Major League Baseball announced the four venues for the 2026 World Baseball Classic on Thursday, revealing that Miami’s loanDepot Park will host games in all three rounds of the tournament for a second straight season. Japan’s Tokyo Dome, which has been a part of all five previous WBCs, will host first-round games in 2026. Puerto Rico’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium will host first-round games as well — the first time games have been host in Puerto Rico since 2013. And, for the first time, Houston’s Minute Maid Park will host WBC games — making the Astros the eighth MLB team to see their home venue host a portion of the event.
“We are excited and honored to be hosting World Baseball Classic matchups for the first time,” Astros owner Jim Crane said in a statement within today’s press release. “Houston is a global city with the best baseball fans, and we are proud to welcome fans from across the globe to watch international competition at Minute Maid Park. Thank you to MLB, the MLBPA, and the City of Houston for their support – we are looking forward to an exciting tournament in 2026.”
Each of the four venues will play host to one of four pools in the first round of play. Minute Maid Park and loanDepot Park will then host the quarterfinals, with the final stages of the tournament playing out at loanDepot Park in Miami.
The 2023 World Baseball Classic, which saw Japan topple the United States in the finals, was the first in which the field of teams expanded from 16 to 20. The 16 that finished top-four in their 2023 pools will return to participate in the 2026 WBC. Four additional teams will join the field by way of a series of qualifying events scheduled to take place in 2025.
The comments ought to be civil.
Ah yes the WBC, postseason effort in the pre season. What can possibly go wrong as far as injuries?
My water just broke and I’m the (submit pronoun) rushing to the hospital. The only thing more important to me than my baby (submit pronoun) is where will the 2026 WBC be held?
Biker – I was just gonna say I wonder how the Dodgers will feel about two of their starting pitchers playing for Team Japan in that WBC.
@FPG There are always injury risks as we’ve seen. If MLB wants to continue to grow the sport and have a true “World Series” eventually, this is the way to go. If Judge and Cole wants to play, so be it.
YBC – It’s no so much injury as it is fatigue for pitchers.
I think back to the 2009 WBC which Dice absolutely dominated in winning the MVP. The prior year he pitched 167 innings with a great 2.90 ERA and his season didn’t end until the ALCS was over. For him to ramp it up again just 3 1/2 months later and participate in intense playoff-atmosphere competition at the beginning of March, that’s really grueling especially for a Japanese pitcher who is accustomed to much shorter seasons, much less travel, and 6-man rotations. Predictably he had by far his worst season (min 50 IP) with a 5.76 ERA and 1.871 WHIP while pitching only 59 innings because of injuries. The following year he admitted he hurt his hip preparing for the 2009 WBC.
So sure it’s good for the game to have the best playing in the WBC, but it really isn’t fair to teams that have their star players participating .. especially pitchers.
Even last year, the WBC was the reason for Yoshida running out of gas in August.
Fever, your memory amazes me. I just went to the store without a list and had to call the wife twice to ask what I was going for…
dewey – Funny thing about memory as we get older, it’s not the retention of old memories that becomes more difficult …. it’s the storage of new memories.
In other words I can vividly remember things from decades ago, but I’m right there with you when it comes to forgetting things from just a few hours or even minutes earlier.
It’s alright. We’ll all be AI generating our grocery lists soon enough.
The Mets and Edwin Diaz concur.
Fpg it’s not like it should come as any surprise to them.
Pete – Agreed, I’m sure the Dodgers were well aware of how important the WBC is in Japan. Basically every Japanese player is expected to participate if invited.
Don’t forget about Roki!
I have not, Healthy in his age 23 season. 13 earned runs through 8 starts and 53 innings.
Finally bringing the trash cans to the WBC! Though I suppose out of cultural respect they’ll have to do some research and find out the different type of objects each team would like to bang on.
Stupid comment of the day right there.
It’s true Aussie Ashtray fan. Dodgers woulda been 2017 WS champs and it got taken away from us.
Shadow – And Cora bragged about it to the Red Sox in 2018.
People get very upset when you question their carefully constructed delusions.
Nah. It was just a dumb comment that wasn’t funny.
Would it upset you to learn that your opinion isn’t empirical reality?
No
Excellent, you are prepared to make America great again!
No thanks. You farked it, you fix it. I’ll kick back and enjoy the show.
It was kinda funny
It was quite tasteful compared to most comments on the topic.
