E7: World Baseball Classic: History, Rules & 2026 Predictions

Two weeks, twenty nations, and a bracket that turns March into must‑watch baseball. We dive into the World Baseball Classic with Ian Goymer—lifelong Braves diehard and returning guest—to unpack how this tournament became the sport’s most electric international stage. From the halting history of Olympic baseball to the streamlined WBC format, we draw a clear line from scattered showcases to a true global championship that owners, broadcasters, and fans can rally around.

We get into the rules that make the Classic distinctly itself. Eligibility stretches beyond passports to include parents and grandparents, opening doors for stars to honor their roots and lift emerging programs. That flexibility fuels storylines like Bahamas‑born talent suiting up for Great Britain and Aruba‑born standouts powering the Netherlands. At the same time, we confront the uneasy math of risk: insurance approvals, club vetoes, and how high‑profile injuries changed the calculus. With pitch‑count caps, mandated rest days, and even a mercy rule, the WBC works to protect arms while keeping intensity high.

Then it’s predictions time. We walk pool by pool—highlighting why Puerto Rico and Canada look sturdy in Pool A, backing a stacked Team USA and Mexico in Pool B, giving Japan the edge in Pool C with Korea as the runner‑up, and calling the “Group of Death” for the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Expect frontline pitching from Japan, deep American bullpens, and dangerous lineups from DR and Venezuela. Our finals pick is a USA vs Japan rematch, with the United States’ depth earning a razor‑thin nod. For sleepers, we spotlight Venezuela’s balance, Mexico’s tournament savvy, and Canada’s upset potential.

If you love baseball with flags, drums, and knockout urgency, this is your guide to every key storyline, roster quirk, and bracket‑busting pick. Hit play, share your finals matchup, and tell us your sleeper. Subscribe, rate, and leave a review so more fans can find the show—and tag us with your WBC hot takes.

Email us at fungosandfastballs@gmail.com

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Intro

Jerry 0:00

Hi, today we have a special guest. Because of the great success of his episode last month on Chipper Jones, we're bringing back Uber Baseball fan, Uber Braves fan, and my son-in-law Ian Goymer to the program to talk about the World Baseball Classic. Hey Ian, thanks for coming. Hello, hello. Thanks for having me. I mentioned that Ian's a Braves fan. He had the good fortune of marrying into a Yankees family. And I try to explain, because we're in different leagues, that he's it's okay to root for the Yankees unless they face off against in the World Series ultimately. But uh it's a little slow going, Ian.

Ian 0:40

It certainly is. 27 and counting is a lot to catch up to.

Show Kickoff And Episode Scope

Jerry 0:45

Well, because you're a Braves fan, Ian, I'm gonna regale you with a story I heard a few weeks ago from an interview with Jeff Francar. And uh when he was a rookie on the Braves, he was signing autographs with Greg Maddox. I know he's a favorite of yours, and he looked over at the ball and he saw that Maddox was signing baseballs uh for fans. And they said, number 31, Jeffrey Dahmer. And apparently Maddox wanted to foil people that he felt was going to resell those baseballs. So instead of writing Maddox, he uh he chose to write the uh autograph of a serial killer there. And he wouldn't do it for the kids, though. At least that's what Frank Kerr said. So so good story. Brooke would probably say I'm getting off topic, and my producer would start the podcast, so let's do it. Hello and welcome to Fungos and Fastballs, the podcast of baseball history and trivia. I'm your host, Jerry Dynes. Let's jump into today's episode. We have baseball. And yes, I'm down here in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, home of the LSU Tigers, the reigning College World Series champions, and they will remind me that hey, college baseball has already started three weeks ago. But we're talking professional baseball, and for this episode, everybody's asking for it. We are going to be your one-stop shop for all things world baseball classic. We're going to start with the history of the WBC, the tournament format, how the World Baseball Classic is calming the concerns of you and, of course, baseball owners for player injuries, and then go into the teams, the brackets, the players on those teams, who could surprise you, and our thoughts about who is going to win it all. And uh may not be that much of a surprise, but uh Ian, are you excited about this year's baseball classic? Are you gonna watch?

