Taiwan national baseball team manager Tseng Hao-jiu on Tuesday announced the updated roster for next month’s 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) qualifiers at the Taipei Dome.
The team previously confirmed that Chen Chieh-hsien, captain of Taiwan’s World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 championship team last year, would be returning.
On Tuesday, Tseng said that after a management meeting, they made minor adjustments to the roster.
Photo: CNA
Of the 19 pitchers on the list, 10 are based in Taiwan, while nine play abroad, he said, adding that the roster includes seven infielders and four outfielders, some of whom also play overseas.
Tseng also added another catcher, bringing the total number of catchers to four.
The roster is still subject to change, depending on the response from players and coaches, and the willingness of overseas teams to release players, he said.
The manager added that training for the qualifiers would start on Feb. 3 and that overseas players would gradually return to Taiwan to join practices.
Before the qualifiers, the national team would hold six or seven exhibition games, two of which would be open to the public, Tseng said.
Qualifiers for the 2026 World Baseball Classic start on Feb. 21 at the Taipei Dome with Pool A teams South Africa playing Nicaragua in the afternoon followed by Taiwan versus Spain in the evening. After six games in a round-robin format, the first-placed team would advance to the World Baseball Classic, while the second and third-placed teams would vie for a spot in a seventh game, to be held on Feb. 25.
In Tucson, Arizona, Pool B teams start their games on March 2, with China playing Germany and Brazil playing Colombia, with the final game to be held on March 6.
The group stage of the World Baseball Classic runs from March 6 to 11, with four pools of five teams each, including the yet-to-be-decided qualifiers.
Pool A (Puerto Rico, Cuba, Canada and Panama) are to play in San Juan, Puerto Rico, while Houston, Texas, would host Pool B (the US, Mexico, Italy and the UK).
Pool C (Japan, Australia, South Korea and the Czech Republic) are to play in Tokyo, and Pool D (Venezuela, Dominican Republic, the Netherlands and Israel) start in Miami, Florida.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS