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Draft:2026 World Baseball Classic qualification - Pool A

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Pool A of the 2026 World Baseball Classic qualification tournament was held at the Taipei Dome in Taipei, Taiwan between February 21-25, 2025.

The tournament consists of a round-robin, with each team playing each other once. After the six games, the first-placed team will qualify for the final tournament, while the second and third-placed teams will play in a seventh game for the second and last spot in the main tournament.[1]

Teams

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Team Confederation Last WBC qualification
appearance 		Last WBC
appearance 		WBSC
Rankings[2]
 Chinese Taipei WBSC Asia 2013 (qualified) 2023 (5th in Pool A) 2
 Nicaragua WBSC Americas 2023 (qualified) 2023 (5th in Pool D 16
 Spain WBSC Europe 2023 (did not qualify) 2013 (15th) 24
 South Africa WBSC Africa 2023 (did not qualify) 2009 (16th) 31

Standings

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Opening round

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Pos Team Pld W L RF RA PCT GB Qualification
1  Nicaragua 2 2 0 4 2 1.000 — Final tournament
2  Spain 2 1 1 13 7 .500 1 Second-place playoff
3  Chinese Taipei (H) 2 1 1 14 13 .500 1
4  South Africa 2 0 2 2 11 .000 2
Updated to game(s) played on February 21, 2025. Source: MLB
(H) Hosts

Second-place playoff

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Date Local time Road team Score Home team Inn. Venue Game duration Attendance Boxscore
February 25, 2025 19:00 Opening round 3rd place – Opening round 2nd place   Taipei Dome      

Matches

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Opening round

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South Africa vs Nicaragua

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February 21, 2025 12:00 PM TWT at Taipei Dome in Taipei, Taiwan (F/10)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
 South Africa 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0
 Nicaragua 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 6 0
WP: Bryan Torres (1–0)   LP: Dean Jacobs (0–1)
Umpires: HP – Evin Johnson, 1B – Scott Costello, 2B – Ik Soo Kim, 3B – Yoshiharu Yamaguchi
Boxscore

Nicaragua defeated South Africa 2-1 in extra innings on a walkoff single from catcher Ronald Rivera.[3] In the 7th inning, South Africa successfully pulled off a hidden ball trick, tagging out Freddy Zamora at third base to keep the game tied.[4]

Spain vs Chinese Taipei

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February 21, 2025 7:00 PM TWT at Taipei Dome in Taipei, Taiwan
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
 Spain 2 0 2 0 6 2 0 0 0 12 15 1
 Chinese Taipei 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 5 11 0
WP: Elian Leyva (1–0)   LP: Yu-Hung Chen (0–1)
Home runs:
ESP: Gabriel Lino (1)
TPE: Yu Chang (1)
Attendance: 35,325 (88.8%)
Umpires: HP – Ty Krauss, 1B – Yoshiharu Yamaguchi, 2B – Ben Phillips, 3B – Scott Costello
Boxscore

Spain defeated Chinese Taipei 12-5 in a shocking upset over the host country. Chinese Taipei were nearly subject to a 10-run mercy rule in the 7th inning, before scoring a run.[5] Catcher Gabriel Lino said this about the shocking win: "It was really exciting to play here, in front of 40,000 people and to win against a team like Chinese Taipei [...] The best part is that we were focused and working on our goal from the start until the end, and I feel like this was a really important game for all of us. Hitting a home run was amazing too, but, for me, the win was the most important part of the night."[6]

Spain vs Nicaragua

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February 22, 2025 12:00 PM TWT at Taipei Dome in Taipei, Taiwan (F/10)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
 Spain 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 1
 Nicaragua 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 7 0
WP: Yéris Gonzalez (1-0)   LP: Rhiner Cruz (0-1)
Home runs:
ESP: Carlos Colmenarez (1)
NIC: Brandon Leyton (1)
Umpires: HP - Ben Phillips, 1B - Evin Johnson, 2B - Ik Soo Kim, 3B - Mark Stewart Jr

Chinese Taipei vs South Africa

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February 22, 2025 7:00 PM TWT at Taipei Dome in Taipei, Taiwan
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
 Chinese Taipei 0 0 2 2 0 1 2 0 2 9 14 0
 South Africa 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 1
WP: Tzu-Chen Sha (1-0)   LP: Damon King (0-1)
Home runs:
TPE: Cheng-Jui Sung (1), Tsung-Hsien Lee (1)
RSA: None
Attendance: 35,868 (89.6%)
Umpires: HP - Scott Costello, 1B - Ty Krauss, 2B - Mark Stewart Jr, 3B - Ik Soo Kim
Boxscore

South Africa vs Spain

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February 23, 2025 12:00 PM TWT at Taipei Dome in Taipei, Taiwan
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
 South Africa - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Spain - - - - - - - - - - - -

Nicaragua vs Chinese Taipei

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February 23, 2025 7:00 PM TWT at Taipei Dome in Taipei, Taiwan
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
 South Africa - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Spain - - - - - - - - - - - -

Second place playoff

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February 25, 2025 7:00 PM TWT at Taipei Dome in Taipei, Taiwan
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Opening round 3rd place team - - - - - - - - - - - -
Opening round 2nd place team - - - - - - - - - - - -

References

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  1. ^ "World Baseball Classic Qualifiers announced". MLB.com. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  2. ^ "WBSC Men's Baseball Rankings". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  3. ^ "Scores and results from the 2025 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers in Taipei". Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  4. ^ "South Africa pulls off hidden ball trick for out, Nicaragua wins WBC Qualifiers opener". Associated Press. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  5. ^ "Taiwan escapes mercy-rule loss to Spain in WBCQ opener". Taipei Times. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  6. ^ "Scores and results from the 2025 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers in Taipei". Retrieved 21 February 2025.
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