Ian 2:48

Oh, I certainly am. It's it seems like there's a lot of players that maybe in the past we wouldn't be able to see them playing or wouldn't get the chance to see them playing that this time around. Some big names out there that we'll get to see, and I think there's a lot, a good bit of depth out there this year, too, that'll be exciting to watch for.

International Baseball History And Olympics

Jerry 3:07

More and more players are are playing in this tournament, and it's like watching an international all-star tournament, really. Well, before we get into this year, we're gonna go over some history. After all, this is the podcast of baseball history and trivia. So let's do some baseball history. International baseball has been around for a little while. There's been Olympic baseball very inconsistently, and even exhibition baseball game was played at the 1900 Paris Olympics. Uh, there were two American teams, but there have been multiple exhibition games at the Olympics throughout the years, and finally in 1992 in Barcelona, it became a metal sport. But it was voted out of the 2012 London Games. It was actually the first sport that was voted out since 1936 when polo was voted out. Ian, this may surprise you, but I I could not pursue my passion of polo. I had to sell my pony. I couldn't, you know why I couldn't play?

Ian 4:04

Because you're a doctor.

Jerry 4:07

Well, yeah, I mean, but you can't let your real career get in the way. No, I'm a left-handed uh hander at uh Southpaw, and and left-handed players are banned from polo because of potential accidents. And so uh it's a very discriminatory sport. Uh that's why I like baseball much better. There's And, you know, since 2012, baseball's been back, but it wasn't in Paris. And uh I believe it's expected back for LA in four years or two years now. But there's also been the Baseball World Cup, which has been, you know, initially every year, then every two years from 1938 until 2011, when really replaced officially by the WBC. But there's a lot of challenges to international baseball. For many years, only amateurs could play. Uh and you know, most of these are played during the baseball season, especially the Summer Olympics. So who's going to take a couple weeks off and travel somewhere when you've got you've got a regular season game going on? And then finally, owners very concerned about injuries. Even uh back uh Yankees owner Steinbrenner used to used to hate the idea of letting his players play an international play. But finally in 2006, we have the World Baseball Classic, which has been played every three to four years, taking taking a year off in 2020 for COVID, last in 2023. I don't know if you were watching back in 2006, I wasn't, but more recently, if you're watching those recent classics, Ian Yeah, I've been watching I don't really recall much about 2013, but do think that I was watching then.

Ian 5:45

2017, watch some of that one, especially getting to see, I think it was they were teammates at the time with Baltimore, but Adam Jones, Rob Manny Machado, uh, of a big time hit in that series. It was kind of fun, highlight real to watch. And then the last one, getting to see, you know, US and Japan go head to head. A lot of fun watching that, and a lot of exciting moments in that final game, too.

Why The WBC Was Created

Jerry 6:16

Yeah, it's a single elimination final game. So Japan uh won in 2023. That famous at bat where uh then co-teammates uh on the Angels, Otani faced off against Mike Trout. So it was a very exciting way. Our producer, Brooke, would probably say conspiratorial. She thinks the network, networks, and advertising sets up these special moments in sports. But that'll be we'll talk about that throughout our podcast, I'm sure. Uh, Japan has been the big winner. Uh, they've won three of the five championships, including the one three years ago. U.S. has only won one. Probably that that's why you watched back in 2017, they won over Puerto Rico. Let's get to the format. So you got 20 teams. 16 of those teams are there because of how they performed in the 2023 tournament. And then you might have blinked and missed it, but a year ago there were qualifying games for the final four spots. The four teams that did not make it Germany, South Africa, Spain, and China. I love hearing about these teams because we always think of baseball in the U.S. and the Caribbean and of course Japan. But hey, there are there are baseball games in even countries like Germany and South Africa, too. But the four teams that made it and that qualified for this year to finish out those 20: Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Taipei, or Chinese Taipei. How do players qualify for the World Baseball Classic? You know, the Olympics, you usually have to be a citizen or a national of that team. Of course, if you have dual citizenship, you can choose to, you know, play for one country or another, but it's a little loosey-goosey in the world baseball classic. You know how uh how folks qualify?