No. The games will be at Minute Maid Park. The WBC is coming to them.
Fourth generation Reds fan living in Asia for nearly 20 years – the WBC in Tokyo is baseball fandom at its best. No electronic message boards encouraging cheering or clapping – it’s already non-stop high energy, and full-on baseball passion. Japan/Korea/Taiwan are fanatical about their national teams. Mix in good teams from Cuba, Australia and the Netherlands (Curacao) and the on field action is outstanding. Add in a constant flow of whiskey high-balls served at your seat and riding the Tokyo Dome hotel elevator with players, and the Korea cheerleaders (Google), and it’s A+ fun… Better fan experience than any other venue…
Whoops, placed this in the wrong Reply…
To paraphrase Paul McCartney, the matchup between Ohtano and Trout, and the off-speed final pitch, was so good, it had to be a mistake.
No one is smart enough to think up that type of ending.
It’s not going to happen anytime soon, but I would prefer the Finals in Tokyo. I think it would be an electric atmosphere.
Over/Under on trash can references?
So we’re gonna have to wait until 2026 for a sold out crowd in Miami?
Yes. The WBC is the only time Marlins Park will sell out. Which is sad. If they were 15 games above .500 they still wouldn’t get half the stadium filled. Makes you wonder how they got approved for a new stadium when they didn’t get half their first stadium filled either.
Log – Not true! I was in Marlins Park twice in 2017 when it was sold out each time.
For the All-Star Game and for the GNR concert.
A music concert is different especially guns n roses. I don’t recall the Marlins hosting an all star game.
Log – It was a low scoring game, AL won 2-1 on a 10th inning Cano homerun.
Lots of former Red Sox pitchers involved in the win …. Sale started the game, Kimbrel got the win and Andrew Miller got the save.
Believe it or not, The WBC sells out in Miami. The area is full of transplants from South America, they will come to see their birth country team play. People in Miami are loyal to their home country. Can’t understand why they won’t come to see a MLB game.
luken – The Marlins stadium is in an awful location, very difficult to get to by car and find affordable parking. Plus most of the residents are transplants with loyalty to other MLB teams.
Totally agree the stadium is in a bad location and pricing is outrageous. The same is true for the WBC though and its a great draw. Makes you wonder why
luken – I think the fact Florida is such a transient state is a big factor in the lack of Marlins fandom, just as it is with the Rays. Many Florida residents became fans of other teams long before moving to Florida, they don’t change their loyalty.
Puerto Rico vs Dominican Republic at the 2023 WBC was the loudest, most entertaining sporting event I’ve ever attended. If you’re thinking about going to the WBC – do it. Love the WBC.
I went to PR vs Japan in 2013 in SF and it was super fun. the cool thing was that so many people traveled from japan and were doing chants and waving flags – getting a taste of japan in the US
I hear you, Bag. I travel down to Miami from Nova Scotia for the WBC. I’ve been to them all. Getting out of Canada in March ain’t a bad thing, either. Love the Dominican & Puerto Rican fans – great folks & boundless energy. Love the WBC.
I was at the Japan-Mexico semifinal last year, and it was a phenomenal experience!
For the love of all that is holy, “loanDepot” park??? Do they think it’s cool to not capitalize the first letter in loan? Yes, please come to the park named after the financial enslavement of millions of your fellows. 🙂
???
Out of all the things in the world to be outraged by, word capitalization is the hill you choose to die on? Seems an odd choice to me, but you be you.
Isn’t telling other people they’ve chosen a hill to die on an odd choice for a hill to die on?
Not asking for a friend.
Since when is outrage limited to a single hill?
Good luck finding a hill not occupied by outraged people, and all the others are full of people outraged by the outrage of the others and the lack of outrage by the few who aren’t outraged. So many are dying on these hills. It’s total carnage, but nobody wants to talk about that. It’s outrageous!
I’m a single hill outrage kind of guy. Not really a die on that hill kind of guy, though. More like undead. Zombie on that hill. Drone on aimlessly about the same issue for eternity. Get no where fast. Those around me feel like I’m trying to eat their brain. But yeah, single hill guy here.
Well I’m outraged that you are only willing to die on one hill. Some of us are willing to die on many hills at once.
THE HILLS ARE ALIVE
WITH THE SOUND OF OUTRAGE
hiflew – You should hear what he has to say about deGrom.
