When the next World Baseball Classic rolls around, there’s a possibility that Mexico could host Pool Play.
At the 2026 MLB Mexico City Series, Major League Baseball’s third successful two-game visit to Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu, Rodrigo Fernandez, who runs MLB’s Mexico office, told Septima Entrada that it’s possible that the country could host Pool Play at the next WBC.
“It’s very possible,” Rodrigo told Septima Entrada’s Irving Furlong. “Many things still need to be defined. Commissioner Rob Manfred … said, ‘We’re going to do an in-depth analysis of what the next World Baseball Classic will be like,’ but I think it’s very possible. This stadium (in Mexico City), the one in Monterrey, and the one in Guadalajara are perfectly suited for the tournament.”
The 2017 Pool Play round was the last time WBC games were played on Mexican soil. A year earlier, El Nido de Las Aguilas in Mexicali hosted the 2016 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers.
Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu, which opened in 2019, seats 20,062 and has hosted the MLB Mexico City Series in 2023, 2024, and 2026. It’s the home ballpark for the Diablos Rojos del Mexico of the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, the country’s summer professional league where the Diablos are the two-time defending champions. It hosted its second WBSC Baseball Champions League this past March.
In Guadalajara, the State of Jalisco just committed to a MX$500 million renovation of Estadio Panamericano, the home of the Charros in the country’s winter league, the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico, since 2014 and in the LMB since 2024. The 16,500-seat park was converted from a track and field venue to a ballpark, and hosted Pool Play during the 2017 World Baseball Classic, the 2019 and 2024 WBSC Premier12, and has hosted the 2018 and 2026 Caribbean Series, where the Charros won their first Caribbean Series title on their home field this past February.
Walmart Park in Monterrey, the 22,061-seat home of the Sultanes de Monterrey, has hosted 11 MLB regular season games, the second-most of any foreign venue behind the Tokyo Dome. It was the site of the first MLB regular season games held outside the U.S. and Canada when the New York Mets and San Diego Padres played a three-game series in Monterrey in 1995. The ballpark also hosted regular season games in 1999, 2018, and 2019.
The 2023 World Baseball Classic had four Pool Play host cities: Taichung, Taiwan, Tokyo, Phoenix, and Miami. This year’s tournament had Pool Play games in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Houston in addition to Tokyo and Miami. A timeline for the next World Baseball Classic has yet to be announced, though 2029 and 2030 are likely years for the next tournament to be held.
While domed ballparks, of which there are none in Mexico, are clearly preferred by Major League Baseball for the World Baseball Classic, there have been games played at open-air venues every year the tournament has been played. Notably, none of the 50 games played at three stadiums with retractable roofs in the last two WBCs were played with the roof open.
Photo: The Charros de Jalisco have played in Estadio Panamericano, a converted track and field stadium, for 12 years, but the ballpark will soon undergo a MX$500 million renovation. (Photo: Leif Skodnick/World Baseball Network)