Ian 8:11

I do not know all the specifics, but I do know that there's a bit more flexibility with being able to qualify for particular teams.

Memorable Moments From Past Classics

Jerry 8:22

It makes sense some of them, a citizen, or if you're you were born in the country, or if you're eligible for citizenship, or if your parents were born there. And I think all those make sense, but where it gets a little weird is sometimes they'll allow it if your grandparents were born there, or sometimes if your country has a relationship to another country. A prime example here is, and and this came to my attention when when Aranola, who I know was born here in Baton Rouge, played for Catholic High, and and all of a sudden I saw that he was playing for Italy. And I said, Well, yeah, he wasn't born in Italy, where his parents know. And it turns out his grandparents were born actually in the city of Nola, Italy. This is a very Italian thing, I think, taking on the the name of your hometown there, uh kind of like like in The Godfather with Vito Corleone uh coming from Corleone. Uh that wouldn't work for me. I'd be Jerry Jersey City, which uh I don't know if that's sounds like I belong in tongue. Yeah, sounds like I belong in the Godfather there, but uh uh we were working on new nicknames. We were weren't we the on our last last podcast? Was it were we going to call me Chip because I'm a junior like Chip or Jones?

Ian 9:37

I think you need each podcast, you need to get a new nickname, and then you gotta see which one just sticks with you.

Jerry 9:43

Brooke, Brooke, uh uh my wife and producer, Brooke. Are we do we establish that as a nickname?

Brooke 9:47

I think we need to take a family vote.

Jerry 9:49

A family vote? All right, we'll get back to you folks on how that vote goes. But Nola isn't the only one. Uh I mean, the most of the Israeli team is made up of uh American Jewish players. You have people like Jazz Chisholm, the Yankee's second baseman. He's playing for the United Kingdom, despite the fact he was born in the Bahamas. And the Bahamas are an independent nation, but they are related to the United Kingdom via the Commonwealth. Even Xander Bogarth, he's playing for the Netherlands, but he was born in Aruba. So you do have these, you know, light relationships. I mean, it almost seems I made a joke with Brooke that if I do a stopover in Istanbul on an international flight, maybe I can pay for the Turkish baseball team. But uh I didn't I didn't say that was a good joke. She's gonna enter uh cricket sounds on that one. Or maybe a satrum bone exactly. Ian, what do you think? Do you think these um qualifications are a little too loosey-goosey, or do you like the folks uh that folks are able to honor their heritage by playing for these different nations?

Tournament Format And Qualifiers

Ian 10:53

I like it. I I think it's pretty neat to just see some of the people that maybe they wouldn't have an opportunity with one team to play getting to go somewhere where they do have that connection and can represent and honor the heritage. And you can see that I mean the players just seem very passionate about representing the teams that they represent. So I think that still stands out as something that's a neat aspect of it.

Jerry 11:17

I agree. I agree. At first it was a little odd, but it's it does seem nice playing for a team where you're maybe uh your grandparents' heritage and uh and it does allow more high-profile players on those teams as opposed to minor league team, minor league players playing in Australia, for example. So Well, one of the big things we mentioned a little before is injury concern, and that's been present for years. And so because of that, insurance company has to underwrite a player's salary just in case they get injured. These are these are real concerns. You remember what happened in 2023 in the World Baseball Classic.

Ian 11:59

Oh yeah, oh yeah. There's I think Edwin Diaz had just signed that huge contract with the Mets, and before he even pitched a single pitch for him, went out. And I think it was his knee, something with his leg that he injured on a celebration and ended up missing. Wasn't I think it was the whole season he missed too.

Jerry 12:16

He did. He missed the whole season, not even not even during a playing injury, as you said, celebrating. And Jose Altuve, right?

Ian 12:24

Yeah, Altuve got injured as well. Was it his hand that he had injured?