It’s more like “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
Clueless
Branding experts might disagree. You always want a name which stands out from the crowd. Think of all the tech and modern company names today.
YBC – The TickPick commercials are pretty funny.
financial enslavement
=======================
Aren’t they just a mortgage company?
Do I really need to place a “This is sarcasm” disclaimer for you guys?
No, but I think you need to learn how to properly use sarcasm in order for the reader to be entertained, or at least understand you.
The most useless meaningless event in baseball
Only allows for needless injury opportunities
Right?? So many players have gotten injured in the WBC, including Edwin Diaz and uh…
Uh… uh…
Smoke – so true. The injury claim is simply unfounded.
I agree with you, but wasn’t Altuve also hurt in the WBC?
What about that Australian guy 20 years ago? (yeah made that up)
Drew Smyly
@Big Smoke
To put things in perspective, Edwin Diaz did not get injured playing baseball.
I’d rather watch the WBC every year vs a 162 game MLB season. MLB is nice but the WBC is much better.
This could not be a worse take. While baseball may be dying in the US it is thriving in other countries making the players better and bringing in eyeballs. You no longer have to be in the US to watch MLB. Now you can watch it from anywhere in the world. The MLB will never be the NFL but it should be #2 in the professional sports realm and this is how to do it. Injuries are the risk to asking these guys to go hard every day but that’s why they make and deserve the big bucks.
“Watch it from anywhere in the world ” No, I am in Australia, where baseball is played regularly (not to the extent that it is professional though) and I cannot watch entire games. I have to rely on MLB.com highlights of games.
Astros – You’re probably thinking of cricket.
I really don’t know what you mean by that comment.
Astros_fan_in_Aus4 hours ago
“Watch it from anywhere in the world ” No, I am in Australia, where baseball is played regularly (not to the extent that it is professional though) and I cannot watch entire games. I have to rely on MLB.com highlights of games.
————————–
As far as I am aware the ABL is a professional baseball league and has been so for many years. Baseball was first played in Australia in 1878. I am not sure what you’re talking about not being able to watch “entire games”, a friend of mine in Australia told me he can watch any game in its entirety.
The Australian Baseball League is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation.
Yeah you can. It just costs you $50 a month.
I am aware of the ABL – I played baseball in that league in my younger days. You seem to be missing my point.
I cannot watch entire MLB games on MLB.com, because they have no service to Australia. There is a streaming channel locally but it doesn’t cover all games, so it is hit and miss if they choose to stream an Astros game that I would want to watch.
You can get the MLB.tv app in any country in the world as long as you have internet.
@ Astros_fan_in_Aus
I know of Americans that played AAA, AA ball and A ball in USA that played in the Sydney Winter and Summer leagues, that’s beside the point.
As RodBecksBurnerAccount has pointed out, you can watch any game on MLB TV in Australia, there are no blackouts at all, so I am quite surprised that if you indeed played the game there that you’re unaware of this.
“Local (team-based) blackouts only apply in the USA and Canada”.
Better they don’t play baseball at all. That way, nobody gets hurt.
10-run mercy rule
Wbc is boring as hell
Most tms suck
If u want intl competition put baseball in olympics
Utah – so, the same teams in an almost identical format? “Would you like six roses?” No, just a half dozen.
@park
Swimming and skiing and gymnastics etc etc all have 1000 different competitions around the world and they have championships all year long everywhere all the time. But the Olympics are different. There is only one Olympics. WBC doesnt compare, not even close
They started the WBC because baseball was removed from the Olympics (brought back for Japan because of their love of the sport). I’ve watched both Olympic baseball and WBC. The WBC is by far better because MLB players play in the WBC, they do not play in the Olympics.
American love for the game has been dying for 20 years. Ever since fans found out their favorite players like Bonds and Clemens were nothing but drug users and cheaters. And then the Astros cheated their way to a championship and then Ohtani turned out to be a degenerate gambler. Nothing but negative story after negative story. Now there’s new rules and all these changes it’s not even baseball anymore. But people outside the country, they never had this kind of exposure before. They never had games in Mexico and korea and London. So of course there’s going to be new fans. Manfred doesn’t know where else to find fans. Nobody in the US cares anymore. So he’s looking elsewhere. Americans might be dumb, but they’re not stupid
Except for a few of you here
Major League Baseball announced Wednesday that an average of 26,927 fans have attended games across the Majors in 2024, the largest figure through the end of April since 2017 and a 0.9% increase over ’23. Viewership is also up for national broadcasts on FOX, ESPN and MLB Network.
