During pool play, The Athletic will publish a daily Postcard from the WBC, featuring reports from our writers spread across four cities (Tokyo, Houston, Miami and San Juan) to cover this year’s tournament.
Sights and sounds
Artist at work
As Team USA’s star-studded lineup alternated turns inside the batting cage before Saturday night’s game against Great Britain, Andy Brown bent over an easel to capture every last detail. He may be baseball’s only traveling artist — a painter who has become perhaps the most viral part of Britain’s tenure in the World Baseball Classic. We caught up with him while at work. — Chandler Rome, reporting from Houston
The Emperor’s new sport
Before the start of Japan’s game against Australia on Saturday evening, the Emperor of Japan, Naruhito, and his family, walked into the stadium to raucous applause. It’s the first time the Emperor has attended a baseball game since Nov. 6, 1966.
Japan is governed by a prime minister, and the emperor is a largely symbolic role. The imperial institution, as a result, does not typically attend sporting events.
But watching Shohei Ohtani is a must, even for the highest royalty in the land. Samurai Japan’s success is of significant national pride, and the emperor’s presence underscored that. It appeared that Emperor Naruhito and his family left about halfway through the game.
Sadly he didn’t get to see much. The game was in a scoreless tie until Australia broke the ice in the sixth inning. — Sam Blum, reporting from Tokyo
Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Princess Aiko and Empress Masako are seen on the screen during Japan’s game against Australia. (Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images)
Drum roll, please
Throughout both of Team Venezuela’s games so far at loanDepot Park, drums have reverberated throughout the stadium during play.
The drums in use, per Team Venezuela’s game notes, are a Venezuelan tradition. Three different types of percussion — the cumaco, the culo e’puya and the tamboras — work together to create a sound commonly heard at Venezuelan dances.
Players on Team Venezuela were even spotted with drums in the dugout pregame, dancing as they prepared for Saturday’s 11-3 victory against Team Israel. — Cody Stavenhagen, reporting from Miami
The vibes in the Team Venezuela dugout are at an all-time high 🕺 #WorldBaseballClassic pic.twitter.com/s7MCEKrY99
— World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) March 7, 2026
Third-ever WBC rain delay
When a typical Caribbean rain storm blew through Hiram Bithorn Stadium during the seventh inning Saturday night, the powers that be determined the skies had opened up just enough to bring out the tarps. A 24-minute delay followed, marking the first such interruption in the WBC in exactly 13 years.
I’m in San Juan. So is the rain. This is the first rain delay of the WBC in 13 years to the day. Yep. A game between Venezuela and Dominican Republic at this here Hiram Bithorn Stadium was delayed 50 mins by rain in the 2013 WBC. pic.twitter.com/WOayKK6qyL
— Maria Torres (@maria_torres3) March 8, 2026
Fans at this venue on March 7, 2013, waited nearly twice as long between pitches in the Pool C opener between Venezuela and Dominican Republic. A win in that game set D.R. on the path to an 8-0 record and the country’s only WBC championship.
There has been one other rain delay in tournament history: During a Korea defeat of the United States on March 18, 2006 in… San Diego.