Player Eligibility And Heritage Rules

Jerry 12:29

Yeah, thumb surgery. Thumb surgery. So this is this is a real concern. And so what happens is the insurance company has to approve you. And if you're deemed a little too much of a risk by them, then your team has to okay it. And if your team decides not to take that responsibility, you're you're kind of out of luck. You know, you have several people, many people on the Puerto Rico team. Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa, Jose Berrios, the you know, the Jays pitcher, the Reds pitcher, Emilio Pagan. So these are all Puerto Rican players who wanted to play for their team, but are not going to be allowed to play. Of course, in Lindor's case, after all the grumbling about not playing, it turns out he needs hand surgery anyway on his hammaid phone. So he's out for that in the regular season, at least the beginning. And so maybe the insurance company got it right. And you heard about uh Correa once he was denied, right?

Ian 13:25

Oh, yeah, yeah. That's all uh Bad Bunny offered to pay for his insurance to play for uh Puerto Rico and just that uh the Astros weren't too fond of that idea.

Jerry 13:38

No, he offered, he called, but you're right. The Astros and Major League Baseball said maybe that's not a good idea. Uh it but it does give you an idea how much Bad Bunny makes if he's gonna guarantee you a year of uh a year of a major league salary. Yeah.

Ian 13:52

Yeah, and I you know I think that brings up a good question too about like some of these high-profile, high salaried players, but that have injury concerns, they may not get much of a chance because of insurance companies not willing to take on that risk and teams not being willing to pay the salary if they do play in it and get injured. Or players coming off of injury as well. So I guess that that makes it hard for some of the players that may want to play but aren't able to.

Jerry 14:21

It's an interesting job assessing risk as an insurance uh agent on a major league player. Of course, Clayton Kershaw, who just retired from the Dodgers but will be playing for Team USA, he doesn't have to worry about coverage. The Dodgers don't have to worry about his coverage, he doesn't have to worry about insurance because he doesn't have to go back to playing next season. Although uh maybe NBC has to cover him because he's gonna be in the booth for pregames uh for baseball. And then sometimes it has nothing to do with injury. Tigers player Javi Baez will not be playing also for Puerto Rico. So another another ding on the Puerto Rican team because he tested positive for gasp, marijuana. But here's the rub. He actually tested positive in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Uh it was like a two-year suspension, but it started in 2024. So it actually carries over into this year. Marijuana is not really performance enhancing, quite the opposite. But also it's legal in Major League Baseball, but not in the world baseball classic. So as far as as far as allaying some of those concerns, they have made some adjustments to the game. Uh pitching restrictions, right, Ian?

Ian 15:40

I think I saw is it that you can't pitch if you've pitched like 30 or more pitches, you can't pitch consecutive days. And I think it's like if you hit 50, you have to have four days of rest between.

Injury Risks, Insurance, And Controversies

Jerry 15:52

Yeah, days of rest in between uh and pitcher maximums per game. 65 in the first round, all the way up to 95 in the championship round. And I don't know if this is a good thing, or it kind of reminds me of of Little League, but they have a mercy rule. So if some of these games wind up being blowouts, if you're ahead by 15 runs after five innings or 10 runs after seven, they stop the game there. So uh well, let's go to the format, and then I want to discuss the different pools. I'm gonna ask Ian who he thinks out of these pools will make it and who not. You know, we start out with 20 teams. There are four pools of five teams. And and in the opening round, you play around Robin, you play against each of those teams, and only two of those five will move on to the next round. There's gonna be the quarterfinals, and the the the teams are in four different locations. You've got San Juan, Puerto Rico, you've got Tokyo, you've got Houston, and you've got Miami. Hey, I wonder if there's still tickets for the Houston games. I mean, we're we're kind of close. We can take a direct flight to Houston, right, Brooke?

Brooke 16:54

Definitely. I'd agree to buy those.

Jerry 16:56

Oh, oh, yeah, that, but not a bobblehead. $60 bobblehead. She'll pay $500 for uh tickets for uh the World Baseball Classic. A little discrepancy there. After those four locations, you go to the semis in Miami and Houston, and then the finals would be on Miami in March 17th. So again, two weeks of glorious international baseball. Let's go to the pools, Ian. I'm gonna read out the five teams in each pool. You tell me who the number one team will be, probably obvious, but and who you think is gonna be the second team that gets through to the quarters. Uh so pool A. Puerto Rico, Cuba, Canada, Panama, and Colombia. What do you think?

