Sixteen of the 20 teams have secured their places in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. That leaves four spots up for grabs, with the first two getting decided this week in Taiwan.
That’s right: With just over a year to go until next year’s tournament, we have made it to the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers. The first Qualifier takes place this weekend in Taiwan with host Chinese Taipei, Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa battling to advance. (The other qualifier taking place in Tucson, Ariz., will begin on March 2.)
World Baseball Classic Qualifiers
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The rules for this year’s qualifier are a little different than in 2022: Each qualifier pool will begin with a round-robin between the four teams. The team that finishes in first after these three games will earn automatic entry to the 2026 World Baseball Classic. There will then be a winner-moves-on, loser-goes-home final played between the second- and third-place teams.
Nicaragua 2, Spain 1 (10)
For the second consecutive day, Nicaragua celebrated an extra-inning walk-off win in the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, improving to 2-0 in the tournament thanks to a Benjamin Alegria single to center field in the 10th inning to beat Spain at the Taipei Dome.
With the bases loaded and one out, Alegria lined a 2-2 pitch from reliever Rhiner Cruz over center fielder Engel Beltre, who leaped but couldn’t reach the drive.
Much like in Nicaragua’s 2-1 win in the tournament opener, pitching ruled the day, with just a solo home run from each side accounting for all the scoring through nine innings — Brandon Leyton launched one in the bottom of the first inning for Nicaragua, and Spain’s Carlos Colmenarez delivered an equalizer in the third.
But Nicaragua’s pitching staff and defensive prowess held Spain scoreless the rest of the way. There were several tremendous plays on both sides, but Nicaragua’s defense shined the brightest, particularly in the sixth inning.
That’s when shortstop Freddy Zamora made a sliding back-handed grab of a sharp ground ball in the hole between short and third before making a long throw to rob Wander Encarnacion of a hit. Later in the frame, Chase Dawson made an incredible leaping catch before slamming into the center-field wall to steal extra bases from Rusber Estrada.
Another defensive highlight for Nicaragua came in the top of the ninth inning, and this one proved to be a huge play to preserve the 1-1 tie. Spain loaded the bases with one out, and Beltre hit a sharp ground ball toward the hole between first and second base. Leyton moved to his left to spear it, turned and threw to second to begin an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
Nicaragua’s victory set up a Sunday showdown with the host team of the WBC Qualifiers, Chinese Taipei.
Spain 12, Chinese Taipei 5
Spain entered a packed and raucous Taipei Dome, the new stadium filled with fans hungry to see the Chinese Taipei team, which had become stars following its Premier12 gold medal in November.
The visitors quickly silenced the crowd as Spain won in a shocking 12-5 blowout — Chinese Taipei narrowly avoiding a mercy-rule defeat before tacking on a few meaningless runs in the ninth inning.
Spain got it started early: They scored two runs in the first inning, added two more in the third and broke it open with six runs in the fifth, when the Chinese Taipei pitchers couldn’t find the strike zone. That inning, Spain drew two walks and two hit batsmen en route to the crooked number. Wander Encarnacion, the 2023 European Championship MVP, and Jesus Ustariz led the way with three hits apiece in the middle of the order.
Catcher Gabriel Lino put the finishing touches on the scoring with a two-run home run in the sixth inning to push the lead to double digits.
“It was really exciting to play here, in front of 40,000 people and to win against a team like Chinese Taipei,” Lino said after the game. “The best part is that we were focused and working on our goal from the start until the end, and I feel like this was a really important game for all of us. Hitting a home run was amazing too, but, for me, the win was the most important part of the night.”
Yu Chang, named to the All-WBC team in 2023, hit a two-run home run in one of the few bright spots for Chinese Taipei, while A’s 19-year-old pitching prospect Wei-En Lin, signed for $1.35 million last year, looked sharp in one inning of relief.
It’s a big win for Spain, which is looking to return to the World Baseball Classic for the first time since its lone appearance in 2013. The favorites in the 2022 Qualifiers in Regensburg, the team had two chances to advance before upset losses to Great Britain and Czechia had it on the outside looking in.
Nicaragua 2, South Africa 1 (10)
The opening game of the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers was a thriller, and even involved some ingenious trickery.
In a well-pitched contest that featured a combined 10 hits, Nicaragua emerged victorious on a walk-off single to right field by Ronald Rivera in the bottom of the 10th inning.
The frame opened with an automatic runner at second base, Emanuel Trujillo. Trujillo moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Elian Rayo, and following an intentional walk to Freddy Zamora, Rivera delivered the game-winning hit.
Aside from the walk-off single, the lasting highlight from this game will be the successful execution of the hidden ball trick by South Africa in the seventh inning. That’s when Zamora’s RBI single tied the game, 1-1, and Zamora eventually moved to third following a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly.
But after the sac fly, when the ball went to South African third baseman Anthony Phillips, Phillips walked toward pitcher Justin Erasmus and acted as though he was placing the ball into Erasmus’ glove. Erasmus then walked back toward the mound while Phillips — who had actually held onto the ball — went back to his position at third.
As soon as Zamora took his lead off third base, Phillips ran over and tagged him. While the play was initially ruled a balk, upon replay review, the call was overturned and Zamora was called out. The hidden ball trick had preserved the tie into the eighth inning.
But in the end, despite falling victim to the unorthodox move, Nicaragua edged South Africa to put itself in the win column on Day 1 of the tournament.
We’ll be breaking down the action in every Qualifier game here, so check back every day for updates from Taiwan. And for more information on the teams taking part and the players to keep an eye on, click here.
Full schedule (all times ET)
Game 5: South Africa vs. Spain, 11 p.m.
Game 6: Nicaragua vs. Chinese Taipei, 6 a.m.
Game 7: 2nd place vs. 3rd place, 6 a.m.