World Baseball Classic pool play has officially concluded, narrowing down the field to just eight countries still in contention for the WBC trophy. The championship game will be held in Miami at 8:00 p.m. ET on March 17.
Despite a devastating loss to Italy in its final game of pool play, the United States enter the quarterfinals as the overwhelming favorite to win it all, followed by the Dominican Republic and Japan.
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2026 World Baseball Classic Odds
The U.S. narrowly avoided a first round exit, as Italy took down Mexico in dominant fashion Wednesday to send Randy Arozarena and company packing. While the Americans don't enter the quarterfinals as the winner of their pool–Italy held the head-to-head tiebreaker–they arguably have the easier matchup. The U.S. will face Canada on Friday, with tournament-opening starter Logan Webb taking the bump against Canada's Michael Soroka. Italy will have to take on Puerto Rico on Saturday.
Coming in behind the U.S. in the odds is the Dominican Republic, fresh off of a convincing 7-5 over tough rival Venezuela on Wednesday. The Dominicans were one of three teams, along with Italy and Japan, to go undefeated in pool play. However, aside from Venezuela, no other team in that pool gave them much of a test, as they dispatched Israel, the Netherlands, and Nicaragua by a combined score of 34 to 5.
Despite going 4-0 in pool play, Japan's odds drop to third entering the quarterfinals. The team has had standout performances on both sides of the ball, as Shohei Ohtani, Masataka Yoshida, and Seiya Suzuki have anchored the lineup, while Tomoyuki Sugano, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Hiroto Takahashi have held things down on the mound. But like the D.R., they didn't face much competition in their pool. None of Korea, Australia, Chinese Taipei, and Czechia managed winning records, and Japan outscored them collectively 34 to 9.
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