Brazil makes its return to the World Baseball Classic for 2026, its first appearance since going winless in 2013, with much to prove and a hungry roster. A roster that, for arguably the first time in the national team’s history, has begun to taste serious victory.
Baseball is a minor factor in the crowded and bellicose world of Brazilian sports. Football is the unquestioned national pastime of the Land of the Palm Trees, practically a state religion. The American sport that most captivates Brazilian audiences is Volleyball, followed by Basketball. Baseball doesn’t owe its influence in Brazil to the United States; rather, it owes it to the tens of thousands of Japanese who immigrated to the country in the 20th century. Japan has long been a baseballing nation and the Nikkei community who settled the southern tip of Brazil brought their favorite game with them. In 1936, the Campeonato Brasileiro de Beisebol (CBB) played their inaugural season. That same year, the Japanese Professional Baseball League –precursor to modern NPB – began play.
Brazilian baseball is still very Japanese. Bunts, hit-and-runs, base stealing and tactical management are all hallmarks of the game. Names like Kanabushi, Takahashi and Nishiyama will grace the backs of the national team’s blue and white jerseys in the upcoming Classic. But the influences of Caribbean baseball have found their way into the identity of the Brazilian game too. They have made their national team just as rich in culture as anything else truly Brazilian.
The Brazilian National Team is also on its best run in recent memory. In the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, the Blue Parrots (a nickname for the national team) went undefeated in a Pool alongside Venezuela, Cuba and Colombia – all considered much better baseball powers than Brazil. In the gold medal game, they lost 9-1 to Colombia, but it was still their best finish in an international tournament.
Thirty-seven-year-old Murilo Gouvea was Brazil’s best pitcher in the 2025 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, a tournament in which the Parrots went 3-1 to clinch a berth in the WBC. Gouvea earned the most important save of the Qualifiers for Brazil, shutting down the Germans after they’d already scored in the top of the seventh. He retired six straight, allowed a one-out single in the top of the ninth, and then promptly induced a ground-ball double play to end the game and snatch the final available spot in the 2026 WBC for Brazil. Gouvea’s 2.25 ERA across four innings of work was the best among Brazil’s pitching staff.
Gouvea reached as far as AAA Fresno in the Houston Astros organization, back in 2015. He also pitched 5.2 shutout innings in the 2012 WBC Qualifiers for Brazil and logged a 5.68 ERA in 6.1 innings during the 2013 Classic. Since then, he’s had a successful career in the Italian Serie-A (ITSA), pitching to a 2.72 ERA in more than 260 innings of work, striking out 318 and tallying a 27-4 record on the bump. Like many of his teammates, he was a key part of the 2023 Silver Medal-winning squad at the Pan-Am Games.
Another medalist teammate of his who returns for the WBC is Eric Pardinho. Pardinho spent much of 2025 with the Toronto Blue Jays’ AAA affiliate in Buffalo, posting a 3.50 ERA in 15 innings of work. He was released by the Blue Jays after the season and spent the winter in Venezuela as a member of the La Guaira Sharks. Over 36.2 innings, he logged a 4.91 ERA, 27 strikeouts, and a 3-0 record.
The player most recognizable for Americans is corner infielder Alphonse Dante Bichette Jr. – son of the 14-year major leaguer Dante Bichette and the older brother of Blue Jays-Mets star Bo Bichette. However, due to abuse by his father, the younger Bichette prefers to go by the name Alphonse. Bichette was once a top prospect in the Yankees farm system, reaching AA and playing nearly 350 games at that level. He batted .254 over that period, before eventually retiring from baseball after the 2019 season. He is making his return to the sport to represent Brazil in the WBC, having aided them in the Qualifiers by making four appearances and logging four hits.
Vitor Ito joins him in the infield, a consistent presence in Brazil’s previous Qualifier competitions. Ito has played in the 2016, 2022 and 2025 Qualifiers with the Blue Parrots, logging a .214 average and six hits across nine games. His 2025 performance was his best by far, batting .385 and driving in a run; the former being the best batting average for a Brazilian player during the competition (among those who played more than one game).
Another player to watch is outfielder Osvaldo Carvalho, who has starred for Brazil in international competition. In addition to a limited-action campaign in the Qualifiers, he’s been a stalwart in the Brazilian Championship. In three seasons, he’s amassed a .374 career batting average and a 1.081 OPS, winning the MVP Award in the 2024 Brazil Cup. With no professional experience, Carvalho is employed as a construction worker and has to take time off from his company to compete for Brazil in international competition. He did so in 2022 to participate in the South American Championship, hitting .313/.400/.500 and scoring seven times across six games. He led the event with three doubles.
Yuichi Matsumoto, a native of Saõ Paulo who played fourteen seasons with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of NPB (Japan’s Major League), will manage the Brazilians in the WBC after leading them through the Qualifiers. He amassed 240 hits in just shy of 550 games in Japan, doubling 101 times and driving in 298. After his retirement from playing, he became the Head Coach (equivalent to Bench Coach in American baseball) for the Swallows’ 2nd Team (their farm squad, in effect). Matsumoto is the first Brazilian-born manager in the national team’s history.
This team is a Carnival to watch, playing with passion and love for one another, but its predecessors in WBC competition were not good. The closest they ever came to winning was a near-upset against Japan in the 2013 Classic, losing 5-3 in the end. Getting the nation’s first victory in the Classic will mark a successful tournament appearance in its own right for the Parrots.
Best-case Result:
2-2, qualifying for the next WBC but not advancing. This scenario, deeply unlikely, would require monumental victories over Great Britain and Italy. Both are stronger than previous editions of the Classic, but Italy especially so. These would have to be close-fought games and their results would deeply reshape the current Baseball hierarchy. The Brazilians are essentially guaranteed to lose to the United States and Mexico, and no amount of team cohesion and Matsumoto strategy can make me see that changing.
Worst-case Result:
0-4, falling back into qualification for the next WBC. This scenario would see the team pummelled by all four opponents, potentially in four successive run-rule victories. I don’t see them doing that poorly, but it isn’t impossible. The main thing separating this scenario from the next is just how embarrassing the defeats are. Given the growing talent and heart that the roster has, I don’t envision them being so soundly crushed.
The Likely Scenario:
0-4, falling back into Qualification for the next WBC. This team is not likely to win any of its games, no matter how great their chemistry and grit are.That doesn’t mean they have to lose in terrible fashion – I think they’ll surprise people with how tightly they play against Great Britain and even Italy and they may catch Mexico or the US flat-footed in the early innings as their rosters settle in. That said, I don’t believe they’ll hang on for an upset in any of their four matchups.
Batter to Watch:
Alphonse D. Bichette Jr. – As a retired player, Bichette has no restrictions from any professional team in this tournament. His raw talent has been known for a long time and with his brother unable to participate in the WBC, there is reason to expect him to leave it all out on the field in this tournament.
Pitcher to Watch:
Eric Pardinho – For the 25-year-old Pardinho, this WBC is a chance for him to show the Blue Jays that they made a mistake in releasing him after the 2025 campaign. He has very real talent, potentially enough to be a serviceable major-league reliever. He’s still young enough that a team might want to take a chance on him. He’ll have opportunities to pitch against such superstars as Aaron Judge, Randy Arozarena, Vinnie Pasquantino,and Jazz Chisholm Jr. I imagine he’s itching for that chance to show his mettle.