Team Canada has appeared in every edition of the World Baseball Classic, but for the first time in the tournament’s history, they will not have to face the United States in pool play.
Canada is 5-10 in its WBC history, with 2006 – the inaugural event – remaining the best showing. In a pool alongside Mexico, the United States and South Africa, the Canadians went 2-1. Their landmark win was against their southerly neighbors, defeating the United States by an 8-6 score. Still, they failed to advance as both Mexico and the U.S. also went 2-1; both surpassed the Canadians on tiebreakers. The Canadians have still yet to advance into the knockout stage of the World Baseball Classic.
While their draw might not necessarily be easier, it is at least new. Canada will be a part of Pool A, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They’ll be alongside hosts Puerto Rico, Cuba, Columbia and Panama. Canada’s national team is ranked 22nd in the world as of writing, which is ahead of only Brazil among teams participating in the 2026 Classic. Great Britain, Israel, Nicaragua, and even Czechia are all placed above them according to the World Baseball Softball Confederation – the organization which, alongside MLB, jointly runs the WBC. These rankings are based on the on-field performances of national teams in recent competitions, though – not based on their current roster.
The Canadian roster is headlined by recently extended Mariner Josh Naylor. Naylor’s 3.1 WAR campaign in 2025 was a new high-water mark for the Mississauga native, as he hit 20 home runs, batted .295, and posted an OPS+ of 125 – meaning he was 25% better than league average. The season prior, he clocked 31 big flies, while in 2023 he put up a .308 batting average and a .489 on-base percentage – still his career-best in both categories. At age 20, Naylor was part of Team Canada’s 2017 WBC roster, but only had a pair of at bats; he went hitless and struck out once. The 28 year old Naylor is now a very different player, though, and will surely be eager to make his mark on the national team.
Bo Naylor, younger brother of Josh Naylor, will be joining Team Canada behind the dish. He’s spent the last three years with the Cleveland Guardians, totalling 45 doubles and 38 homers. He also participated in the 2023 WBC for Canada, hitting a home run and driving in three runs. He participated in all four of Canada’s games during their 2023 tournament schedule.
Canada’s standout star in the last World Baseball Classic was Tyler O’Neill. From Burnaby, British Columbia, O’Neill might be best known in the States for his remarkable physique. The son of a former Mr. Canada bodybuilder, his muscular build and love for lifting earned him the nickname ‘Popeye’ while playing in the Southern League. After finishing 8th in MVP voting with 6.4 WAR, 34 HR and a 148 OPS+ in 2021, O’Neill struggled with injury-ridden seasons until leaving St. Louis for Boston in 2024. In Fenway, he regained some of his best form. 31 homers and a 138 OPS+ helped him earn a 3-year, $49.5 Million contract with the Baltimore Orioles. Again hampered by injuries in his first Camden Yards campaign, O’Neill only played 54 games for the O’s and notched just nine home runs.
Among O’Neill’s most important – and for Team Canada fans, enticing – qualities is his reputation as an early-season standout. He’s homered in six consecutive Opening Day matchups, an all-time Major League record. Even better, his last World Baseball Classic was exceptional; across Canada’s four-game slate, he batted .615, second-best in the entire tournament, with an OBP of .722 and OPS of 1.491. He recorded eight hits, a pair of doubles, and four RBI. The two-time Gold Glove winner also provides the canucks with a strong defensive anchor in centerfield. After the offseason, he reported to spring training with no restrictions, indicating that he is fully healthy for the Classic.
Maybe the biggest story about the Canadian offense concerns who isn’t there – Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Freddie Freeman. Freeman was unable to compete in the WBC after initially committing to the team. His withdrawal is due to personal reasons. The Canadians will miss the nine-time All Star, who will enter his age-36 season with the Dodgers in 2026. Freeman has tallied more than 2,400 hits, 367 home runs, 1,322 RBI and boasts a career .300 batting average and 142 OPS+.
The Canadian pitching staff is perhaps the national team’s strongest ever assembled, but suffers from topheaviness. Righties Cal Quantrill, Michael Soroka, and Jameson Taillon anchor the starting punch, but only one other pitcher on the staff was a Major Leaguer last season – Milwaukee’s Rob Zastryzny. Of the remaining staff, two were in Triple-A, two were in Double-A, one played in High-A, one is a draftee with no professional experience, Brock Dykxhoorn played for the Unipresident Lions in Taiwan’s CPBL, and former MLB pitcher Logan Allen spent 2025 with the NC Dinos of Korea’s KBO League.
