuela had landslide victories over Japan and Italy in the quarterfinal and semifinal and won this year's World Baseball Classic tournament, beating the United States 3–2 in the championship game, with Eugenio Suarez hitting a go-ahead double in the top of the 9th to clinch their first title. It was the first major international sporting competition won by Venezuela since the 1945 Amateur World Series, and the second time in Latin America. Maikel García of Venezuela was named the MVP of the tournament.

The tournament has hit new high levels in attendance and US Television viewership: the 2023 attendance record was broken before the pool play was ended, and US viewership of the final hit 10 million viewers for the first time ever.

Teams reaching the top four

After the conclusion of each WBC championship game, players from the losing team receive silver medals, followed by the winners receiving gold medals. The third-place team receives bronze medals at a separate date. The WBC does not hold a third-place playoff, so the ranking of the third- and fourth-placed teams is determined by the WBSC.

Teams reaching the top four

Team	Champions	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place	Total
Japan	3 (2006, 2009, 2023)	–	2 (2013, 2017)		5
United States	1 (2017)	2 (2023, 2026)	–	1 (2009)	4
Dominican Republic	1 (2013)	–	1 (2026)	1 (2006)	3
Venezuela	1 (2026)	–	1 (2009)	–	2
Puerto Rico	–	2 (2013, 2017)	–	–	2
South Korea	–	1 (2009)	1 (2006)	–	2
Cuba	–	1 (2006)	–	1 (2023)	2
Mexico	–	–	1 (2023)	–	1
Netherlands	–	–		2 (2013, 2017)	2
Italy	–	–	–	1 (2026)	1

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Japan	3	0	2	5
2	United States	1	2	0	3
3	Dominican Republic	1	0	1	2
	Venezuela	1	0	1	2
5	Puerto Rico	0	2	0	2
6	South Korea	0	1	1	2
7	Cuba	0	1	0	1
8	Mexico	0	0	1	1
Totals (8 entries)		6	6	6	18

Most Valuable Player

The inaugural winner of the Most Valuable Player award in 2006 was Japan's Daisuke Matsuzaka, who pitched 13 innings and finished with a 3–0 record. Soon after this performance, Matsuzaka received a multi-million dollar contract to join the Boston Red Sox of MLB. Again in the 2009 WBC, Matsuzaka received the world classic MVP, finishing with a record of 3–0 and an ERA of 2.54. In 2013, Robinson Canó won MVP after hitting .469 with two home runs and six RBI in the tournament. Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman won the award in 2017 for the U.S. Stroman posted a 2.35 ERA over three starts and no-hit Puerto Rico through six innings in an 8–0 win in the Finals.

In 2023, Los Angeles Angels two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani claimed MVP honors after slashing .435/.606/.739 as a hitter and posting a 1.86 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 92⁄3 innings as a pitcher, also pitching the final inning of Japan's win over the U.S. in the final. The 2026 MVP was Kansas City Royals third baseman Maikel García, who registered 10 hits and 7 RBI, including a key home run in Venezuela's upset quarterfinal win over Japan and an RBI in the championship game.

Year	Player	Position	Team
2006	Daisuke Matsuzaka	Starting pitcher	Japan
2009	Daisuke Matsuzaka (2)	Starting pitcher	Japan
2013	Robinson Canó	Second baseman	Dominican Republic
2017	Marcus Stroman	Starting pitcher	United States
2023	Shohei Ohtani	Starting pitcher Designated hitter	Japan
2026	Maikel García	Third baseman	Venezuela

All-WBC teams

At the end of each tournament, an all-star team is selected based on their play in the tournament. Three pitchers, eight other position players (one each at each position, including three outfielders), and a designated hitter are named to the team. Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, Puerto Rican catcher Yadier Molina and Puerto Rican shortstop Javier Báez are the only players to be named to the All-WBC team twice. Japanese two-way player Shohei Ohtani is the only player to be named to the All-WBC team at two separate positions, having been named to the 2023 team as both a designated hitter and a pitcher.

