World Baseball Classic: Pool A Preview

Author’s Prediction: Puerto Rico and Canada advance from pool play.

Pool A Team Previews

Team Puerto Rico
By Harrison Bruns

It has been a long three years, but the World Baseball Classic has finally returned. Thus far in the lead-up to the tournament, Puerto Rico has been the talk of the town. Unfortunately for Team Puerto Rico and their fans, it has not been for good reasons.

As many of you know, Puerto Rico will not be entering the WBC at full strength. Hence, the reasoning behind the plethora of coverage regarding their team up to this point.

Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa, and Javy Báez will all miss this year’s WBC. Lindor and Correa both failed to secure insurance for the tournament. Báez, on the other hand, will be serving a suspension for a failed drug test (positive for marijuana).

This has made Pool A much more interesting. Puerto Rico was the clear favorite, but now people have started counting them out. Despite missing several of their stars, Puerto Rico is still the team to beat in Pool A and should not be taken lightly by anyone.

Read Just Baseball’s complete Team Puerto Rico roster preview

Team Canada
By Ethan Hyatt

Team Canada is eager to establish itself as a competitive force in this tournament. Canada has not previously achieved a high position in the standings in their WBC appearances, but in 2026, they have assembled a very strong team with plenty of current and former MLB players.

Canada has been placed in a competitive first-round group in this iteration of the WBC, sharing Pool A with Puerto Rico, Cuba, Colombia, and Panama. They will play their preliminary round in Puerto Rico, playing one game against each of their opponents, as they look to make their mark on the tournament this time around. They have had some entertaining high-scoring games in the past, but they undoubtedly want more success going forward.

It’s worth noting that in the 2023 WBC, Canada shared a pool with the United States and Mexico, both of whom finished very strongly; each was eliminated by Samurai Japan, the U.S. in the final, and Mexico in the semifinal.

This isn’t to insinuate that their 2026 pool will be easier or weaker in any way, but they will have more of a chance to get past the first round of the tournament without having to play as many games against incredibly strong teams.

Read Just Baseball’s complete Team Canada roster preview

Team Colombia
By Tommy Pelle

Teams representing countries from around the world are preparing for what is expected to be the most popular World Baseball Classic in the event’s history.

2026 will mark Colombia’s third time in the competition after taking part in 2017 and 2023. However, in both of their appearances, the team failed to make it out of the group stage.

Colombia is in Group A this year, alongside Canada, Cuba, Panama, and Puerto Rico. They will play their group stage games at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan.

With professional players from several leagues and a mix of veterans and young talent, can the Colombians make some noise at this year’s WBC?

Read Just Baseball’s complete Team Colombia roster preview

Team Cuba
By Jordan Leandre

The World Baseball Classic is the ultimate acceleration for Major League Baseball fans. After spending months idling, twiddling, and tweeting, we’ve got postseason-level baseball almost immediately after spring training begins.

Cuba is a country rife with baseball lineage, having churned out six Hall of Fame players. That isn’t even including the late, great right-hander Luis Tiant. “El Tiante” won two ERA titles and made three All-Star teams in his career, racking up 220 wins, a 3.30 ERA, and 54.8 fWAR.

Despite its rich baseball history, Cuba doesn’t have a strong contingent of current MLB players on this year’s roster. There are a few, along with some other MLB alumni, but the roster mostly consists of prospects and otherwise non-stateside professional ballplayers.

Cuba won Taichung’s Pool A back in 2023, though every team went 2-2. They also beat Australia in the quarterfinals before getting eliminated 14-2 by the runner-up United States in the semifinals. This year, Cuba returns to Pool A, but this time in San Juan against a stronger contingent of teams like Puerto Rico and Canada.

Read Just Baseball’s complete Team Cuba roster preview

Team Panama
By Harrison Bruns

One of the best things about the World Baseball Classic is that it is a true showing of baseball’s global talent. Panama is a country of just four and a half million people. That makes them the second-smallest country in the tournament. Only Puerto Rico has a smaller population to pull from.

For those unfamiliar with the history of baseball in Panama, here are a couple of quick notes. There is a Winter League in Panama that currently features four teams. There have been over 70 MLB players from Panama. Most famously, Hall of Famers Rod Carew and Mariano Rivera are both from Panama.

This will be Panama’s fourth appearance in the WBC. They have yet to make it out of the group stage.

Entering the tournament, Panama is far from a global power. Their roster is made up of just 13 players currently in MLB or MiLB. As stated, this is what makes this tournament special and gives it the potential to be in conversations with tournaments like March Madness and the World Cup.

Similar to both of those tournaments, there are teams in the WBC that everyone knows will not win. Panama is one of those teams. However, there is nothing stopping Panama from being 2023 Princeton or 2022 Australia and shocking some people.

Read Just Baseball’s complete Team Panama roster preview

World Baseball Classic Pool A Schedule

Here’s when to watch every game Puerto Rico, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, and Panama will play leading up to and during the 2026 WBC.

Exhibition Games

Pool Play

Knockout Rounds