Spain, which did not qualify for the 2026 World Baseball Classic, is a potential replacement team for Cuba, according to a post on X by Cuban Baseball Digest and PelotaCubanaUSA’s Yusseff Diaz.
The report that Spain is being considered comes in the wake of a statement issued by the Federacion Cubana Beisbol y Softbol that claimed that the FCBS has not been formally invited by Major League Baseball to participate in the 2026 World Baseball Classic because Major League Baseball has not received approval from the U.S. government to have Cuba participate.
The Royal Spanish Baseball Federation said that they have not been contacted about sending a team to the 2026 WBC in the event that Cuba does not receive permission from the U.S. government to play in the event, Cuban Baseball Digest reported, noting that sources within MLB indicated that Fanatics, the company that runs MLB’s online fan store, is designing merchandise for Spain should they participate.
https://twitter.com/CBaseballDigest/status/1965619656737087660
Spain missed qualifying for the 2026 World Baseball Classic after losing to Chinese Taipei 6-3 at the Taipei Dome in Taipei City, Taiwan in February.
For MLB to invite Cuba to play in the 2026 WBC, it must receive permission from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The office enforces the trade embargo against the Communist government that dates back to the Eisenhower administration. Without permission from the OFAC, Major League Baseball, which organizes the World Baseball Classic.
The FCBS’s statement last week claimed that the sport’s governing body on the island had not been invited to submit a 50-man preliminary roster by the Sept. 1 deadline because the OFAC had yet to approve MLB’s engagement with the FCBS regarding Cuba’s participation in the event.
In the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Cuba reached the semifinals at Miami’s loanDepot Park, where they lost 14-2 to the United States in a game marred by field incursions and protests.
Cuba has been assigned to Group A at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a territory of the U.S., along with Canada, Colombia, Panama, and Puerto Rico.
Photo: A overview as United States players and Cuba players stand on the baselines during the playing of the United States national anthem prior to the game at loanDepot park on March 19, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Jasen Vinlove/Miami Marlins/Getty Images)
