The 2026 World Baseball Classic begins March 5, but several teams are already prepping for international baseball’s biggest event with slates of exhibition games in February.
While the teams bound for Tokyo’s Pool C are preparing in Asia, Cuba and Nicaragua are the first teams scheduled to hit the field in the Americas with a series of four games beginning Thursday, Feb. 18 and running through Feb. 28 in four different cities in Nicaragua.
The bulk of Cuba’s team departed the island for Nicaragua Monday morning, according to a post on the social media network X byt JIT Deportivo, a Cuban sports media outlet, despite a report earlier in the week that the series might be in jeopardy due to fuel shortages in Cuba and new visa requirements promulgated by the Nicaraguan government.
Coming off a win in Pool A in the 2023 World Baseball Classic via tiebreaker and a run to the semifinals that saw them fall 14-2 to the United States at Miami’s loanDepot Park in a game marked by protests and field invasions, Cuba hopes to again advance out of pool play to the elimination games.
But the question remains: Will Cuba’s roster have sufficient talent to reach the quarterfinals or semifinals in 2026? It’s a question that will be answered in due time, though it’s certainly possible that the answer will be partially revealed over the four games in Nicaragua.
Cuba has a roster of 30 players for the four games in Nicaragua, 19 of whom are not on the roster for the World Baseball Classic that was announced on Feb. 5. Of the six infielders listed on the roster released earlier in the month, only Erisbel Arruebuena and Ariel Martinez will play for Cuba in Nicaragua, while infielders Christian Rodriguez, Yulieski Ramon, and Luis Vincente Mateo will join the team for the exhibition tour. Starting pitchers Josimar Cousin, Julio Robaina, and Denny Larondo also will not be in Nicaragua, nor will the bulk of Cuba’s bullpen for the WBC, including Toronto Blue Jays star Yariel Rodriguez.
De acuerdo a Pelota Cubana, este es el roster de Cuba que viajaría a Nicaragua ???????? para la serie amistosa que inicia el próximo jueves en Masaya.
De esta lista solo 11 pertenece a los 30 que ya están en el roster para el Clásico Mundial. También hay algunos de la reserva. pic.twitter.com/YubTJXHEAz
— 8DeportivoTN8 (@8DeportivoTN8) February 12, 2026
Among the notable players for Cuba and manager German Mesa who will be on the roster for the tour of Nicaragua are pitchers Livan Moinelo, who won the Pacific League MVP award in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball last year with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, and Raidel Martinez, who is a four-time NPB All-Star and has led NPB in saves three times. Moinelo, 30, posted a 1.46 ERA in 167 innings during the 2025 season, striking out 172 while walking just 42, and Martinez has posted a sub-2.00 ERA over each of the last four seasons as a reliever with the Chunichi Dragons and Yomiuri Giants. In eight NPB seasons, Martinez owns a career 1.62 ERA over 367 1/3 innings with 418 strikeouts and just 83 walks.
