With the 2026 World Baseball Classic kicking off in less than a month, excitement is building even further with the announcement Thursday of the 20 teams participating in this year’s tournament. While we’ve known a lot of the biggest names competing for several weeks now, there’s still a lot of unknowns that make this week’s reveal highly anticipated.
As the tournament approaches, we’ll break down each group and each team’s chances of capturing the WBC title. For now, here are the six biggest takeaways from the WBC roster:
This level of pitching talent is unprecedented, especially for Team USA
The World Baseball Classic has never seen so many elite starting pitchers. There’s a good argument to be made that we’ll see five of the six healthy pitchers on the planet — Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Christopher Sanchez and Logan Webb, along with the lone waiver wire, Garrett Crochet — taking the field in the upcoming tournament. These were the top four finalists in last year’s NL Cy Young game and the winners of two consecutive AL Cy Young games.
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In short, this is a huge upgrade. As recently as 2017, Cy Young was not among the top five players in the WBC last season in either league. There’s a few more front lines in 2023, including defending NFC Cy Young Sandy Alcantara, but this group pales in comparison to this group of aces.
Throughout the tournament’s history, top non-American pitchers have generally shown greater interest in participating (Alcantara, Shohei Ohtani, Felix Hernandez). But until then, the United States will have difficulty convincing its trump cards to commit. Remember, U.S. captain Mark DeRosa enters the 2023 tournament with a rotation that includes Merrill Kelly, Kyle Freeland, Lance Lynn, Miles Mikolas, Brady Singer, Adam Wainwright and Nick Martinez. All told, the unit had zero Cy Youngs and only five in the top three, four of which were Wainwrights. The 2026 team has six Cy Youngs (three of which belong to the retired Clayton Kershaw, to be fair) and 11 top-three finishes.
It’s an incredibly encouraging development for the game that the world’s most dominant pitchers are willing to change their preseason routines to compete on a global stage. — Mintz
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The Italian team is a fascinating dark horse
In 2023, the Italian team performed well and fought through the Taiwanese team before being eliminated by the Japanese team in the quarter-finals. Although impressive, Italy’s squad is far from full. With their pool tournament taking place halfway around the world, the club had a hard time convincing Italian-American Major League regulars to choose to attend.
This year, the Italian pool is in Houston, which seems to be a game-changer. Vinnie Pasquantino, one of two position players returning from the national team in 2023, said he spent a lot of time recruiting players for Italy. The efforts paid off.
Italy’s starting lineup will be one of the few at this World Cup made up entirely of current MLS players. Pasquantino has the biggest bat, but he will be flanked by powerful sluggers like Dominic Canzoni (142 OPS+ last year) and Jacques Caglianone (a former top prospect with tons of power). Jakob Marsee had a solid debut with the Marlins. Kyle Till should be the White Sox’s Opening Day catcher. Jon Berti is an accomplished veterinarian. There’s a lot to like about this lineup.
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More importantly, Italy’s pitching staff is much improved. Aaron Nola is undoubtedly Italy’s best bowler at international level. Michael Lorenzen is a solid No. 2 guy. Alek Jacob, Matt Festa, Kyle Nicolas and Greg Weissert are all major league relievers. They’ll need to beat either Mexico or the United States to get out of a tough group, but this team is capable of making it happen. — Mintz
Puerto Rico will lose many stars
Last week it was revealed that two of Puerto Rico’s best and most influential players, Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa, had failed to obtain the insurance they needed to compete in the WBC. Last-minute appeals were made, with the island’s baseball federation even threatening to withdraw from the tournament. But in the end, these desperate attempts proved in vain as both stars were left off the official roster. Then, Javy Báez was also not included as he was suspended for testing positive for marijuana in the last game and insurance rumors about him have been minimal.
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This is a huge bummer for Puerto Rico, which will host a WBC contest for the first time since 2013. Between Nolan Arenado, Edwin Diaz, Seth Lugo and Heliot Ramos, this club still has enough talent to win a balanced group, but they will sorely miss Lindor, Correa and Baez. — Mintz
The final two rosters for Team USA announced
While the vast majority of Team USA’s roster has been announced over the past few months, two spots on the 30-man roster were still undecided ahead of Thursday’s announcement. To be sure, one more position player and one more pitcher will be added, but some question which type of hitter and pitcher Mark DeRosa prefers. Will Team USA field a third receiver to back up Carl Rowley and Will Smith? Will they target a player with defensive versatility, another Ernie Clement type player, or someone with more offensive upside? Do they need another starting pitcher or another high-leverage reliever?
The answer: first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and right-hander Michael Wacha. Goldschmidt, who remains a free agent entering his age-38 season, returns to the roster as one of five holdovers from the 2023 team, along with Smith, Bobby Witt Jr., Kyle Schwarber and right-hander David Bednar. Goldschmidt gives DeRosa a veteran off the bench who can still crush lefties. He’ll either be relieved against a left-handed reliever or get a start against a left-handed starter and then make way for a better option later in the game.
