WBC to Begin: All the Pieces are in Place for Japan’s Second Straight Title

Editorial

15:01 JST, March 4, 2026

The World Baseball Classic, a tournament pitting nations and regions against each other to determine the world’s best baseball team, will begin on March 5.

With rival teams, including the United States, assembling star players, fierce competition is expected. It is hoped that Japan will achieve a second straight title and once again demonstrate the high level of Japanese baseball to the world.

The Japanese national team, called “Samurai Japan,” features a record eight Major League Baseball players among its 30-man roster. Its strength lies in its powerful batting lineup, described by manager Hirokazu Ibata as having “multiple cleanup hitters.”

Alongside Shohei Ohtani of the MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, who hit 55 home runs last season, Kazuma Okamoto of the Toronto Blue Jays and Munetaka Murakami of the Chicago White Sox, both of whom are taking their shot in the MLB this season, also possess formidable hitting power.

Also encouraging is the presence of Seiya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs, who withdrew from the last tournament due to an injury, and Teruaki Sato of the Hanshin Tigers in Japan’s professional league, who won two batting titles last season.

The pitching staff features proven starter candidates, including ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers. With the WBC’s pitch count limit rule, how to use the pitching staff in relief in a game will likely be key to a team’s success.

In the WBC, 20 teams are divided into four pools for the first round. Japan will play at Tokyo Dome starting on March 6, facing Taiwan, South Korea, Australia and the Czech Republic in that order. If Japan finishes in the top two of its pool, it will advance to a quarterfinal in the United States.

The opening game against Taiwan will be the initial major hurdle. Taiwan is a rival that shut out Japan in the final of the Premier 12 international tournament two years ago.

The Emperor will watch the game between Japan and Australia on March 8. It will be the first time for a serving emperor to attend an international baseball game since the 1966 game between the All Japan team and the Dodgers.

Following the WBC tournament, both the Central and Pacific Leagues of Japan’s professional baseball will open the season on March 27. Seeing the country’s national team compete against the world’s strongest teams will undoubtedly further enliven Japanese baseball.

One concern is that the tournament will not be televised live, and instead, the major U.S. video streaming service Netflix will exclusively stream it for a fee.

In recent years, it has also become increasingly common for high-profile matches in soccer and boxing to be available only through paid streaming. This trend is said to be driven by factors such as the soaring fees for broadcasting rights.

Sports enjoy high public interest, and an environment in which anyone can watch games on TV has boosted the popularity of various competitions.

In Britain, there is a system based on the concept of the “right to universal access,” which does not allow pay-TV broadcasters to have exclusive rights to major sporting events of high national interest.

To widely convey the appeal of sports, shouldn’t Japan also consider introducing such a system?

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, March 4, 2026)