If you were hoping to find a pattern, you won’t. Neither of that game’s participants advanced to the finals, though Korea went on to lose to the eventual champions, Japan, in the semis. — Maria Torres, reporting from San Juan
Around the horn
Puerto Rico 4, Panama 3: Before Darell Hernaiz stole the headlines with his walk-off shot in the 10th, stellar pitching was front and center at Hiram Bithorn Stadium. Eduardo Rivera, the 6-foot-7 lefty who started the game, had five of Puerto Rico’s 12 strikeouts and celebrated his inning-ending Ks in the third and fourth with some combination of chest pounding, glove smacking and skyward pointing. Ariel Jurado blanked Team Rubio for five innings, a trend Panama’s bullpen mostly followed without hiccups until Puerto Rico loaded the bases in the ninth and Willi Castro drew a walk to drive in the tying run and force extra innings. — Torres
4 entradas en CERO. ¡ESTE ES EL MOMENTO DE EDUARDO RIVERA! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/fELE8fUtWl
— MLB Español (@mlbespanol) March 8, 2026
Venezuela 11, Israel 3: Luis Arráez went 4-for-5, slugging two home runs for the second time in the WBC and driving in five runs as Team Venezuela improved to 2-0. Eugenio Suárez also launched a two-run home run. And the most impressive performance from a Detroit Tigers left-hander Saturday night came from Team Venezuela’s Enmaneul De Jesus, a 29-year-old who spent the past two seasons in Korea but struck out eight batters over an impressive five innings. — Stavenhagen
United States 9, Great Britain 1: Kyle Schwarber’s 427-foot home run in the fifth inning started an offensive onslaught from Team USA’s star-studded lineup. After Britain’s Nate Eaton hit the first pitch of the game for a home run, Team USA’s pitching staff surrendered just two more hits and struck out 17. — Rome
Chinese Taipei 5, Korea 4 (10 innings): The players from Taiwan were in tears after winning this game. After an atrocious first two games in which they couldn’t scratch out a single run, this club is still in the hunt to advance. They’ll need an Australia loss and a runs-allowed tiebreaker to go their way. It was and emotional, thrilling win. Stuart Fairchild clubbed a go-ahead two-run homer for the Taiwan team in the eighth inning, while a squeeze bunt broke a tie in the tenth inning. — Blum
Japan 4, Australia 3: The Aussies had a chance to advance, and they did not. With the win, Japan clinches the top seed out of their home pool. Australia is still in great position to move on, however, even with a loss tomorrow against Korea. If that happens, it will be a three-way tie with Chinese Taipei, and the tiebreaker is runs allowed in games among the tied teams. Australia shut out Chinese Taipei, and still has their game against Korea. Meanwhile, Korea has allowed five runs to Chinese Taipei, and still has their game against Australia. Chinese Taipei has played both teams and allowed a total of seven runs. So the Aussies are in the best position, given they don’t allow seven or more runs. — Blum
UPDATED
If Japan wins tn & tm Korea wins by:
1-0🇦🇺
2-0🇦🇺
2-1🇦🇺
3-0🇦🇺
3-1🇦🇺
3-2🇦🇺
4-0🇦🇺
4-1 🇦🇺
4-2🇦🇺
4-3🇦🇺
5-0🇰🇷
5-1🇦🇺
5-2🇦🇺
5-3🇦🇺
5-4🇦🇺
6-0🇰🇷
6-1🇰🇷
6-2🇦🇺
6-3🇦🇺
6-4🇦🇺
6-5🇦🇺
7-0🇰🇷
7-1🇰🇷
7-2🇰🇷
7-3🇹🇼
7-4🇹🇼
7-5🇹🇼
7-6🇹🇼
8-0🇰🇷
8-1🇰🇷
8-2🇰🇷
8+-3+🇹🇼— KBO in English (@KBO_ENG) March 8, 2026
What’s on deck
Colombia at Cuba, noon ET, FS2: Of the two teams in this pool with a four-games-in-four-days slate, Colombia is the worst off after using nine pitchers in Saturday’s loss. to Canada. With the hope of avoiding an 0-3 record, it will send Luis Patiño, a former top-100 prospect who hasn’t pitched consistently because of injuries, to start against a Cuba squad led by major-league veteran Yoán Moncada. The Colombian righty will start opposite Denny Larrondo, a 22-year-old who struck out 25 percent of the lower-level batters he faced as a Diamondbacks farmhand the last three seasons. — Torres
Netherlands at Dominican Republic, noon ET, Fox: Ozzie Albies’ walk-off against Nicaragua helped keep the Netherlands’ hopes alive. But they will pit a thin pitching staff against a power-packed Dominican Republic lineup. Did Netherlands already use all of its magic? — Stavenhagen
Great Britain at Italy, 1 p.m. ET, Tubi: Guardians minor-league right-hander Dylan DeLucia will start for Team Italy, whose success in the tournament will almost have to come from a potent lineup featuring Vinnie Pasquantino, Jac Caglianone and Dominic Canzone. One thing Italy must fix? The temperature of their dugout espresso machine. After Saturday’s win against Brazil, Zach Dezenzo bemoaned that some teammates burned their mouths during the espresso shot celebration. — Rome