“Failed in the first round for three consecutive tournaments. The best team that won three times. People have different views on Korea and Japan.”메이저놀이터
WBC’s official website (hereinafter referred to as WBC) announced the results of its 2026 WBC tournament groupings on Monday (Korea time). Korea has Japan, Australia, the Czech Republic, and preliminary team (undetermined) and Group C. The first round will be held from March 5 to 10, 2026, at Tokyo Dome in Japan. Korea can advance to the quarterfinals only when it is in the top two teams in the group.
WBC announced the formation of the teams and added brief introductions to the 16 teams that have been confirmed to participate in the tournament. The majority of the games were negative. “Korea has not passed the first round of the finals since its runner-up in 2009, and the 2023 event was disappointing as well,” the WBC said. “San Diego Padres shortstop Kim Ha-sung hit three home runs, and San Francisco Giants outfielder Lee Jung-hoo had six hits and five RBIs in 14 times at bat. However, as the bullpen collapsed, Korea lost to Japan and Australia,” he said. “Korea will aim to win a medal in 2026.”
Unlike Korea, Japan, the champion of the previous championship, received a lot of compliments. The WBC said, “We are the best team in an international competition. Japan is the only team that has won multiple WBC titles, and has won three times. Shohei Ohtani has been named to the All-WBC team in the designated hitter and pitcher categories. Outfielder Masataka Yoshida has also been named to the All-WBC team.”
The Korean national baseball team has recorded extremely extreme report cards in the WBC so far. It made it to the semifinals in 2006 and the runner-up in 2009, but was eliminated in the first round for three consecutive years in 2013 and 2017, and 2021, leaving a huge shock. Meanwhile, it has rarely been able to recreate the glory of the late 2000s, as it suffered no medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Team Korea has declared a replacement of generations since its elimination in the first round of the WBC in 2023. It has used young players in their early to mid-20s as its core strength. Team Korea achieved achievement by winning the gold medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games held last year. After playing on par with Japan at the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) held in November, the team unfortunately won the runner-up prize.
At that time, No. 4 hitter Noh Si-hwan led the lineup, and Moon Dong-ju, Yi Eui-ri, Won Tae-in and Kwak Bin succeeded in stabilizing the mound. On top of that, it is expected that Kim Do-young, Kim Taek-yeon and Kim Seo-hyun, who have stood out this season, will have more solid power if they establish themselves as the main players.
Meanwhile, Group A included Puerto Rico, Cuba, Canada, Panama, and the qualifying teams for the 2026 WBC tournament. Group B consisted of the United States, Mexico, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the qualifying teams. Group D was assigned to Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands, Israel, and the qualifying teams.
The teams that advanced to the quarterfinals in Groups A and B will play in Minute Maid Park, the home ground for the Houston Astros. The teams that advanced to Groups C and D will play at Rondipo Park, the home ground for the Miami Marlins. Both the semifinals and the final will be held at Rondipo Park.