Major League Baseball announced the four venues for the 2026 World Baseball Classic on Thursday, revealing that Miami's Depot Park will host games in all three rounds of the tournament for the second straight season. Japan's Tokyo Dome, which has hosted all five previous WBCs, will host the first round in 2026. Puerto Rico's Hiram Bithorn Stadium will host first-round games again – the first games hosted in Puerto Rico since 2013. . Also, for the first time, Houston's Minute Maid Park will host WBC games – making the Astros the eighth MLB team to see their home field host part of the event.
“We are excited and honored to be hosting the World Baseball Classic for the first time,” Astros owner Jim Crane said in a press release today. “Houston is the world's largest baseball city, and we are proud to welcome fans from around the world to watch international competition at Minute Maid Park. Thank you to MLB, the MLBPA, and the City of Houston for their support – we look forward to an exciting tournament in 2026.”
Each of the four locations will host one of the four stadiums in the first round of play. Minute Maid Park and Depot Park will then host the quarterfinals, with the final stages of the tournament being played at Depot Park in Miami.
The 2023 World Baseball Classic, which saw Japan defeat the United States in the finals, was the first in which the field expanded from 16 to 20 teams. The 16 top four finishers in their pools in 2023 will return to take part in the 2026 WBC. Four more teams will join the field with a series of qualifying events scheduled to take place in 2025.
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