Welcome to Pinstripe Alley’s coverage of the 2026 World Baseball Classic! We previewed Pool A, Pool B, Pool C, and Pool D in the linked articles. Since the first several days of the WBC feature a bevy of games, we’ll be recapping them in batches. Enjoy!
Sunday saw a wire-to-wire day of international baseball action, as the World Baseball Classic charges onward. Between comeback wins and “walk-off” home runs in the seventh inning, it was an exciting day of games. Two titans in Japan and the Dominican
Republic remained undefeated with big wins, while Cuba and Italy did the same with meaningful wins against Colombia and Great Britain, respectively.
Here, we’ll cover the first half of Sunday’s slate, with coverage of the later games coming in a separate article.
Pool C: Japan (3-0) 4, Australia (2-1) 3
In a battle to go to 3-0 in pool play, Australia gave the reigning champions a run for their money, but ultimately fell short. Starters Tomoyuki Sugano and Connor MacDonald did their part in keeping this ballgame scoreless through five innings of play. The two starters went three and four innings respectively, allowing just five combined hits.
Japan had a golden opportunity in the fourth, when they had the bases loaded with Shohei Ohtani at the plate, but it was squandered when Shugo Maki was picked off at second base. Australia took the first lead in this one thanks to some small ball — with Aaron Whitefield starting things in the sixth with a one-out double, he quickly stole third before an errant throw allowed him to trot home and put his squad up 1-0.
An inning later, however, the decisive blow would come from Japan, when Masataka Yoshida hit a no-doubt two-run blast in the seventh to put the reigning champs on top. They would score two more in the eighth inning to go up 4-1.
The Australians continued to put up a valiant fight, as solo homers from Alex Hall and Rixon Wingrove in the ninth inning brought the deficit to just one, though they couldn’t finish the comeback. With the win, Japan moves to 3-0 in pool play, with the Australians falling to 2-1, though they still have a reasonable shot at advancing.
Pool D: Dominican Republic (2-0) 12, Netherlands (1-2) 1
From end to end, the Dominican Republic had control of their second WBC game, this one against the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The D.R. bats only tallied eight hits as a group, but they easily made the most of them, while also benefiting from an excellent start by Luis Severino, who tossed four innings of one-run ball.
The D.R. took the lead in the first, thanks to a Vlad Guerrero Jr. RBI knock and an infield error, and never looked back. The Netherlands squad chipped away in the second, when old friend Didi Gregorious pitched in with a solo homer off former teammate Sevy, but it was not nearly enough for his team, and was ultimately the only scoring they saw on the afternoon.
Guerrero Jr. continued his big day in the third inning with a two-run blast, before the Dominican lineup stepped on the gas in the fifth. There, Junior Caminero remained red-hot with a three-run blast, and Austin Wells pitched in with a solo blast to help put them up 10-1 by the time the inning was over.
With a mercy rule in play for the tournament, this game ended with a “walk-off” home run in the seventh, when Juan Soto wrapped this one up with a towering no-doubter into the right-center seats. The blast was a fitting way to cap off their statement victory.
Pool A: Cuba (2-0) 7, Colombia (0-3) 4
The Cuban squad remains on the list of undefeated teams in the ‘26 Classic with a big win over Colombia, who is still winless.
Colombia took an early lead in this one, but it was quickly erased in the bottom of the first. A walk and a hit-by-pitch had them in business, before Ariel Martinez turned this game around in a hurry with a massive three-run shot. Two batters later, Erisbel Arruebarrena homered to put Cuba up 4-1.
Colombia scraped another run across to remain in the game in the sixth, thanks to a sac fly from Tito Polo, but the Cuban lineup answered back in a major way. After a fielding error netted them another run, Yiddi Cappe delivered the big blow with a two-run triple to put Cuba up 7-2.
The Colombian squad remained in this game until the end, but Cuba’s solid early pitching and relentless offense helped to push them to 2-0 in the tourney. At 0-3, Colombia’s primary motive now will be to avoid last place in Pool A to ensure a spot in 2029’s WBC.
Pool B: Italy (2-0) 7, Great Britain (0-3) 4
Italy also remains without a loss in this year’s Classic. Their 7-4 win on Sunday pushed Great Britain to 0-3 in pool play, as Italy’s 12 hits and excellent relief pitching was enough to get them by.
Great Britain took a quick 2-0 lead in this one, as a pair of wild pitches plated two in the top of the first. The Italians clawed back in the third, however, when back-to-back solo homers from Andrew Fischer and J.J. D’Orazio tied things up.
The Italian bats didn’t slow down going forward, as they put up five runs over their next two innings. They took the lead in the fourth thanks to another big hit from Fischer before his squad continued to string hits together. Their final runs came in the fifth, when Sam Antonacci came through with the “little league homer,” rounding the bases on a triple and subsequent error.
Highlights were hard to come by for the British squad, though Nate Eaton and Jazz Chisholm Jr. both recorded a pair of hits at the top of their lineup. They fall to 0-3 in pool play, and will hope to pass Brazil to avoid a last-place finish.
Today at the WBC
South Korea vs. Australia (Pool C)
Pitching matchup: LHP Ju Young Son vs. LHP Lachlan Wells
Time: 6:00 a.m. ET
TV: FS1
Venue: Tokyo Dome, Japan
Dominican Republic vs. Israel (Pool D)
Pitching matchup: RHP Brayan Bello vs. TBD
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
TV: FS1
Venue: loanDepot park, Miami, FL
Colombia vs. Panama (Pool A)
Pitching matchup: TBD
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
TV: FS2
Venue: Hiram Bithorn Stadium, San Juan, PR
Brazil vs. Great Britain (Pool B)
Pitching matchup: TBD
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
TV: Tubi
Venue: Daikin Park, Houston, TX
Cuba vs. Puerto Rico (Pool C)
Pitching matchup: LHP Julio Robaina vs. RHP Elmer Rodríguez
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
TV: FS1
Venue: Hiram Bithorn Stadium, San Juan, PR
Venezuela vs. Nicaragua (Pool D)
Pitching matchup: RHP Yoendrys Gómez vs. TBD
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
TV: FS2
Venue: loanDepot park, Miami, FL
Mexico vs. United States (Pool B)
Pitching matchup: TBD vs. RHP Paul Skenes
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
TV: Fox
Venue: Daikin Park, Houston, TX