Ian 17:40

Yeah, I think Puerto Rico's the favorite for me there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think even with the the misses, I still think that they've got a good shot there. Still some really good players on that team. And then I think secondly, I'd see Canada. I do think that Canada's got uh some good players on the team as well. And I think that let's see, is it the Naylor brothers are playing for Canada as well?

Jerry 18:06

And yeah, no Freddie Freeman, but you got the Naylor brothers, yeah.

Ian 18:10

Yeah, it's a little unfortunate to not see Freddie out there for him. But they got Tyler O'Neill, I think, is playing for him as well, who should add some pop. And he's fast too, so got some speed there as well. And they got some some good starting pitchers that should be able to help him at least through the round of pull-A.

Jerry 18:30

Yeah, no Pavetta. I'm uh maybe I remember him on the Yankees, but I'm not a tremendous fan of Jamison Tallion, but I don't know. We'll we'll see. We'll see what happens. Pool B. This is the USA pool, so this is the pool to watch, all you USA fans. Mexico, Italy, Great Britain, and Brazil. So what do you think, Ian? Uh Great Britain wins it all here.

Ian 18:53

Yeah, yeah, that's the route we're going. No, I think the US will handle the poll and take the first seed or advance as the winner of that poll. Loaded roster. It's gonna be really neat to see schemes pitching, scuba pitching. They've got a lot of depth with starting pitchers and also with relief pitcher gives Mason Miller getting to see. I mean, he is a fun player to watch play and can throw some gas.

Jerry 19:23

So Joe Ryan, Garrett Whitlock, very good. And then how about that hitting?

Ian 19:30

Yeah, and I think it's gonna be fun to see Bobby Witt Jr. getting to play with him, and I think Bregman's also playing with him this year. Got Harper, Will Smith, and oh my gosh, Cal Raleigh.

Jerry 19:45

Get that catcher's name out of your mouth. Oh, different Will Smith. I'm sorry. I was like, where'd you go with this one? Cal Raleigh and Will Smith are catching, and you're forgetting whose jersey I have on. Captain Aaron Judge. Absolutely. I am in honor of Team USA. I'm wearing my Aaron Judge jersey here today. My uh world baseball classic team USA stuff did not come in time in the mail for this podcast.

Brooke 20:12

Excuse me? Oh no. What did you order?

Jerry 20:15

Ah, you know, just jersey, you know, t-shirt, hat, you know.

Brooke 20:20

Well, now we'll have to get tickets. You need a place to wear it.

Pitching Limits And Mercy Rule

Jerry 20:22

My team USA boxer shorts. I mean, it's a sign you know. In a few days, I am going to be regaled. Uh so yeah, I think USA is a good bet here. Do you do you who do you like second? Maybe Mexico?

Ian 20:39

Yeah, Mexico would be who I would go with second. Yeah, I don't think Brazil's got too much of a shot there. They do have Bichette on their team, though it's not Bo Bichette. It's it's not Bo Bichette. So uh I do think that the depths that Mexico has will help them get through. They've got some good players on there as well.

Jerry 20:59

So Pool C. Pool C, Japan, Australia, Korea, South Korea, uh, Chechia, or the Czech Republic, and Chinese Taipei. Who do you like there?

Ian 21:11

Japan's the clear favorite to me. I think it's a little less clear who the runner-up would be here. I think this one's probably for me the hardest pinpoint someone to be the runner-up. But I would go with I think Korea. I would love to see the Braves new free agents acquisition play shortstop for him, but he will be uh out and injured, so we will be seeing him play.

Jerry 21:36

Right.

Ian 21:37

But I do think that they've got a good shot of finishing runner up there.

Pools Overview And Host Cities

Jerry 21:40

Japan's exciting, definitely uh one of the top favorites. Obviously, you got Otani, you got Yamamoto pitching. I'm excited to see some of the the two some of the players, the two players that are new to the uh major league baseball that have been playing in the Nippon Professional League for uh several years. You got Kazuma Okamato, and uh he's He's coming to the Blue Jays in 2026. And then Munataka Murakami, who is coming to the White Sox. The Japanese call him Murakami-sama because Kamisama means God. So the Japanese call him God or a God. And we'll see how much having a god on their team helps the White Sox this year. But he's going to be very good for the Japanese team in the world baseball classic.

