2023 World Baseball Classic

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

The2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professionalbaseball tournament, and the fifth iteration of theWorld Baseball Classic. It began on March 8, 2023, and ran until March 21.

It was originally scheduled to take place in 2021, four years after theprevious tournament, but was canceled in May 2020 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.^[2] It was later announced thatqualifications for the Classic would start in September 2022, as agreed byWorld Baseball Classic Inc. (WBCI)^[3] The tournament expanded from 16 to 20 national teams, with all teams that participated in the2017 edition automatically qualifying, plus four additional spots.^[4] Unlike in2009,2013, and2017, the U.S. lineup included some distinguished players and attracted significant attention for the tournament.^[5]

Japan won their record-extending third title after defeating defending champions United States 3–2 in thechampionship game, becoming the second team since theDominican Republic in the2013 World Baseball Classic to win the WBC with an undefeated record.Shohei Ohtani was named the World Baseball ClassicMost Valuable Player.^[6]

In January 2020, the WBC announced that the 16 national teams which participated at the2017 World Baseball Classic would automatically qualify for the 2023 tournament.^[7]

A qualifying tournament was scheduled for March 2020 inTucson, Arizona,United States, to determine the last four teams.^[7] Twelve teams were split into two pools, and the top two teams in each pool would qualify.^[4] On March 12, 2020, Major League Baseball announced that the qualifying tournaments were being postponed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.^[8] The qualification tournament ended up postponing to September 16–21, 2022, for theAfrica/Europe qualifiers and September 30 – October 5, 2022, for theAmericas/Asia/Oceania qualifiers.^[9]

TheCzech Republic,Great Britain, andNicaragua made their first appearance in the World Baseball Classic, whilePanama returned after having missed out on two World Baseball Classic appearances. This was the third consecutive time thatSouth Africa, the only African team, did not qualify for the World Baseball Classic, and the second consecutive time that bothBrazil andSpain did not qualify. With Panama qualified for the World Baseball Classic for the first time since2009, 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[10]
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	Third Place (2023)	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

The pool draw was announced byWorld Baseball Classic Inc. (WBCI) on July 7, 2022.^[11] 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 onWBSC World Rankings, competitive balance, and commercial and geographic interest.^[12]

Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate positions in theWBSC World Rankings at the time of the draw.^[13]

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)[A]  Czech Republic (14)[B]  Nicaragua (15)[C]  Great Britain (24)[D]

Four stadiums were used during the main tournament.^[14][15]

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
Taichung Tokyo		Phoenix Miami

The first round of the tournament drew 1,010,999 fans across all four venues, nearly double the previous record for the WBC.^[16] 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.^[17]

National squads' base camps[18]
Team City  Australia Fuchu[19]  Canada Mesa  China Hioki[20]  Chinese Taipei Taichung  Colombia Mesa  Cuba Okinawa,[21]Taipei[22][21]  Czech Republic Miyazaki  Dominican Republic Fort Myers  Great Britain Phoenix  Israel Jupiter	Team City  Italy Taichung  Japan Miyazaki[23]  Mexico Scottsdale  Netherlands Taichung  Nicaragua Vero Beach  Panama Taichung  Puerto Rico Fort Myers  South Korea Tucson[24]  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.^[25]

On March 7, 2023,Major League Baseball and theWorld Baseball Softball Confederation released the list of officials for the tournament.^[26]

^Note Incorrectly listed as Ki Talk Park

The prize money allocation was released byMajor League Baseball and theWorld Baseball Softball Confederation on March 7, 2023. Teams collected prize money for each stage they qualified in. The champions could collect a maximum of $3 million if they were a pool winner.^[27]

Scheduled locations and dates are as follows:^[1][28]

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[a]	—	Advance toquarterfinals Qualification for2026 World Baseball Classic
2	Italy	4	2	2	20	17	.500[a]	—
3	Netherlands	4	2	2	13	19	.500[a]	—	Qualification for2026 World Baseball Classic
4	Panama	4	2	2	19	21	.500[a]	—
5	Chinese Taipei(H)	4	2	2	26	31	.500[a]	—

