2023 World Baseball Classic: Who plays today? Times, TV and streaming | March 8
As the first full day of play gets underway in the World Baseball Classic, we look at who is playing and how you can see all the action.
The World Baseball Classic kicks off with Pool play today, with Cuba already one game down, having lost to the Netherlands 4-2 on Tuesday. Wednesday’s play gets underway at 6 a.m. ET as Panama take on Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) before the evening’s games get going at 10 p.m. with Australia taking on Korea and at 11 p.m. as Panama takes on the Netherlands.
You can watch a live stream of all the World Baseball Classic games on FuboTV.
When does the WBC action get started?
The game between Panama and Chinese Taipei starts on Wednesday, March 8th, 2023.
- 6 a.m. ET
- 3 a.m. PT
The game between Australia and Korea starts at:
- 10 p.m. ET
- 7 p.m. PT
The game between Panama and the Netherlands gets underway at:
- 11 p.m. ET
- 8 p.m. PT
How to watch all of the World Baseball Classic action:
The following television channels and online services will be broadcasting all of the WBC games in the United States:
- Panama vs Chinese Taipei: Fox Sports 2
- Australia vs Korea: Fox Sports 1
- Panama vs Netherlands: Fox Sports 2 Raw HTML blockEdit
You can watch a live stream of all the World Baseball Classic games on FuboTV.
Panama vs Chinese Taipei preview
The Panamanian side are coming into this tournament after raging their way through the qualifying round. Their strength is their pitching staff and will start Humberto Mejía against Taiwan. They do have a few bats that can light up a scoreboard, particularly Jose Ramos and Ruben Tejada. Christian Bethancourt is another solid player who can turn a game around for Panama.
Chinese Taipei are in a sticky spot, having finished much lower than they should have in the qualifiers, but their strength will be in their offense, with home run producing machine Kungkuan Giljegiljaw, Chieh-Hsien Chen, and Yu Chang backing their prodigious run scoring. In front of a home crowd, anything is possible.
Australia vs Korea preview
Both of these teams have a lot to prove and will go all out in the Tokyo Dome to put things to rights. Korea is one of the world’s great baseballing nations, and yet have failed to get out of the group stage in the last two editions of the WBC. Australia has a wonderful baseball tradition and several major league players under their belt, but the sport is overshadowed by cricket back home. Both of these teams will be out to prove that they belong on the world’s biggest baseball stage.
Panama vs Netherlands preview
The Netherlands are one of the hottest teams in the competition and are coming off a 4-2 win over Cuba. With a lineup that can keep pace with the big boys, it will be difficult for Panama to reign them in. Having finished fourth in the last two WBC tournaments, the Netherlands are the easy favorites in Pool A, and Panama will lean heavily on its pitching to keep the game within reach. If there were ever a time for those Panamanian bats to come alive, this is it.