Taillon is probably the top starter on this staff, amassing more than 1,000 strikeouts in a nine-year MLB career with the Pirates, Yankees, and Cubs. His 2025 campaign was strong, but not his strongest – it was the first time since 2019 that he pitched fewer than 140 innings and recorded fewer than 100 strikeouts. His Fielding-Independent Pitching (FIP), which measures a player’s expected ERA without much of the uncertainty of balls in play and defense quality, spiked to 4.65 – a new career-high. Despite those drops, Taillon still pitched to a 3.68 ERA, with 11 winning decisions and an ERA+ of 105. In the 2013 World Baseball Classic, 21-year-old Taillon pitched four innings for Canada, allowing two runs (one earned) and striking out three.
The Canadians will be managed by Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Ernie Whitt, who spent twelve of his fifteen years in the Majors with the Toronto Blue Jays. Whitt has also managed the Canadians in every World Baseball Classic in which they have competed, as well as leading the squad in the Olympics since 2004, in the Pan American Games since 1999, and in the now-defunct Baseball World Cup. Under his leadership, Canada has won gold in the 2011 and 2015 Pan-Am games, as well as silver in the 2019 Lima games and bronze in the 2011 Baseball World Cup.
With the nation reeling from 2-1 overtime losses against the United States in the 2026 Winter Olympics for both their Men’s and Women’s Hockey teams – both in the Gold Medal Game – the Canadian national team has a chance to reverse the narrative in their relationship to its southern neighbor. Can Canada steal the American pastime?
Best-case Result:
3-1, advancing from Pool A, but losing in the Quarterfinals. This Canadian team is good, and if everything goes right, they can make a very deep run in the Classic. While I find it hard to believe they can go undefeated against Puerto Rico, Cuba, Colombia and Panama, I can definitely see a red-hot team beating three out of those four. But they are virtually assured to have an unfavorable draw in the Quarterfinal round; the Pool A runner-up would face the Pool B winner, likely either Mexico or the United States.
Worst-case Result:
1-3, failing to advance but qualifying for the next Classic. If the Canadian lineup can’t click, or the back end of the pitching staff can’t hold up to tougher competition, this team might have just as tough a time as any other WBC squad representing the great white north. Puerto Rico and Cuba are baseball powerhouses, Colombia boasts its strongest roster yet, and Panama has shot up the national team rankings to eighth-place as of writing. In much the same way that I struggle to see the Canadians winning every game, I also struggle to see them losing every game. Only the last-place team in each pool fails to automatically qualify for the next tournament, giving Canada breathing room in this scenario. Still, a finish like this would only reinforce the historical narrative that Canada is not cut out for WBC glory.
The Likely Scenario:
2-2, failing to advance but qualifying for the next Classic. I think it’s most fair to say that this roster sits somewhere in the middle of the Pool A bunch, and I personally struggle to see them beating Puerto Rico on their own turf. Any of Cuba, Colombia, and Panama will also probably deal this team a second loss, but I doubt the Canadians would fall in more than one of those matchups. Canada shut out Colombia in the last WBC, and put up 18 runs on Great Britain. This roster is better than that one, and their pool is easier. Another .500 finish is what I’m expecting.
Batter to Watch:
Edouard Julien – Julien’s Major League career with Minnesota has been solid, but nothing to write home about. But his 2023 WBC performance was otherworldly. He slashed .538/.667/1.154 – no, that slugging percentage is not a typo. His monstrous 1.821 OPS led all batters in WBC play, while his seven hits and five walks helped propel Canada to its first multi-win performance in the WBC since 2006. If he’s anything like that in 2026, the other teams in San Juan had best be worried.
Pitcher to Watch:
Cal Quantrill – After a disappointing 2025 split between Miami and Atlanta, Quantrill was signed by the Texas Rangers to a minor league contract for 2026. The former Cleveland notable has struggled in the last three years. His last sub-4.00 ERA came in 2022, when he pitched to a 3.38 clip and won 15 games for the Guardians. Since then, his ERA has been 5.24, 4.98 and 6.04. Fighting for a spot on the MLB roster throughout the spring, this Classic gives Quantrill the chance to remind the world, and the Rangers, of his talent.