Date	Local time	Road team	Score	Home team	Inn.	Venue	Game duration	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 8, 2023	12:00NST	Cuba	2–4	Netherlands		Taichung Stadium	3:07	6,501	Boxscore
Mar 8, 2023	19:00 NST	Panama	12–5	Chinese Taipei		Taichung Stadium	4:02	15,540	Boxscore
Mar 9, 2023	12:00 NST	Panama	1–3	Netherlands		Taichung Stadium	2:45	6,048	Boxscore
Mar 9, 2023	19:00 NST	Italy	6–3	Cuba	10	Taichung Stadium	3:43	6,217	Boxscore
Mar 10, 2023	12:30 NST	Cuba	13–4	Panama		Taichung Stadium	4:09	7,023	Boxscore
Mar 10, 2023	19:00 NST	Italy	7–11	Chinese Taipei		Taichung Stadium	3:58	18,799	Boxscore
Mar 11, 2023	12:00 NST	Panama	2–0	Italy		Taichung Stadium	2:57	7,732	Boxscore
Mar 11, 2023	19:00 NST	Netherlands	5–9	Chinese Taipei		Taichung Stadium	3:34	18,826	Boxscore
Mar 12, 2023	12:00 NST	Chinese Taipei	1–7	Cuba		Taichung Stadium	3:21	18,852	Boxscore
Mar 12, 2023	19:00 NST	Netherlands	1–7	Italy		Taichung Stadium	3:00	4,985	Boxscore

Pool B was contested in Tokyo during March 9–13, 2023.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	RF	RA	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Japan(H)	4	4	0	38	8	1.000	—	Advance toquarterfinals Qualification for2026 World Baseball Classic
2	Australia	4	3	1	29	19	.750	1
3	South Korea	4	2	2	40	26	.500	2	Qualification for2026 World Baseball Classic
4	Czech Republic	4	1	3	16	30	.250	3
5	China	4	0	4	10	50	.000	4

Date	Local time	Road team	Score	Home team	Inn.	Venue	Game duration	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 9, 2023	12:00JST	Australia	8–7	South Korea		Tokyo Dome	3:46	15,540	Boxscore
Mar 9, 2023	19:00 JST	China	1–8	Japan		Tokyo Dome	3:41	41,616	Boxscore
Mar 10, 2023	12:00 JST	Czech Republic	8–5	China		Tokyo Dome	3:54	15,625	Boxscore
Mar 10, 2023	19:00 JST	South Korea	4–13	Japan		Tokyo Dome	4:04	41,629	Boxscore
Mar 11, 2023	12:00 JST	China	2–12	Australia	7	Tokyo Dome	2:52	15,708	Boxscore
Mar 11, 2023	19:00 JST	Czech Republic	2–10	Japan		Tokyo Dome	3:26	41,637	Boxscore
Mar 12, 2023	12:00 JST	Czech Republic	3–7	South Korea		Tokyo Dome	2:55	16,129	Boxscore
Mar 12, 2023	19:00 JST	Japan	7–1	Australia		Tokyo Dome	3:18	41,664	Boxscore
Mar 13, 2023	12:00 JST	Australia	8–3	Czech Republic		Tokyo Dome	3:04	16,641	Boxscore
Mar 13, 2023	19:00 JST	South Korea	22–2	China	5	Tokyo Dome	2:37	14,442	Boxscore

Pool C was contested in Phoenix during March 11–15, 2023.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	RF	RA	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Mexico	4	3	1	27	14	.750[a]	—	Advance toquarterfinals Qualification for2026 World Baseball Classic
2	United States(H)	4	3	1	26	16	.750[a]	—
3	Canada	4	2	2	27	30	.500	1	Qualification for2026 World Baseball Classic
4	Great Britain	4	1	3	18	31	.250[b]	2
5	Colombia	4	1	3	12	19	.250[b]	2