Pos.	2006	2009	2013	2017	2023	2026
C	Tomoya Satozaki	Iván Rodríguez	Yadier Molina	Yadier Molina	Salvador Pérez	Austin Wells
1B	Seung-yuop Lee	Tae-kyun Kim	Edwin Encarnación	Eric Hosmer	Yu Chang	Luis Arráez
2B	Yulieski Gourriel	José López	Robinson Canó	Javier Báez	Javier Báez	Brice Turang
3B	Adrián Beltré	Bum-ho Lee	David Wright	Carlos Correa	Yoán Moncada	Maikel García
SS	Derek Jeter	Jimmy Rollins	José Reyes	Francisco Lindor	Trea Turner	Ezequiel Tovar
OF	Ken Griffey Jr.	Norichika Aoki	Nelson Cruz	Wladimir Balentien	Randy Arozarena	Roman Anthony
	Jong-beom Lee	Frederich Cepeda	Ángel Pagán	Gregory Polanco	Mike Trout	Fernando Tatís Jr.
	Ichiro Suzuki	Yoenis Céspedes	Michael Saunders	Christian Yelich	Masataka Yoshida	Dante Nori
DH	Yoandy Garlobo	Hyun-soo Kim	Hirokazu Ibata	Carlos Beltrán	Shohei Ohtani	Shohei Ohtani
P	Yadel Martí	Jung-keun Bong	Nelson Figueroa	Kodai Senga	Shohei Ohtani	Paul Skenes
	Daisuke Matsuzaka	Hisashi Iwakuma	Kenta Maeda	Marcus Stroman	Patrick Sandoval	Logan Webb
	Chan Ho Park	Daisuke Matsuzaka	Fernando Rodney	Josh Zeid	Miguel Romero	Aaron Nola

Overall, players representing 13 countries have been named to an All-WBC team, with Japan and the United States leading the way with 13 representatives each.

Rank	2006	2009	2013	2017	2023	2026	Total
Japan	3	3	2	1	3	1	13
United States	2	1	1	3	2	4	13
Puerto Rico	0	1	3	5	1	0	10
Dominican Republic	1	0	5	1	0	2	9
South Korea	3	4	0	0	0	0	7
Cuba	3	2	0	0	2	0	7
Venezuela	0	1	0	0	1	3	5
Mexico	0	0	0	0	2	0	2
Italy	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
Canada	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
Israel	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Netherlands	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Chinese Taipei	0	0	0	0	1	0	1

Statistical leaders

All-time WBC individual leaders in various counting statistical categories through the end of the 2023 tournament, excluding qualifier games.

Batting Statistic Player Total Hits Frederich Cepeda 32 Home runs Alfredo Despaigne 7 Runs batted in Frederich Cepeda 23 Runs scored Frederich Cepeda 19 Doubles Frederich Cepeda Justin Morneau 8 Triples Yoenis Cespedes 3 Strikeouts Carlos Beltrán 20 Stolen bases 5 tied with 5 Games played Carlos Beltrán 28 At-bats Carlos Beltrán 95

Pitching Statistic Player Total Wins Daisuke Matsuzaka 6 Losses Hung-wen Chen 3 Games Fernando Rodney 15 Starts Daisuke Matsuzaka Edinson Volquez 6 Saves Fernando Rodney 8 Innings pitched Diegomar Markwell 28.0 Hits allowed Diegomar Markwell 30 Runs allowed Barry Armitage 14 Earned runs allowed Barry Armitage David Bergman 12 Walks Edinson Volquez 11 Strikeouts Daisuke Matsuzaka 23

Attendance

While comparable tournaments (like the Olympic baseball) traditionally have had one host country, each WBC has used multiple hosts spread around different parts of the world. Thus far, seven different countries have hosted at least one WBC pool, with each edition of the tournament featuring games played in Asia, Latin America, and the United States. However, the championship round has always been held at Major League Baseball stadiums in the United States.

The following table lists nations who've hosted any WBC rounds in the first six iterations of the event, not including qualifiers, and without regard to whether a nation hosted multiple rounds in the same year. World Baseball Classic attendance:

Attendance figures

Year	Host(s)	Total attendance	Games	Avg attendance	% change in avg att.
2006	United States Japan Puerto Rico	737,112	39	18,900	—
2009	United States Japan Mexico Puerto Rico	801,408	39	20,549	+8.7%
2013	United States Japan Taiwan Puerto Rico	788,211	39	20,211	-1.6%
2017	United States Japan South Korea Mexico	973,699	40	24,342	+20.4%
2023	United States Japan Taiwan	1,306,414	47	27,796	+14.2%
2026	United States Japan Puerto Rico	1,619,839	47	34,465	+24.0%

World Baseball Classic qualifier attendance:

Qualification attendance figures

Year	Host(s)	Total attendance	Matches	Avg attendance	% change in avg att.
2013	Germany Panama Taiwan United States	103,774	24	4,324	—
2017	Australia Mexico Panama United States	111,795	24	4,658	+7.7%
2023	Germany Panama	26,080	18	1,449	-68.9%
2026	Taiwan United States	157,799	14	11,271	+677.8%