FOX Sports takes the hill for the opening of the World Baseball Classic (WBC), with the first game of the premier international baseball tournament – Cuba vs. Netherlands in Pool A play – set for Tuesday, March 7, from Taiwan’s Taichung Intercontinental Stadium @ 11:00 PM ET on FS1, FOX Deportes, and FOX Sports streaming services.Team USA, featuring MLB All-Stars Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, Tim Anderson, Trea Turner, Will Smith, Adam Wainwright, and many others, makes its WBC debut Saturday, March 11, from Phoenix’s Chase Field against Pool C opponent Great Britain @ 9:00 PM ET on FOX.
Joe Davis, the voice of FOX MLB, joins first-ballot Hall-of-Famer and Sports Emmy winner John Smoltz in the booth for the Team USA opener. Emmy Award-winning reporter Ken Rosenthal reports from the field.
“What a fantastic way to build excitement around the 2023 baseball season, with the best players in the world facing off for pride of country,” said Mark Silverman, FOX Sports President, and COO. “Wearing their country’s flag on their jerseys means a lot, raises the stakes, and creates memorable moments on and off the field for the television audience.”
MULTI-PLATFORM HIGHLIGHTS
Number of Games: Exclusive coverage of all 47 tournament games across FOX (3 games), FS1 (23), FS2 (18), FOX Deportes (29), Tubi (3), and the FOX Sports app in the U.S.
· First Game: Tuesday, March 7, 11:00 PM ET – Cuba vs. Netherlands at Taichung Intercontinental Stadium (FS1/FOX Deportes)
· First Team USA Game: Saturday, March 11, 9:00 PM ET – Great Britain vs. USA at Chase Field (FOX)
· Championship Game: Tuesday, March 21, 7:00 PM ET from loanDepot park (FS1/FOX Deportes)
· Teams: Pool A – Chinese Taipei, Netherlands, Cuba, Italy, Panama; Pool B – Japan, Korea, Australia, China, Czech Republic; Pool C – USA, Mexico, Colombia, Canada, Great Britain; Pool D – Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Israel, Nicaragua
· Game Locations: Tokyo Dome (Japan), Taichung Intercontinental Stadium (Taiwan), Chase Field (Phoenix), and loanDepot park (Miami)
WBC rosters include more than 60 MLB All-Stars, 180-plus players on 40-man rosters and more than 300 players under contract with big league teams according to MLB. There are eight Major League MVPs in Paul Goldschmidt, Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Clayton Kershaw, Jose Altuve and Miguel Cabrera. Of note, 16 of the top 18 finishers for the 2022 NL MVP and six of the top 10 finishers for the 2022 AL MVP are scheduled to participate in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, with the reigning Nippon Professional Baseball MVP Munetaka Murakami and Korea Baseball Organization MVP Jung-Hoo Lee also on lineup cards.
Operated by MLB and the MLBPA and sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, the World Baseball Classic will be contested on fields in Japan, Taiwan and the U.S., and wraps up with semifinal games at loanDepot park March 19-20 and the championship game in Miami on Tuesday, March 21.
FOX DEPORTES
FOX Deportes presents a total of 29 live World Baseball Classic games beginning on Tuesday, March 7 with the opening game between Cuba and the Netherlands. The network’s top baseball talent lineup, including announcers Adrian Garcia-Marquez and Carlos Alvarez and analysts Edgar Gonzalez and Jaime Motta, calls all games. Gonzalez played for Mexico in the 2009 and 2013 editions of the WBC and managed Mexico in 2017. WBC coverage also will appear on the network’s main studio shows: EL ENTRETIEMPO and TOTAL SPORTS 360.