Date	Local time	Road team	Score	Home team	Inn.	Venue	Game duration	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 11, 2023	12:30MST	Colombia	5–4	Mexico	10	Chase Field	3:24	28,497	Boxscore
Mar 11, 2023	19:00 MST	Great Britain	2–6	United States		Chase Field	2:54	39,650	Boxscore
Mar 12, 2023	12:00 MST	Great Britain	8–18	Canada	7	Chase Field	3:38	11,555	Boxscore
Mar 12, 2023	19:00 MST	Mexico	11–5	United States		Chase Field	3:41	47,534	Boxscore
Mar 13, 2023	12:00 MST	Colombia	5–7	Great Britain		Chase Field	3:50	10,416	Boxscore
Mar 13, 2023	19:00 MST	Canada	1–12	United States	7	Chase Field	2:20	29,621	Boxscore
Mar 14, 2023	12:00 MST	Canada	5–0	Colombia		Chase Field	2:48	10,571	Boxscore
Mar 14, 2023	19:00 MST	Great Britain	1–2	Mexico		Chase Field	3:05	17,705	Boxscore
Mar 15, 2023	12:00 MST	Mexico	10–3	Canada		Chase Field	3:31	17,245	Boxscore
Mar 15, 2023	19:00 MST	United States	3–2	Colombia		Chase Field	3:02	29,856	Boxscore

Pool D was contested in Miami during March 11–15, 2023.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	RF	RA	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	Venezuela	4	4	0	23	9	1.000	—	Advance toquarterfinals Qualification for2026 World Baseball Classic
2	Puerto Rico	4	3	1	30	12	.750	1
3	Dominican Republic	4	2	2	19	11	.500	2	Qualification for2026 World Baseball Classic
4	Israel	4	1	3	4	26	.250	3
5	Nicaragua	4	0	4	4	22	.000	4

Date	Local time	Road team	Score	Home team	Inn.	Venue	Game duration	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 11, 2023	12:00EST	Nicaragua	1–9	Puerto Rico		LoanDepot Park	2:44	35,399	Boxscore
Mar 11, 2023	19:00 EST	Dominican Republic	1–5	Venezuela		LoanDepot Park	3:19	35,890	Boxscore
Mar 12, 2023	12:00EDT	Nicaragua	1–3	Israel		LoanDepot Park	2:50	19,955	Boxscore
Mar 12, 2023	19:00 EDT	Venezuela	9–6	Puerto Rico		LoanDepot Park	3:36	35,615	Boxscore
Mar 13, 2023	12:00 EDT	Dominican Republic	6–1	Nicaragua		LoanDepot Park	3:09	31,696	Boxscore
Mar 13, 2023	19:00 EDT	Israel	0–10	Puerto Rico	8	LoanDepot Park	2:30	27,813	Boxscore
Mar 14, 2023	12:00 EDT	Nicaragua	1–4	Venezuela		LoanDepot Park	2:53	21,873	Boxscore
Mar 14, 2023	19:00 EDT	Israel	0–10	Dominican Republic	7	LoanDepot Park	2:44	33,307	Boxscore
Mar 15, 2023	12:00 EDT	Venezuela	5–1	Israel		LoanDepot Park	2:47	18,277	Boxscore
Mar 15, 2023	19:00 EDT	Puerto Rico	5–2	Dominican Republic		LoanDepot Park	3:13	36,025	Boxscore

The top two teams from each pool advanced to the single elimination bracket. These games were contested from March 15–21, 2023. Tokyo hosted two of the quarterfinals, while the other two quarterfinals, the semifinals, and the championship game took place in Miami.^[1][28]

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Championship
	March 15 –Tokyo
	Australia	3
					March 19 –Miami
	Cuba	4
					Cuba	2
	March 18 –Miami
					United States	14
	United States	9
									March 21 –Miami
	Venezuela	7
									United States	2
	March 17 –Miami
									Japan	3
	Puerto Rico	4
					March 20 –Miami
	Mexico	5
					Mexico	5
	March 16 –Tokyo
					Japan	6
	Italy	3
	Japan	9

Date	Local time	Road team	Score	Home team	Inn.	Venue	Game duration	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 15, 2023	19:00JST	Australia	3–4	Cuba		Tokyo Dome	3:24	35,061	Boxscore
Mar 16, 2023	19:00 JST	Italy	3–9	Japan		Tokyo Dome	3:24	41,723	Boxscore
Mar 17, 2023	19:00EDT	Puerto Rico	4–5	Mexico		LoanDepot Park	3:17	35,817	Boxscore
Mar 18, 2023	19:00 EDT	United States	9–7	Venezuela		LoanDepot Park	3:46	35,792	Boxscore

Date	Local time	Road team	Score	Home team	Inn.	Venue	Game duration	Attendance	Boxscore
Mar 19, 2023	19:00EDT	Cuba	2–14	United States		LoanDepot Park	3:28	35,779	Boxscore
Mar 20, 2023	19:00 EDT	Mexico	5–6	Japan		LoanDepot Park	3:36	35,933	Boxscore

