The World Baseball Classic returns in 2023 after a six year hiatus partially because of the Covid pandemic.  This year 20 international teams will compete from Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Nicaragua, Japan, the USA, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Cuba, Israel, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Panama, and Venezuela.

This year the Classic will include 67 Major League All-Stars, 186 players from MLB 40-man rosters,  and 332 players who are under contract with MLB teams.  There are also eight MLB MVP’s – Paul Goldschmidt, Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Clayton Kershaw, Jose Altuve and Miguel Cabrera – who will be representing various countries.

The World Baseball Classic is set to begin March 8 and depending on how the matchups and games progress, could see teammates facing off against teammates.

The teams have been divided into four pools – A, B, C, and D

Pool A – in Taichung, Taiwan
Chinese Taipei
Netherlands
Cuba
Italy
Panama

Pool B – Tokyo:
Japan
Korea
Australia
China
Czech Republic

Pool C – Phoenix, AZ:
USA
Mexico
Colombia
Canada
Great Britain

Pool D – Miami:
Puerto Rico
Venezuela
Dominican Republic
Israel
Nicaragua

In the World Baseball Classic each team is allowed a maximum of 30 players with a minimum of 14 pitchers and two catchers.  Each team will also include a manager and seven coaches.  Players are eligible to play on a team if they are citizens or residents of the country or have played for the team previously in qualifying or tournament rounds.

In case of injury where the player or coach may not be able to continue, a team may replace that personnel with a new player or coach.  Once determined to have such an injury, that player or coach may not return to the roster.  Replaced personnel must be the same position as the one they are playing – pitchers can only replace pitchers, etc.

All games will be played according to the 2022 Official Baseball Rules; a pitcher must face a minimum of three batters before being replaced, the mound visit limit rule is not in play for the tournament, the designated hitter will be allowed, replay reviews will be allowed according the MLB regulations, and the new MLB “pitch clock” and shift rules will not be a part of the tournament.

In regards to pitchers:
pitchers are required to have at least four days rest between games pitched if the pitch count reaches at least 50 pitches
must have a minimum of one day rest after throwing 30 pitches or if he has pitches two days in a row.

Pitchers are on a pitch count:
a maximum of 65 pitches in round one
a maximum of 80 pitches in round two
a maximum of 95 pitches in the championship round; except if more is needed to finish with a batter
a maximum of 49 pitches is allowed for an exhibition game
only designated pitchers will be allowed to pitch in any game – no designated position player may be allowed to pitch.

Pitches thrown to achieve an intentional walk do not count toward the total pitch count.  A pitcher may complete an at bat even if he has reached the maximum pitch count.

The 10 run rule will be in effect for the first round of the tournament; as well as, a team is at least 10 runs ahead after the seventh inning of any game or at least 15 runs ahead after the fifth inning of any game.

For extra inning games, the WBC tournament will follow the rules set during the past few MLB seasons where the inning will begin with a runner on second base. The batter on base will be the player preceding the batter at the plate on the roster  (ex, batter number three is up to bat; batter two takes the base).

Pool seedings are based on home team gets first seed and rankings based on the 2017 WBC standings.  Each team will play four games.