Your Ohtani comment is way off the mark
@astro aus
Here we go again. This is the last time i’m wasting my breath on this. There’s a difference betw tix & actual people going to games. How do you think they calculate attendance? They got a guy standing at every entrance counting heads? Attendance is based on tickets sold. Not butts in seats. A “sellout” means all tix are gone, not “there’s 50,000 people in attendance.” So the #s arent accurate. Secondly, look @ the avg attendance. Cubs yankees dodgers padres got alotta fans at games. But There’s 7 teams, nearly 1/4th of the league, that average less than 20k a night. Thats awful. 26k is the most since 2017? Lol. That was only 7 yr ago. And you consider that a big deal? Up less than 1% from 2023? Jesus f’in christ. Attendance hasnt been this bad since the 80s (not counting 94 strike or covid).
Do u know ohtani? You friends with him? Or u read an article on espn and your heart tells you “ohtani is innocent.” Nobody on earth misses someone stealing $17 mil from u. Im aware when 10 cents are missing, forget 17 million. Theres so much to the story that makes it obvious ohtani is a liar & gambler. Anyway im exhausted. Keep living in lala land
Johnny – Right you are about attendance, it’s fudged more in MLB than a Wonka factory. Plenty of articles online that talk about the tricks used to inflate numbers.
Fenway is a perfect example, they claim to be averaging 31K this year but anyone who has watched their games on TV knows it’s more like 26K.
Best way to gauge ticket demand is ticket REVENUE, not attendance.
I won’t argue about attendances as I am not there to see the crowds and you make a few good points.
As for Ohtani, I am very familiar with the Japanese culture, and I am aware of what Ohtani does outside of baseball, which tells me he has had a very decent upbringing. He is a first class human being and that is obvious even on the field in the way he carries himself.
None of us can know for sure, but I – and many others, including the FBI – will continue to believe he is not a gambler and had no knowledge of what was going on.
Astros Aus – big draft coming up for Australian baseball with Travis Bazzana. Kid can play. Well said on Ohtani.
Well said!? “Im familiar with japanese culture. They’d never gamble or do wrong”
Oh lord
I’m dealing with children. Still learning how to count to 10 & their abc’s
Today in history class i learned that japanese people have good upbringings. And i live in australia, 10,000 miles away from america, so i’m certain he didnt spend a penny on any gambling shenanigans
Thats it im done
I just cant anymore with you infantile uneducated naive backwards thinking lunatics . Ignorance is bliss as they say
You lost all credibility with your first insult. Muted.
LOL! So one player gets injured, IN A CELEBRATION, and we should cancel an event which hundreds of millions of people enjoy?
Maybe cancel the World Cup next?
Wow, 2 tournaments in a row with no games in SoCal?? Petco Park gets rocking during WBC games!
I got to see Japan vs. S. Korea at Dodger Stadium in whatever year that was. The place was rocking.
The world doesn’t revolve around the cesspool that is California.
Today’s frowny face winner.
🙁
At least they didn’t have it at the Atlanta stadium… you know… the place with all those racist voting laws.
Snooze
What an exciting location for your favorite players to be injured in a meaningless game!
@MrLOLmets
They’re getting injured in meaningless games during the regular season. Look at all the pitchers on the IL just due to throwing a ball for 4 innings per outing.
WBC would be more exciting in the middle of the season. Play it all-star week instead of the midsummer classic. 16-teams & 4 groups. Round Robin for the first 3 days. Top two teams from each group advance. Quarters, semis & finals with no days off. It can go from Tuesday to Sunday with the 2nd half of the season beginning on the following Tuesday….
This was my thought, too. For the necessary number of stadiums, you’d have to do it in the NE or SW (LA, SD, Anaheim, TJ, Phoenix). I’d kind of miss the international group sites, though. My dream would be a three-week international break with the final site rotating between the US, Japan, Korea, and Latin America. To me, that’d be worth the loss of 10ish games (or whatever you couldn’t make up with earlier/later season scheduling and fewer off-days).
Those who detest pitch clock, etc., can watch old style baseball. Not me. Can’t watch 4 straight throws over to first, batter gotta adjust the gloves again, step off the mound, mound visit, repeat. 3.7 hours.
