Final rosters for the 2026 World Baseball Classic were announced, and they include six Los Angeles Dodgers represented among the 20 teams participating in the tournament.
Shohei Ohtani is joined on Samurai Japan by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, while Will Smith (USA), Hyeseong Kim (Korea) and Edwin Díaz (Puerto Rico) will each participate as well. Dodgers pitching prospect Antonio Knowles was also named to Great Britain’s roster.
Future Hall of Famer and Dodgers legend Clayton Kershaw is also pitching for Team USA, which came as a surprise announcement after he retired from MLB.
Each roster includes up to 30 active players, including at least 14 pitchers and two catchers.
Rosters for the sixth edition of the WBC are comprised by players from the ranks of Major League Baseball (MLB), Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and other distinguished leagues from Asia, Latin America, Europe and Australia.
The 20 tournament rosters feature an all-time high of 78 MLB All-Stars, including 36 players who were 2025 All-Stars, along with 306 MLB-affiliated players, with 190 of those on MLB 40-man rosters.
This is the first time in World Baseball Classic history that all four reigning recipients of MLB’s Most Valuable Player Award (Team USA’s Aaron Judge and Team Japan’s Ohtani) and Cy Young Award (Team USA’s Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal) are participating in the tournament.
The only other occurrence of having both reigning MVPs was in the inaugural 2006 tournament, when both Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez participated.
In total, there are six MLB MVPs on the rosters: Ohtani; Ronald Acuña Jr. of Team Venezuela; and Judge is joined on Team USA by Paul Goldschmidt, Bryce Harper and Kershaw.
Team USA has the most career MLB All-Stars on its roster with 22, and 65 selections total. Next up are the Dominican Republic with 16 MLB All-Stars (39 total selections), Venezuela with 12 MLB All-Stars (32 selections); and Teams Puerto Rico and Mexico with six MLB All-Stars apiece (15 selections for Puerto Rico and nine for Mexico).
Three World Series Most Valuable Players are on World Baseball Classic rosters: Jeremy Peña of Team Dominican Republic, Salvador Perez of Team Venezuela, and Yamamoto of Team Japan.
2026 World Baseball Classic format
The 2026 World Baseball Classic will be played from March 5th-17th, featuring 20 teams representing nations and territories from around the world. The tournament comprises 16 teams that finished in the top four of their respective first-round pools in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, alongside four teams that earned their spots through the 2025 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers.
Round One will take place across four pools in San Juan, Houston, Tokyo, and Miami.
The Quarterfinals in Houston and Miami will be played on Friday, March 13 and Saturday, March 14. Houston’s Daikin Park will host the teams advancing from Pool A and Pool B, while Miami’s loanDepot park hosts the teams advancing from Pool C and Pool D.
If Team USA advances to the Quarterfinal round in Houston, their game will be played on Friday, March 13 regardless of whether they are the Pool B winner or runner-up. Similarly, if Samurai Japan advances to the Quarterfinal round in Miami, their game will take place on Saturday, March 14, regardless of whether they are the Pool C winner or runner-up.
The Championship Round in Miami will begin on Sunday, March 15 with the first of two Semifinal matchups while the second Semifinal takes place on Monday, March 16. The Championship Game will be played on Tuesday, March 17.
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