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A veteran and reliable right-hander, Wacha is a smart addition, giving DeRosa another pitcher capable of covering multiple innings. Dealing with the various restrictions and pitch count regulations imposed by major league clubs is a huge variable in this tournament, so giving managers a bunch of weapons that can provide length is smart roster building. While this is Wacha’s WBC debut, he does have experience with Team USA, having competed on the 2011 College Nationals.
The Goldschmidt/Wacha duo may lack the flash of some of the tournament’s younger, more dominant entries, but these two have clear roles on Team USA, so their addition should come as no surprise. — Shusterman
Brazil returns
Of the 20 teams participating in this year’s Classic, 19 are reserved teams for the 2023 Classic. The only exception is Brazil, which qualified last March in the qualifiers and effectively replaced the Chinese team that failed to advance this time. This is Brazil’s second appearance in the Classic, having last done so in 2013 when they were winless in pool play (but did take the lead in seven innings against the Japanese Samurai). That means Brazil are seeking their first WBC victory in this year’s tournament and will have at least four chances to do so as huge underdogs in Houston’s Group B, which also features the United States, Mexico, Italy and Great Britain.
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Brazil currently has only five players playing in the major leagues, one of the smallest totals in the tournament. But the list is not without intrigue. The most interesting threads involve three players with high-profile major league fathers. One of the Angels’ five outfielders is 20-year-old Lucas Ramirez, the son of 12-time All-Star Manny Ramirez. Infielder Dante Bichette Jr. is the son of four-time All-Star Dante and the older brother of rising Met Bo.
Perhaps most fascinating of all, 17-year-old Joseph Contreras is the son of 11-year major league pitcher and 2005 World Series champion Jose Contreras. Joseph, the youngest player in the tournament and a popular pick in this summer’s draft, was a talented right-hander out of Georgia high school who now plays at Vanderbilt University. A strong performance against one of the star lineups in Group B would be a unique and exciting way to boost his draft stock – and perhaps help Brazil make history on the international stage. — Shusterman
Plenty of prospects to watch
Of the 600 players on the WBC roster, a little more than half (305 to be exact) are currently members of major league organizations. But only about half of those are expected to play in the majors in 2026; there are also a plethora of players from all levels of the minor leagues. This means that, in addition to the vast majority of established star power on these rosters, there is a wealth of potential players in the WBC player pool who will have the opportunity to raise their profile on the international stage.
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There are some obvious headliners, such as Mets right-hander Nolan McClain (the only rookie-eligible player on the American team), and former No. 1 pick and top prospect of the Guardians Travis Bazana (Australia’s biggest star). There are a few other top-100 players who could make an impact in the major leagues sooner or later, such as Marlins outfielder Owen Casey (Canada) and Nationals catcher Harry Ford (UK).
Here are some other notable names who are a little further away from the Grand Slams but are worth keeping an eye on once the tournament begins:
Mariners INF Michael Arroyo (Colombia): Arroyo has been one of the most productive hitters in the minor leagues over the past two years, but he has sometimes gotten lost in the shuffle of Seattle’s farm system, which is filled with high-profile position player prospects. An undersized right-handed hitter with no clear line defense at the plate — he’ll play most of his time at second base but may be best suited long-term in left field — he doesn’t possess the explosive physical tools typically associated with premium prospects. But he hit Double-A last year as a 20-year-old, and he’s expected to be on Seattle’s roster in some form in 2027.
Brewers INF Andrew Fisher (Italy): Fisher ranks No. 20 in my 2025 draft rankings after a productive college career at three different schools. Milwaukee apparently agreed with that assessment, selecting him with the 20th overall pick and quickly sending him to High-A, where he had a stellar pro debut. It’s unclear how much playing time Fisher will get on the Italian roster, but if he gets some at-bats, they’ll certainly be interesting to watch.
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Track and field LHP Wayne Lin (Chinese Taipei): Jeremy Lin, who turns 20 in November, was a strikeout machine in the lower leagues last season and showed solid command. This fun fact says it all: Only three pitchers with at least 80 minor league innings in 2025 have a higher K-BB rate than Lin’s 27.1%: Trey Yesavage, Payton Tolle and Jonah Tong. good!
Yankees RHP Elmer Rodriguez (Puerto Rico): Acquired from Boston for catcher Carlos Narvaez a year ago, Rodriguez had a stellar first season with the Yankees, striking out 176 batters in 150 innings and posting a 2.58 ERA on his way up to Triple-A. He’s still far behind New York’s starting pitching depth chart, but don’t be surprised if he finds his way into the major league mix at some point in 2026. — Shusterman