Can’t watch 4 straight throws over to first
==================
I’m not sure this is even a debate any more. Does anyone look forward to see a 5-minute AB comprised of a batter adjusting his gloves, the pitcher shaking off the catcher 5x (despite only having 3 pitches), 3 throws to 1st to keep Vogelback from stealing, and two trips to the mound from Sanchez, and one more from the manager?
Why not do it in Atlanta?
I’ve gone to two WBC tournaments in Phoenix and highly recommend it. Completely different atmosphere than any other games I’ve attended.
Been considering a Grapefruit League trip. Think this might be all the incentive I need.
I think the only thing that comes close is a soccer game and I’ve been to a few big matches in other countries. It’s just a different vibe and I don’t even like soccer. I would recommend ST. I did one with a couple years ago with some Mets fan buddies and it’s easy to interact with players and staff.
YBC – I think that different vibe has to do with patriotism, which is usually lacking for fans of American sports teams.
Other countries take their sports very, very seriously and their fans view their country’s athletes as a representation of themselves. That’s why to South American and Asian fans the WBC is huge, while to American fans …. not so much.
Your statement is true. However this odd the problem with nation vs nation events. The fans place too much of their identity and emotions behind their national team. This ends up leading to hatred for other countries and their fans for no reason. It gets way too serious. It’s like they have nothing else to enjoy in life.
Scott – Remember, the root word of “fan” is “fanatic”.
Yes they do often go overboard, especially football (soccer) fans. For some countries, there really isn’t much else to enjoy. In the DR for example, baseball is a way to escape poverty. It’s not like the US, where college players who fail to last in the majors have a degree to fall back on. Nobody in the US feels that they need to establish themself as a MLB player to put a roof over their head and food on the table.
I live in an Irish area. When Ireland played in the WC at the Meadowlands, people flew over just to hang out in my neighborhood. Just the neighborhood alone was insane.
@The trojan toss
Let’s hope he’s not on the team next time.
The WBC means exactly zero to almost everyone. At the rate of players getting injured these days, can we please just watch our highest paid players get injured in games that mean something in the final outcome of the season that matters?
I love the WBC. It’s good for the game, and I like seeing baseball played outside the US and players/countries that otherwise would be invisible to me. No one complains about the World Cup or Olympic basketball/hockey. International play is awesome.
Mlb isn’t the only baseball organization on earth who has interests, goals and concerns. players get hurt regardless of the wbc. the injury risks are worth it, to help grow the game globally
You are so off base. The WBC is probably the only baseball I’ve watched with interest in the last 15 years. Everybody needs to stop trying to push this narrative that nobody cares.
And it’s quite the opposite. In reality the MLB games mean zero. Players don’t play hard, everybody makes the playoffs, they go on the IL with ticky tack injuries and honestly they don’t care who wins or loses….they care about their stat line bc that is what determines if they get paid.
The WBC is exciting to tons of people, just not you, obviously.
Why don’t all you guys go to the WBC in Puerto Rico and enjoy yourselves. You can also gisit the 500 year old fortress and the only rainforest in the US., among many other places.
I went to San Juan on a cruise and loved it. You have to be prepared to sweat like a pig, but that doesn’t bother me at all. The fort, and 200 year old architecture, was beautiful.
The geographer in me has to correct the only rainforest in the U.S. claim. Part of Olympic National Park in Washington is classified as a temperate rainforest. I’m guessing the one in Puerto Rico is the only tropical rainforest.
Correct
Another missed opportunity to play games at the Field of Dreams
It’s not a dome, so they won’t play games there in the spring but I wish they would play at Koshien Stadium. It’s Japan’s equivalent of a Fenway Park or Wrigley Field. They should also reward Czech Republic with a few games and play at Eagles Praha.
The final venue should go to the winner of the previous WBC; wouldn’t that be cool?
Manfred should think about awarding games to whatever city builds a new stadium, or substantially renovates an existing stadium.
I love the WBC. It’s great to see all these international players.
Most complainers are just entitled American crybabies. Prob mostly are white redneck types. “Victimized” by another country claiming their team’s 5th best reliever for a month or less.
How about having some games in Milwaukee. I’d never travel to Florida Texas California or Arizona for a WBCgame but I go to Milwaukee. I would think European teams would draw there. Early round lesser games that don’t draw well might work up north in the dome
Hopefully you are just being s sarcastic. Trout didn’t let America down. He made an out in a meaningless exhibition game.