March 21, 2023 19:00EDT (UTC−4) atLoanDepot Park in Miami, United States

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
United States	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	9	0
Japan	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	X	3	5	0
WP:Shōta Imanaga (1–0)  LP:Merrill Kelly (0–1)  Sv:Shohei Ohtani (1) Home runs: USA:Trea Turner (5),Kyle Schwarber (2) JPN:Munetaka Murakami (1),Kazuma Okamoto (2) Attendance: 36,098 Umpires: HP –Lance Barksdale, 1B –John Tumpane, 2B –Edward Pinales, 3B –Ramiro Alfaro, LF –Jong Chui Park, RF –Quinn Wolcott Boxscore

MVPs of each pools (from left to right);
Pool A –Yu Chang ofChinese Taipei
Pool B –Shohei Ohtani ofJapan
Pool C –Randy Arozarena ofMexico
Pool D –Salvador Pérez ofVenezuela

• Pool A –Yu Chang
• Pool B –Shohei Ohtani
• Pool C –Randy Arozarena
• Pool D –Salvador Pérez

• Tournament –Shohei Ohtani

Players named to the All-WBC Team (from left to right);
Pitcher –Miguel Romero ofCuba
Second baseman –Javier Báez ofPuerto Rico
Outfielder –Mike Trout of theUnited States
Outfielder –Masataka Yoshida ofJapan

Position	Player
C	Salvador Pérez
1B	Yu Chang
2B	Javier Báez
3B	Yoán Moncada
SS	Trea Turner
OF	Randy Arozarena
	Mike Trout
	Masataka Yoshida
DH	Shohei Ohtani
P	Shohei Ohtani
	Miguel Romero
	Patrick Sandoval

Source:^[31]

Batting [edit] Statistic Name Total/Avg Batting average* Tyler O'Neill .615 Hits 5 tied with[note 1] 10 Runs Kensuke Kondoh Shohei Ohtani 9 Home runs Trea Turner 5 Runs batted in Masataka Yoshida 13 Strikeouts Munetaka Murakami 13 Stolen bases Chavez Young 5 On-base percentage* Tyler O'Neill .722 Slugging percentage* Edouard Julien 1.154 OPS* Edouard Julien 1.821 * Minimum 2.7 plate appearances per team game Bold indicates all-time best in a single tournament of the World Baseball Classic

Pitching [edit] Statistic Name Total/Avg Wins 5 tied with[note 2] 2 Losses J. C. Ramírez 2 Saves 4 tied with[note 3] 2 Innings pitched Shohei Ohtani 9.2 Hits allowed Adam Wainwright 10 Runs allowed Daniel Bard 8 Earned runs allowed Daniel Bard 8 Earned run average* 7 tied with[note 4] 0.00 Walks Xiang Wang 8 Strikeouts Miguel Romero 13 WHIP* José De León 0.00 * Minimum 0.8 innings pitched per team game

The Japan–South Korea pool B game drew a household viewership of 44.4% in Japan^[32][33][34] and 11.7% in South Korea.^[35][36] The broadcast averaged 29.9 million Japanese viewers^[37][38] (28.9% individual viewership^[32][33][34]) and 2.7 million Korean viewers.^[39] Rating indicated that 62.343 million Japanese watched at least one minute of the game.^[37][38] The Korean rating in that game was the second-most-watched WBC game in South Korea, after the2009 Japan-South Korea final.^[39]

The Japan–Italy quarterfinal game broke the Japanese WBC viewership record. It drew an average 48.0% household viewership in Japan and averaged 38.2 million viewers.^[37][38]

In the United States, the World Baseball Classic was carried byFox Sports for the first time, with games split among six Fox networks. The championship game drew 5.2 million average viewers in the US,^[40] peaking at 6.5 million viewers in the final 15 minutes, a new American record for a WBC game.^[41] The Japan–Mexico semifinal (2.55M average viewers), the United States-Venezuela quarterfinal (2.52M average viewers), and the United States-Cuba semifinal (2.25M average viewers), were the 5th, 6th and 7th largest World Baseball Classic audiences, respectively, in the United States.^[42]

In Puerto Rico, the Pool D game between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic was viewed by 62% of households.^[40]

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