Seattle Mariners Closer Andres Munoz Will Play For Mexico In 2026 World Baseball Classic

Miguel Lugo of TUDN Sinaloa and Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico franchise, Tomateros de Culiacán reporter stated on May 14 that Seattle Mariners right-handed closer Andres Munoz will play for Mexico in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

¡EL PLEBE LISTO PARA EL CLÁSICO!

Andrés Muñoz???????? confirmó que jugará para México en el Clásico Mundial 2026.

“Estoy muy emocionado porque lamentablemente el clásico pasado no pude ir y me gustaría poder ir el próximo. Si todo se pone y no hay lesión, seguramente estaré ahí” pic.twitter.com/8E4kTUv6Ql

— Miguel Lugo (@_MiguelLugo) May 13, 2025

Mexico will face the United States, Italy, Great Britain, and Brazil in Pool B at Daikin Park in Houston, Texas from March 6–11.

The 26-year-old from Los Mochis, Mexico currently leads Major League Baseball with 13 saves and has not allowed an earned run to start the 2025 season.

Munoz has thrown 19 innings across 19 games, finishing 14 of them, with a 1-0 record. He has allowed just seven hits and eight walks while striking out 26 batters heading into May 15.

During the 2025 Cactus League season, Munoz made seven appearances, posting a 3.86 ERA in seven innings with six hits, three earned runs, no home runs, one hit batter, three walks, and seven strikeouts.

He was named an All-Star for the first time in 2024, when he went 3-7 with a 2.12 ERA over 60 relief appearances. He recorded 22 saves, threw 59.1 innings, allowed 31 hits, 14 earned runs, six home runs, 26 walks, and struck out 77 batters with a 0.961 WHIP.

Munoz is in his fifth season with the Mariners after being traded from the San Diego Padres on August 30, 2020. The deal sent Munoz, Ty France, Taylor Trammell, and Luis Torrens to Seattle in exchange for Austin Nola, Dan Altavilla, and Austin Adams.

Over his MLB career with San Diego in 2019 and Seattle since 2021, Munoz has appeared in 218 games, posting a 2.42 ERA and 11-20 record with 53 saves. He has thrown 216 innings, allowing 137 hits, 58 earned runs, 15 home runs, 84 walks, and striking out 297 batters with a 1.023 WHIP.

According to Baseball Savant, Munoz relies on his slider 49.8 percent of the time, followed by a four-seam fastball at 35.4 percent, a sinker at 13.8 percent, and a changeup at 1.0 percent.

His slider generates a 32.8 percent putaway rate and a 55.7 percent whiff rate. His sinker averages 98.2 mph, while his four-seamer averages 98.7 mph.

The 23-19 Seattle Mariners will begin a three-game interleague road series against the 26-15 San Diego Padres at 9:40 p.m. EDT on May 16.

Cat Power ???? Andrés Muñoz & Matilda – The Softest Heart in the Hardest Game

Mexico Roster Build Up For 2026 WBC

Federación Mexicana de Béisbol officials will need to evaluate players across multiple professional leagues in 2025 as they prepare to build a competitive roster for Pool B of the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

Scouting will extend beyond Major League Baseball to leagues in Japan (Nippon Professional Baseball), South Korea (Korean Baseball Organization), Taiwan (Chinese Professional Baseball League), Mexico (Liga Mexicana de Béisbol), the 2025–26 Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico season, as well as the winter leagues in the Caribbean and Australia.

FEMEBE president Enrique Mayorga, manager Benji Gil, general manager Rodrigo López, sports manager Jorge Campillo, and operations manager Mariana Patraca will oversee the player evaluations during the 2025 season.

Stats for the LMB season, which marks its 100th year of operation, are available here.

World Baseball Network outlined potential pitching and position player options for Mexico’s WBC roster.

Mexico is expected to return many of the offensive players from its 2023 WBC roster, with possible additions that include Randy Arozarena, Ramón Urías, Luis Urías, Jonathan Aranda, Jarren Duran, Joey Meneses, Rosman Verdugo, Rowdy Tellez, Marcelo Mayer, Brandon Valenzuela, Juan Carlos Gamboa, Mateo Gil, Isaac Paredes, Alexis Wilson, Luis González, Alek Thomas, Jared Serna, and Alex Verdugo.

Potential pitching options include returning relievers and starters like Luis Cessa, Omar Cruz, Manny Barreda, Giovanny Gallegos, Taijuan Walker, Jeter Martínez, Humberto Cruz, Alejandro Osuna, Víctor Vargas, Javier Assad, Aldo Montes, Christian Romero, Manuel Rodríguez, Jorge Pérez, Jake Sánchez, David Reyes, José Urquidy, Adrián Martínez, Patrick Sandoval, and Gerardo Reyes.

Mexico reached the semifinals of the 2023 World Baseball Classic at loanDepot Park in Miami, where they fell 6-5 to Japan on a walk-off double by Munetaka Murakami in the bottom of the ninth inning.