Ian 22:29

White Sox need a miracle, but with God on their side.

Jerry 22:35

With God on their side. And then Pool D, known last time and probably this time as the Group of Death. You have the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and then the Netherlands in Israel. Who do you like here?

Ian 22:51

Lots of fun teams to watch, keep an eye out on, but I do think that uh Dominican Republic will be the winner. A really limited roster. Lots of fun to watch them play. And then I think runner-up will be Venezuela. They've got a really exciting roster as well. I got some players playing for them this time around. Last time around we didn't get to see on them, so it'll be neat to see that. The Netherlands, you know, Ozzy is playing for them, so excited for him. Andrew Jones coaching and new Hall of Famer on Andrew Jones. New Hall of Famer. Indeed, indeed. And yes, that should be fun to watch, but I don't know if they have the pitching it's gonna take to get too far, but they've got some fun players on the team to watch.

Jerry 23:36

Yeah, Kenley Jansen, we mentioned Xander Bogartz from Aruba, the Netherlands, there, before jerks and pros of Pro Far. So again, these are even though the the matchups may seem slanted there and underdogs, but there's still some exciting players to watch. And so if you had to predict uh who's gonna be in that final, who's gonna uh who's gonna win it all, who do you who do you think?

Ian 23:59

The final, I think it comes down to the US and Japan.

Jerry 24:03

So a rematch of last year last three years ago, I should say.

Ian 24:07

Yeah, I do think it'll be a rematch. I don't think it's as like it's not as compelling to me that that is definitely the route it's gonna go. I do think the Dominican Republic has a shot, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Venezuela give it a run. But I do think the US will pull it out. They've that roster is really loaded, and it's it's neat to see a bunch of people that maybe before we wouldn't have got the the opportunity to see them this year. We've got a lot of those big names that are going up and playing for the US, and I think uh got tons of depths and that will go a long way.

Jerry 24:44

Well, Vegas would agree with you. You're you're only getting even money if you go to Vegas right now and and uh bet on the US. Uh Japan, of course, is the second favorite. So, but I'll ask you who do you think your sleeper is? You know, I mentioned he is my son-in-law. Who you who are you taking yours and my daughter rent money and and gambling and putting it all on for uh for an underdog there?

Team USA Pool And Roster Highlights

Ian 25:04

I would go with Venezuela, is and it's weird to call them a sleeper underdog characters, but they do have a pretty solid roster. Really good players, but they've never won it. And this year, I think they're not in the top four favorites either. So I would have them as kind of my underdog. I also do think Canada's a team to watch, Mexico's a team to watch. But that's why that would be my favorite of Canada's underdog picks.

Jerry 25:32

Yeah, you got Jackson Chourio there, and who helped me out on my fantasy team last year, you know, catcher Salvador Perez, Red's third baseman Eugenio Suarez, and and Ranger Suarez, who's now on the stocks there pitching. So it is uh it is a good team. I'm I'm I may go with Mexico. Mexico, I think, is right behind them, ranked sixth in the odds, but Randy Arozarena always scares. But you got you know, Rey's first baseman Jonathan Ronda, you got Alejandro Kirk catching and pitching. You got Taj Bradley and the Cubs pitcher Javier Arsad. So I think Mexico might be the sleeper there. So I'm excited. I know you're excited in. And really, thanks for thanks for joining us today. This was a good discussion, and I hope it explained to everybody who maybe the World Baseball Classic is just on their radar that it is time to tune in. Uh so I want to uh I want to thank everybody for listening today. I especially want to thank Jorge down at Jovi's Tacos, our favorite taco plays. He and I were actually discussing the WBC last night. Uh uh he's rooting for his Mexican team, but he thinks Cuba might be his paper, so we'll see who's right. Uh I also want to thank all our listeners. You keep listening. Don't forget to like us on social media, follow us on Instagram, and subscribe on your plot podcast platform. This is Jerry Dynes and Fungos and Fastballs.

Brooke 32:10

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