The 2017 World Baseball Classic starts on Monday, March 6 in Seoul, South Korea. You will have to get up early to see the opening game — Israel and South Korea face off at 5 a.m. Eastern on Monday — but every game will be televised by MLB Network and ESPN Deportes (in Spanish) in the United States. Pool B play begins on Tuesday, March 7, with the final two pools starting on Thursday, March 9. A full schedule of games will be listed below.
The United States kicks off its march towards WBC glory on Friday, March 10 in Miami, Fla. They will face Colombia in their opening matchup, then play against the defending champion Dominican Republic and Canada over the weekend. A potential tiebreaker is scheduled for Monday, March 13, with second round play beginning the next day.
Team Venezuela will be of interest to Detroit Tigers fans. The Venezuelan roster features five Tigers, including sluggers Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez. Relievers Francisco Rodriguez and Bruce Rondon are also on the roster, along with minor leaguer Arcenio Leon. The Venezuelans open up Pool D play against Puerto Rico on Friday, March 10 in Jalisco, Mexico. They will also play against Italy and host Mexico in their first group stage. The Tigers have an MLB-high 15 players on seven different WBC rosters.
As mentioned, all games will be televised in the United States on both MLB Network and ESPN Deportes. Games will also be streamed on MLB.TV (in the United States only), and are accessible on demand with an MLB.TV subscription (U.S. subscribers only).
In the first pool stage, each team will play the other three teams in their pool once. Teams with the best record will move onto the next round.
Pool A: Seoul, South Korea
Date |
Matchup |
Time (ET) |
Date |
Matchup |
Time (ET) |
March 6 |
Israel 2, South Korea 1 |
5:00 a.m. |
March 7 |
Israel 15, Chinese Taipei 7 |
10:30 p.m. |
March 7 |
Netherlands 5, South Korea 0 |
5:00 a.m. |
March 8 |
Netherlands 6, Chinese Taipei 5 |
5:00 a.m. |
March 9 |
Israel 4, Netherlands 2 |
10:30 p.m. |
March 9 |
South Korea 11, Chinese Taipei 8 |
5:00 a.m. |
Pool B: Tokyo, Japan
Date |
Matchup |
Time (ET) |
Date |
Matchup |
Time (ET) |
March 7 |
Japan 11, Cuba 6 |
5:00 a.m. |
March 8 |
Cuba 6, China 0 |
10:00 p.m. |
March 8 |
Japan 4, Australia 1 |
5:00 a.m. |
March 9 |
Australia 11, China 0 |
5:00 a.m. |
March 10 |
Cuba 4, Australia 3 |
10:00 p.m. |
March 10 |
Japan 7, China 1 |
5:00 a.m. |
Pool C: Miami, Florida
Date |
Matchup |
Time (ET) |
Date |
Matchup |
Time (ET) |
March 9 |
Dominican Republic 9, Canada 2 |
6:00 p.m. |
March 10 |
United States 3, Colombia 2 |
6:00 p.m. |
March 11 |
Colombia 4, Canada 1 |
12:00 p.m. |
March 11 |
Dominican Republic 7, United States 5 |
6:00 p.m. |
March 12 |
Dominican Republic 10, Colombia 3 |
12:30 p.m. |
March 12 |
United States 8, Canada 0 |
7:00 p.m. |
Pool D: Jalisco, Mexico
Date |
Matchup |
Time (ET) |
Date |
Matchup |
Time (ET) |
March 9 |
Italy 10, Mexico 9 |
9:00 p.m. |
March 10 |
Puerto Rico 11, Venezuela 0 |
9:00 p.m. |
March 11 |
Venezuela 11, Italy 10 |
3:00 p.m. |
March 11 |
Puerto Rico 9, Mexico 4 |
9:30 p.m. |
March 12 |
Puerto Rico 9, Italy 3 |
3:30 p.m. |
March 12 |
Mexico 11, Venezuela 9 |
10:00 p.m. |
March 13 |
Venezuela 4, Italy 3 |
9:00 p.m. |
Pools E and F will feature the top two teams from Pools A and B (in Pool E) and C and D (in Pool F). The round-robin format is identical to the first pool stage.
Pool E: Tokyo, Japan
Date |
Matchup |
Time (ET) |
Date |
Matchup |
Time (ET) |
March 11 |
Cuba vs. Israel |
10:00 p.m. |
March 12 |
Japan vs. Netherlands |
6:00 a.m. |
March 13 |
Netherlands vs. Israel |
6:00 a.m. |
March 14 |
Cuba vs. Japan |
6:00 a.m. |
March 15 |
Netherlands vs. Cuba |
11:00 p.m. |
March 15 |
Israel vs. Japan |
6:00 a.m. |
March 16* |
TBD vs. TBD |
6:00 a.m. |
Pool F: San Diego, California
Date |
Matchup |
Time (ET) |
Date |
Matchup |
Time (ET) |
March 14 |
Dominican Republic vs. Puerto Rico |
9:00 p.m. |
March 15 |
Venezuela vs. United States |
9:00 p.m. |
March 16 |
Venezuela vs. Dominican Republic |
10:00 p.m. |
March 17 |
United States vs. Puerto Rico |
10:00 p.m. |
March 18 |
Puerto Rico vs. Venezuela |
3:30 p.m. |
March 18 |
United States vs. Dominican Republic |
10:00 p.m. |
March 19* |
TBD vs. TBD |
6:00 p.m. |
Final: Los Angeles, California
Date |
Matchup |
Time (ET) |
Date |
Matchup |
Time (ET) |
March 20 |
TBD vs. TBD |
9:00 p.m. |
March 21 |
TBD vs. TBD |
9:00 p.m. |
March 22 |
TBD vs. TBD |
9:00 p.m. |