The 2023 World Baseball Classic is in full swing and, as expected, action packed. The first round consists of four pools of five teams, and each team plays every other team in their pool once. The teams with the top two records in each pool advance to the Quarterfinals. From then on, it’s essentially an eight-team single-elimination tournament. Here’s the full WBC schedule and here’s everything you need to know about this year’s event.
Here are our takeaways from USA’s loss to Mexico on Sunday night, and here’s everything you need to know about the rest of the WBC action Sunday and early Monday morning.
Current Results
Advance to quarterfinals
dismounted
Britain stuns Colombia
Great Britain has its first ever World Baseball Classic victory. The Brits upset Colombia on Monday afternoon thanks largely to 20-year-old outfielder Jaden Rudd. The Blue Jays minor league doubled in two runs in the fifth inning to give Britain their first lead of the game. Colombia took an early 3-0 lead and Great Britain stormed all the way back.
Right-hander Ian Gibaut, best known up to that point for throwing Fernando Tatis Jr after scoring 3-0 in a 2020 Grand Slam, recorded the last three outs for Britain. It’s a milestone for a country with a burgeoning baseball program.
The win is Britain’s first-ever in the WBC – they secured a place in the tournament at a qualifier last autumn – and it’s a big help for the USA too. Colombia’s defeat means the US has its own fate in its own hands, despite being beaten by Mexico on Sunday. Beat Canada on Monday and Colombia on Wednesday (Tuesday is a rest day) and the Americans will advance to the second round. It’s easy. If the USA lose to Canada on Monday, things will be much more complicated.
Australia advances
Australia reached the quarterfinals overnight on Sunday as the fourth team, defeating the Czech Republic 8-3. Australia will now play Cuba in the next round, with the winner advancing to the semi-finals.
The Australians jumped into an early lead, with Alex Hall hitting a solo home run that put one atop the first. The Czech Republic leveled the game in the third game with an RBI singles from Eric Sogard and the two sides would remain level through the seventh. It was at this point that Australia began to pull away on extra base hits from Logan Wade and the aforementioned Hall, which helped build a 6-1 lead.
The Czech Republic clawed back two at the bottom of eighth, making it a 6-3 contest, but Australia tackled two more at the top end of ninth for what proved an insurmountable 8-3 lead.
The game in Pool B is now complete. Japan won the pool 4-0; Australia finished second 3-1; and Korea (2-2) and Czech Republic (1-3) both avoided relegation. That leaves one team, China, back on the qualifying stretch ahead of WBC 2026. Later more.
Team USA loses to Mexico
We highlighted Team USA’s loss to Mexico on Sunday night in the introduction, but a lot of people tend to skip the introduction, so let’s bring it up again now. (Note that you can read our full takeaways from Sunday night’s game by clicking here.)
The Americans fell behind early and Mexico extended a 7-1 lead in four innings. Another offensive burst in the eighth round put Mexico to an 11-2 lead, one run away from triggering the mercy rule. (This rule is triggered by either a lead of 15 runs or more to five, or 10 runs or more to seven.) Team USA would get three runs back in the final eighth, with Bobby Witt Jr. and Tim Anderson delivering a few extra -Base entertainment but that wasn’t enough to avoid an 11-5 loss.
Perez has a historic game for Venezuela
Royals catcher Salvador Perez had a fine Sunday in the park against Puerto Rico, going 4-for-4 with a home run and five runs batted as part of a 9-6 win. In doing so, Perez became the first player in WBC history since Ken Griffey Jr. in 2006 to have at least four hits and five RBIs in a game. Perez also became the second catcher to hit three extra bases in a single WBC contest, along with Iván Rodríguez. according to research by ESPN.
Perez overtook the first run of the night with an RBI single in the first. He then hit a three-run homer in the second round that gave Venezuela a 7-0 lead. Perez added another run in the fifth with a double that extended the lead to 9-1. Puerto Rico would get five runs back for the remainder of the game, but that didn’t affect the result as Venezuela advanced to 2-0 in pool play and positioned themselves for progress.
Israel rallies to beat Nicaragua
Israel and Nicaragua have the toughest draw in the WBC. They’re stuck in Pool D with the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela, three of the tournament’s most talented teams. To advance, Israel and Nicaragua needed a win in their head-to-head match, and that was especially true for Nicaragua after Saturday’s loss to Puerto Rico.
On Sunday, underdog Nicaragua took a one-run lead against Israel in the eighth inning, handing the ball to Jonathan Loáisiga, replacing the Yankees, their top player. It was the situation they wanted. I didn’t work it out. Israel rallied for three runs against Loaisiga, with Phillies backup catcher Garrett Stubbs kicking off a two-strike, two-out, two-run double.
Stubbs played third base for Israel, that should be noted. He had never played third base before. Not in college and not in pro ball, and his career began way back in 2015. Stubbs had two hits in the game. Joc Pederson contributed a double and Orioles right-back Dean Kremer fired off four innings scoreless. Nicaragua has two carries and eight hits in two WBC games.
Israel is 1-0 and meets Puerto Rico on Monday. Nicaragua is 0-2 and a long shot to get out of pool play. Your best case now is not to finish last in Pool D and avoid relegation.
China dismounted
As mentioned above, China finished fifth in Pool B, which means they need to qualify before the 2026 tournament. They went 0-4 in pool and lost by an average of 10 runs. To be fair, that number is skewed by a 22-2 win from Korea on Monday morning. Still, take a look at their board:
- China 1, Japan 8
- China 5, Czech Republic 8
- China 2, Australia 12
- China 2, Korea 22
China is the second team to be relegated to qualifying at this WBC.