Last night or early this morning, depending on where you live, the World Baseball Classic got underway at the Tokyo Dome with pool C play.
There are five teams in Pool C and they will play a round-robin tournament with the top two teams advancing to the quarterfinals in Miami and Houston. Team Japan is the overwhelming favorite to win the group, but the second ticket stateside is really up for grabs.
In the first game of the 2026 World Baseball Classic, Australia got home
runs from catcher Robbie Perkins and second baseman Travis Bazzana while three pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout.
Alex Wells, who pitched 46.1 innings for the Orioles in 2021 and 2022, started the game for Australia and dominated Chinese Taipei for three innings. He allowed no hits walked just one and struck out six.
Perkins, who played in the Rockies system from 2014 to 2018, opened the scoring with a two-run home run in the fifth inning off of current Pirates farmhand Po-Yu Chen. Australia got their other run on a solo home run in the seventh inning by Guardians top prospect Bazzana, who was the first pick of the 2024 MLB Draft. That home run came off of Yi Chang, who pitched in NPB from 2018 to 2023.
Meanwhile, Australian pitchers Jack O’Loughlin and Jon Kennedy each threw three innings of scoreless baseball to complete the shutout. O’Loughlin, who got a cup of coffee with Oakland in 2024 and pitches in the Rockies system now, allowed two singles. He struck out two and walked one.
Kennedy pitched in the Braves system from 2016 to 2019. He almost let Chinese Taipei back into the game as two batters reaches with one out on an error and a single. But with the tying run at the plate, Kennedy completed the save with a long fly out and a grounder back to the mound.
Kennedy walked one and struck out one.
Chinese Taipei managed just three singles. Yu Chang, who played 235 games in the majors between 2019 and 2023 and was expected to be the main offensive threat for CT, went just 1 for 4.
LG Twins first baseman Bo Gyeong Moon hit a grand slam in the first inning and Korea never looked back as they downed the mostly amateur Czechia team thanks to four home runs, 11-4.
Daniel Padyšák, who played college ball in the US and minor league baseball in Japan in 2025, got the start for Czechia but didn’t fool anyone, getting hit hard. He loaded the bases with two walks and a single to Giants outfielder Jung Ho Lee before Moon connected for the grand slam. Padyšák only retired one batter before exiting and that was on a hard-hit line drive to left.
Korea added another run in the second inning on a groundout by Tigers outfielder Jahmai Jones. Astros third baseman Shay Whitcomb made it 6-0 Korea with a solo home run in the third.
Czechia didn’t go down without a fight as shortstop Terrin Vavra, the one player on the team with major league experience with the Orioles from 2022 to 2025, hit a three-run home run in the top of the sixth inning to cut the Korean lead in half at 6-3. But in the bottom of the fifth, Whitcomb hit his second home run of the game with a man on to put Korea up 8-3.
Jones hit Korea’s fourth home run of the game in the bottom of the eighth. Czechia managed to score a consolation run in the top of the ninth on a sacrifice fly by pinch hitter Jan Pospisil, who is currently playing at the junior college level in the US.
Today:
Czechia has a quick turnaround as they face off against Australia today at 9 pm Central time in Tokyo. Then at 4 am Central, the host Samurai Japan open up their quest for a fourth WBC title with a match against Chinese Taipei.
