Just as spring training hits its stride, the World Baseball Classic returns to shake up MLB’s preseason.
Baseball’s biggest international tournament returns for the first time in three years. Japan will look to defend its title from 2023, while Team USA will be trying to avenge its loss in last year’s final.
Other top contenders in the field of 20 teams includes the Dominican Republic, which last won a WBC title in 2013, Venezuela and Puerto Rico.
The action begins with a pool play round-robin portion that gets underway Wednesday, March 4. Taiwan will play Australian in Tokyo at 10 p.m. ET to kick off the tournament.
Team USA’s first game is two days later. The Americans will play Brazil in Houston at 8 p.m. ET on March 6 for their first matchup of this year’s World Baseball Classic.
Once pool play begins, each five-team group will duke it out for a week, and the top two teams in each pool by the end of the round-robin stage move on to the quarterfinals. The knockout round will last a little less than one week with the WBC final closing out the tournament on March 17 in Miami.
Here’s a look at the full, game-by-game schedule for this year’s WBC:
(All times Eastern)