World Baseball Classic 2026: Houston, here we come -

Cast your mind back to 13 March 2023, the World Baseball Classic in Phoenix. Having lost to the USA and Canada in the previous two days, Great Britain faced Colombia, the 11th-ranked country in the world. The historic 7-5 victory helped secure GB’s inclusion in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

This week, we found out the wheres, the whens and the whos about the next instalment of this globe-spanning competition.

THE LOWDOWN

The competition starts on 5 March 2026 in the Toyko Dome, with Australia against one of the qualifiers. Four spots for qualifiers—one in each of the four groups—are still to be filled, with the qualification competition likely in March 2025.

The day after Australia get the WBC started, and some 10,000 km away in Houston, GB kick off get their campaign with a clash against Mexico in Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros. The atmosphere generated by the hordes in red, white and green will undoubtedly bring chills.

Mexico is currently the second-ranked country according to World Baseball Softball Confederation and trounced the USA 11-5 in the pool stages of the 2023 World Baseball Classic. With players like Isaac Paredes and Jarren Duran, Mexico will pose as tough a challenge as any in GB’s history.

As a Friday afternoon game in Texas, it will be perfect prime-time viewing for GB fans in the UK, whose appetite for the new season will have been whetted by a few weeks of spring training.

The following evening, GB will face the US dream team. It is tough to imagine that the US can field a more potent lineup than the nine that suited up against GB in the last WBC, but the pain of losing in the final to Japan must still feel raw, so expect the USA to throw everything at the 2026 championship.

A reminder of the USA team that GB faced in 2023

And also a reminder of how that game started…

Like last time, the GB players will have very little time to process the epic USA match-up before preparing for the next game, a mere 11 hours later, which is a more winnable proposition against Italy.

NOTE: Just before the 2023 WBC, I asked the GB players how they would recover from the exhilaration of facing the USA one evening and then tackling Canada – in a far more winnable fixture – the following morning. Justin Wylie rightly shot down the question with, “All of the games are winnable.”

With players like Vinnie Pasquantino and Sal Frelick, Italy is currently ranked as the 14th-best team in the world. However, with nearly 20 million Americans classing themselves as Italian Americans, a few more MLB stars might make themselves available for selection.

Padres starter Joe Musgrove is considering which of the three Pool B countries of his heritage he should represent. Unfortunately for Brits, the 31-year-old is deciding between the USA, Mexico, and Italy.

In last year’s European Championship, Great Britain edged out Italy during the group stage in a dramatic 11-10 win, with Harry Ford and Nick Ward homering, while Demoi Hodge kept his nerve to secure the save during a nail-biting ninth inning. Want to know how nail-biting? One hit, three walks, two earned runs, and two strikeouts – that’s how nail-biting.

Like in the WBC 2023, GB will have four games in four days with no off-days. It feels perfectly correct that the three top teams in the group (USA, Mexico, Italy) all benefit from an off-day.

On Monday, March 9, GB will play a qualifier in their final pool game—remember, GB was a qualifier last time. This time, it could be Colombia, Taiwan, China, or maybe our nemesis from the European Championship, Spain. One thing is for sure: there is no chance that GB’s manager, Drew Spencer, will underestimate this opponent.

Later that day, Houston hosts the tie of the pool when the USA faces Mexico in front of a maxed-out Minute Maid crowd. Could Mexico possibly extend their winning streak against the USA to four games?

When GB finishes their final pool game, Mexico, Italy, and the USA will each have two more games to play before we know which two countries will move into the quarter-finals. It’s tough to see any outcome other than the USA and Mexico progressing from Pool B, but this is sport; stranger things happen all of the time.

Article by Gav Tramps. Gav quit Twitter X with frustration at the platform’s unwillingness to address its promotion of toxic content, but you can still find him on Instagram and Threads

Stay tuned to Bat Flips & Nerds for more #LetsGoGB coverage over the next 19 months.