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.
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.
Leif Skodnick of 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.
WBC Overview
Japan has won the most World Baseball Classic titles with three championships in 2006, 2009, and 2023. The United States won in 2017, and the Dominican Republic won in 2013. No other nation has claimed the WBC title since the tournament’s inception in 2006.
The WBC is sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation and is jointly organized by Major League Baseball, the Major League Baseball Players Association, and the WBCI during spring training.
The full schedule, venues, and pool matchups are available here. Game start times have not yet been announced.
2026 World Baseball Classic Information
Nicaragua will play against Venezuela, Israel, the Netherlands, and the Dominican Republic in Miami at loanDepot Park from March 6-11.
Puerto Rico, Cuba, Canada, Panama, and Colombia will compete in San Juan, Puerto Rico at Hiram Bithorn Stadium from March 6-11 in Pool A.
Japan, Australia, South Korea, Czech Republic, and Chinese Taipei will compete at the Tokyo Dome from March 5-10 in Pool C.
The Quarterfinals of the 2026 WBC will feature the Pool A runner-up facing the Pool B winner on March 13, while the Pool B runner-up will face the Pool A winner on March 14 at Daikin Park.
The other side of the Quarterfinals will be on March 13 with the Pool C runner-up playing the Pool D winner and the Pool D runner-up will play the Pool C winner at loanDepot Park on March 14.
The 2026 WBC semifinals will be held on March 15 and 16 at loanDepot Park, with the championship game taking place on March 17.
The 2026 WBC pool matchups and venue details are posted at MLB.com’s official WBC site, although game start times have not yet been announced.
The schedule for the 2026 @WBCBaseball is here! 👀 pic.twitter.com/B5MvUIrZK5
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) April 9, 2025
WBSC Rankings Outline
Japan is ranked at No. 1 in the World Baseball Rankings and will play in their sixth WBC. Chinese Taipei hails at No. 2. and will play in their sixth event. Venezuela at No. 3 and will appear for the sixth time at the WBC. Mexico is at No. 4 and will play in their sixth WBC. The United States is at No. 5 and will appear for the sixth time in the WBC. South Korea is labeled at No. 6 and will play in their sixth WBC.
The Netherlands at No. 7 will play in the WBC for the sixth time. Panama at No. 8 will play at the event for the fourth time. Puerto Rico crawling in at No. 9 will appear for the sixth time. Cuba is at No. 10 and will appear in the sixth WBC. The Dominican Republic at No. 11 will play in their sixth event. Australia pipelines at No. 12 and will play for the sixth time at the WBC.
Colombia at No. 13 and will appear in their third WBC. Italy is at No. 14 and will play in their sixth event The Czech Republic at No. 15 will appear in their second WBC. Nicaragua is ranked at No. 16 and will appear in the WBC for the second-time.
Great Britain at No. 18 will play for the second time at the WBC. Israel is ranked at No. 19 and will play in their third WBC. Canada is at No. 22 and will play in their sixth event. Brazil is ranked at No. 23 and will play in their second WBC.
In the 2023 WBC, Nicaragua, Great Britain, and the Czech Republic played in their first event. Israel and Colombia have played in three consecutive WBC events dating back to 2017. Brazil is appearing in the WBC for the first time since 2013. Panama has played in the WBC previously in 2006, 2009 and 2023, prior to 2026.
China will not be participating for the first time in the WBC since they did not qualify in the second qualifier in Tucson, Ariz., while going 0-3. They have been in the WBC since 2006, in the event’s first year.
The teams that are playing in the 2026 WBC and are part of the WBSC Americas sector are the United States, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Nicaragua, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic. In the WBSC Europe sector, Italy, Israel, Great Britain, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands are participating in the 2026 event.
Japan, Chinese Taipei, and South Korea are in the WBSC Asia sector and Australia is in the WBSC Oceania sector.
All the other listed remaining countries have played in the WBC since its first year in 2006.
The WBC is sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, the sports governing body alongside Major League Baseball, the Major League Baseball Players Association and the WBCI, that partner in organizing the event during spring training.
The 2026 WBC pool matchups for all games are slated on the official World Baseball Classic site with the confirmed dates, and no game start times have yet been announced.
If teams end up with the same record in pool play the Total Quality Balance run differential rule will be in effect for runs for and runs against alongside the head-to-head record.
2026 WBC Pool Matchups With Confirmed Dates
Pool A – Puerto Rico, Colombia, Panama, Canada & Cuba
Venue – Hiram Bithorn Stadium – San Juan, Puerto Rico
March 6
Game 1 – Cuba vs. Panama
Game 2 – Puerto Rico vs. Colombia
March 7
Game 3 – Colombia vs. Canada
Game 4 – Panama vs. Puerto Rico
March 8
Game 5 – Colombia vs. Cuba
Game 6 – Panama vs. Canada
March 9
Game 7 – Colombia vs. Panama
Game 8 – Cuba vs. Puerto Rico
March 10
Game 9 – Canada vs. Puerto Rico
March 11
Game 10 – Canada vs. Cuba
Pool B – United States, Mexico, Brazil, Great Britain & Italy
Venue – Daikin Park – Houston, Texas
March 6
Game 1 – Mexico vs. Great Britain
Game 2 – United States vs. Brazil
March 7
Game 3 – Brazil vs. Italy
Game 4 – Great Britain vs. United States
March 8
Game 5 – Great Britain vs. Italy
Game 6 – Brazil vs. Mexico
March 9
Game 7 – Brazil vs. Great Britain
Game 8 – Mexico vs. United States
March 10
Game 9 – Italy vs. United States
March 11
Game 10 – Italy vs. Mexico
Pool C – Japan, Chinese Taipei, Australia, South Korea & Czech Republic
Venue – Tokyo Dome – Tokyo, Japan
March 5
Game 1 – Chinese Taipei vs. Australia
Game 2 – Czechia vs. South Korea
March 6
Game 3 – Australia vs. Czechia
Game 4 – Japan vs. Chinese Taipei
March 7
Game 5 – Chinese Taipei vs. Czechia
Game 6 – South Korea vs. Japan
March 8
Game 7 – Chinese Taipei vs. South Korea
Game 8 – Australia vs. Japan
March 9
Game 9 – South Korea vs. Australia
March 10
Game 10 – Czechia vs. Japan
Pool D – Dominican Republic, Netherlands, Venezuela, Israel & Nicaragua
Venue – loanDepot Park – Miami, Fla.
March 6
Game 1 – Netherlands vs. Venezuela
Game 2 – Nicaragua vs. Dominican Republic
March 7
Game 3 – Nicaragua vs. Netherlands
Game 4 – Israel vs. Venezuela
March 8
Game 5 – Netherlands vs. Dominican Republic
Game 6 – Nicaragua vs. Israel
March 9
Game 7 – Dominican Republic vs. Israel
Game 8 – Venezuela vs. Nicaragua
March 10
Game 9 – Israel vs. Netherlands
March 11
Game 10 – Dominican Republic vs. Venezuela
(AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
