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.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
RSS