It still feels like the last WBC had just ended, but here we are determining the final teams that will qualify for the 2026 competition. Most teams from the previous run automatically qualified, but the last place team from each round 1 pool dropped out and had to earn their trip back against four hopeful upstarts. China, Taiwan, Nicaragua and Colombia all finished last in 2023, while Spain, South Africa, Germany and Brazil are looking to punch their ticket.
Now, this isn't the main attraction, so players in MLB are much less inclined to abandon their parent clubs in the middle of spring training to go compete, so there countries will rely mainly on lower level players and even a few former major leaguers. As a result, the qualifiers have a much weaker appeal without big names to market. There are still some familiar names involved in the showcases, with only China entering play with absolutely zero MLB names, so let's take a look at the players involved who have logged time in the MLB...
Spain (or Espainia if you're so inclined) has previous experience in the WBC. They first qualified in 2013 where they were beat up and dropped right back out to requalify. They're still looking to return to the big tournament.
Excuse the improper logo.
The Bot seems to not wanna modernize the Phillies.
Adam Jones is not playing, but guiding Spain as one of their coaches
Taiwan (or Chinese Taipei if you don't mind Communist China's demands) have been in every WBC to date, either by invitation or by qualifying the hard way, and have played host to one of the first round pools. Usually they've been quick eliminations, but they've tasted success before such as in 2013 when they escaped the first round.
Nicaragua debuted in the previous WBC, and are looking to make it a habit by returning.
South Africa were invited to the first couple of WBCs, but they've fallen off and struggled to qualify when other countries started getting involved. As usual, they feature no players on roster with MLB history, but this time they employ a coach who does.
Germany has never reached the big stage of WBC play, but they had a near miss in the last qualifier where they played host. This time, they're playing on neutral turf in America.
Brazil is another team with no players with MLB service time, but employ a couple coaches who do to help guide the team.
Colombia has the edge over everyone else with clearly the most players on roster with MLB history. They were involved in the previous two WBCs, but losing the head to head tie-breaker with Great Britain of all teams sealed Colombia's fate to this years qualifier.
