Pinpointing the “Group of Death” is a well-worn subject when it comes to looking at soccer World Cups. The mantra goes to whatever group/pool is determined to be the toughest, in terms of any of the teams could advance past that round. If we did that for this year’s upcoming World Baseball Classic, the choice is probably between either Pool A or Pool C.
In terms of the national team rankings that the World Baseball Softball Confederation releases, then it’s Pool C without question. While the rankings should
be taken with a giant grain of salt considering the WBC is the only time you get teams remotely close to full strength, this pool features the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked countries — Japan and Chinese Taipei — and all of them are in the top 15 in the world. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the five countries who will compete for Pool C’s spots in the next round.
Australia
Over the years, Australia has had a handful of players make the major leagues. One of them is former Yankee Graeme Lloyd, who will serve as bullpen coach for the Aussies. On that front, there’s not much to write home about for their 2026 roster, as former Ray and current White Sock Curtis Mead is most MLB experienced player on the team.
However, that’s because fellow infielder Travis Bazzana hasn’t reached the major leagues yet. The 2024 No. 1 overall draft pick has to be the biggest name on this year’s Australia team. While he hasn’t cracked the bigs yet, he’s mostly hit well in the minors and ranks pretty highly in every prospect rankings list you’ll find.
Australia is coming off a quarterfinal appearance last time around with the help of big homers by the returning Robbie Glendinning, and they have enough talent that you can’t rule them out of pulling it off again.
Chinese Taipei
Chinese Taipei had to battle their way back into the tournament through the qualifiers, having finished in last place in their group in 2023. That being said, they finished in last on tiebreakers after all five teams in their group managed to go 2-2.
Taiwan has a baseball culture — shoutout Chien Ming Wang, who is also serving as a bullpen coach at the tournament — and a professional league that has attracted some former major leaguers over the years. However, they don’t have much in the way of current big-league talent. Tsung-Che Cheng — seven plate appearances for the Pirates last year — and Stuart Fairchild — five year MLB career with a 86 OPS+ — are really the only ones to speak of at the moment.
However, in terms of former MLBers, Yu Chang has been a star for the team.
While his MLB stats are hardly overwhelming, Chang hit .438/.500/.938 at the 2023 WBC and then OPSed 1.228 in the qualifying tournament to help get Chinese Taipei back here. And as Jordan Shusterman of Yahoo Sports noted, they have far more prospects around the big leagues than you might realize:
Remarkably, the Taiwanese roster features more players currently on MLB Pipeline’s organizational Top 30 lists than any other team in the tournament. It’s an exciting blend of hitters and pitchers, with a pair of bat-first infielders in [the Cubs’ Jonathon] Long and [the Tigers’ Hao-Yu] Lee, and a quartet of arms headlined by the Athletics’ Wei-En Lin joined by his teammates Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang and Tzu-Chen Sha and D-backs left-hander Yu-Min Lin.
Czechia
After making their debut at the 2023 edition, the Czech Republic is back for 2026. They got in thanks to avoiding last place in their group in 2023, as they went 1-3 with a win over China. Czechia also — very briefly — led Japan in another game, scoring off Roki Sasaki in the top of the first inning.
To be frank, the Czech roster does not feature many players you’ll know. Most of their roster is guys who play over in the smaller leagues in Europe, and who work day jobs. Their lone player with MLB experience is Terrin Varva, who appeared in 68 games from the Orioles across the 2022-25 seasons. He put up -0.2 fWAR in that time and was DFAed last year and is still currently a free agent.
The goal for Czechia this year will almost certainly just to be to avoid last place in their group. Not only would that mean not finishing in last, but that would mean that they would retain an automatic WBC spot at the next edition of the tournament. They’ll need to pick off at least one win to do that, but their pool seems a bit tougher this time around.
Japan
The reigning champions are back and looking for a fourth ever WBC title and by betting odds seem to be the second favorite behind the USA. While man-for-man, the U.S. roster is probably better and more full of MLB talent, Japan has plenty of good players themselves. They’ve traditionally had the advantage of caring about the tournament more than the US, as evidenced most often the pitching staffs.
While Shohei Ohtani — who famously struck out Mike Trout to end the 2023 championship game — won’t be pitching this time around, his Dodgers’ teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto will headline the Japan pitching staff. Yusei Kikuchi and Tomoyuki Sugano are the only other MLB notables on the pitching staff, although there’s still plenty of NPB talent. That includes Hiromi Itoh, who won the NPB equivalent of the Cy Young Award last year.
On the hitting front, Ohtani will lead the way for a Japan batting lineup that should be strong. Seiya Suzuki, Masataka Yoshida are on the roster, as are 2026 MLB newcomers Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto. Among the NPB regulars on the roster are Teruaki Satō, who is the reigning Central League MVP, having had a 40-homer season with Hanshin Tigers last year, NPB Deadball Era be damned.
Just purely in names you know, the US roster will still have more, but this tournament has taken hold in Japan more than most other countries, and you know every single member of this roster will be up for it.
South Korea
Last time around, Korea was arguably the most shocking group stage exit, as a loss to Australia sent them packing before the quarterfinals. The past few WBCs have been frustrating; since finishing runner-up to Japan in the 2009 event, they’ve gone out in the first round in 2013, 2017, and 2023.
On pure talent, that shouldn’t be the case this time around. The Giants’ Jung Hoo Lee, the Dodgers’ Hyeseong Kim, and former MLBer Hyun Jin Ryu are the most well know players from a team that also has some of the best talent from the KBO. They will be missing Ha-Seong Kim however, as the Braves’ shortstop is out for the first several months of 2026 with a freak injury.
One interesting thing that South Korea also has going for it is that they’ve picked up a couple MLBers who have some Korean heritage. Pitchers Dane Dunning and Riley O’Brien, plus position players Shay Whitcomb and former Yankee Jahmai Jones are all U.S.-born but will play for Korea.
Find more Pinstripe Alley WBC pool previews here: Pool A, Pool B.
