World Baseball Classic: 3 Things USA Fans Should Know

The World Baseball Classic is here. 20 Countries from around the world compete to see which nation reigns supreme in Baseball. The last time around, Team USA came so close, losing by just 1 run to Japan in the Championship Game. Can the USA steal the crown from Japan this time around? Will Japan take home the win again? Or could another nation sneak in?

From when Team USA plays, how the tournament works, to who is on the team, here is everything baseball fans need to know about Team USA and the World Baseball Classic.

There are 20 teams, broken down into 4 groups of 5. The top 2 teams from each group move on to the Elimination Round.

Team USA is in Group B along with Mexico, Great Britain, Italy, and Brazil. The USA and Mexico are major favorites to make it out of the bracket, barring any major upset. Brazil has only a handful of players who even played at any level in the MLB last year, and Italy and Great Britain hardly have any star players, let alone a roster that looks like an All-Star team.

From there, the 8 team left standing are seeded into a bracket. The Group B winner will face the Group A runner-up, and the Group B runner-up will face the Group B winner. Group A is made up of Puerto Rico, Cuba, Canada, Panama, and Colombia.

Each game after the group stage is single elimination. meaning it is a 1 game series, where the winner moves on, and the loser is out. There will be Quarter Finals, Semi Finals, and then the Championship.

The Quarter Finals are set in Houston, and the Semi Finals and Championship are in Miami.

After the Quarter Finals, the bracket is reseeded. So there is a chance the USA and Japan could meet in the Semi-Finals, or the rematch could wait until the Finals provided they both make it there. It will depend on how they do in their individual groups and who else makes it out of the Quarter Finals.

The two exhibition games are played in Arizona. The group games and the quarter-finals are played in Houston. And the Semi-Finals and Finals are in Houston

Most games will air on FS1 or FS2. The USA games all air on FOX, with the exception of the game vs Italy, which will be on FS1. From there, the Elimination games will be either on Fox, FS1, or FS2, and the Final is on Fox.

Outside of the USA games, most will be available on the same networks in the FOX family, but a few games are only on TUBI, or the Fox Sports APP. But for USA you will only need FOX or FS1.

The lineup may switch up game to game, but here is what their lineup looks like in the first exhibition game.

Skubal will only make one start, pitching against Britian in the Group Stage. But that still leaves Skenes, Webb, and McLean to start in the Elimination Round. Starters never go deep in these games anyway. They have several guys in their bullpen who are also starters.