The most decorated national baseball team in the world returns for its sixth World Baseball Classic in 2026.
Cuban baseball is older than the nation itself. Imported to the island in the 1860s, the game became a symbol of national identity – something only bolstered when baseball surpassed the favorite sports of the island’s Spanish colonizers, like bullfighting, in popularity. The Cubans have long seen international baseball as a domain in which they can prove the superiority of their domestic baseball culture. The Cuban National Series (CNS) is a nominally amateur competition with sixteen teams representing Cuba’s fifteen provinces and the Isla de la Juventad, a special district. While the players are officially unpaid, in reality they are often given ‘ghost jobs’ to compensate them and encourage strong, international-level talent. It worked. Their accolades read like those of the New York Yankees, Green Bay Packers or Boston Celtics; 25 Baseball World Cup titles out of the 35 they participated in, 10 of 13 Intercontinental Cups, and 12 of 16 Pan American gold medals. It was no surprise to keen international observers when Los Leones (the most common nickname for the island’s national team) wound up facing Samurai Japan in the championship game of the inaugural World Baseball Classic. While they ended up losing that game 10-6, the Cubans have continued to be a powerful player in the WBC. Cuba has advanced into at least the second round of play in every WBC tournament. In 2023, they finished in fourth place after losing to the United States in the semifinals.
The 2026 team is a mix of high-level professionals, top amateurs from the Cuban National Series and legendary heroes of previous national teams. In the last category, many international fans will recognize Alfredo Despaigne – longtime member of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of NPB and the all-time leader in World Baseball Classic home runs, with seven. Despaigne’s career began at age 18, with the Alazanes de Granma in the Cuban National Series. In a 13-season tenure in the league, Despaigne played in 925 games, hitting 245 home runs, driving in 821 runs, batting .351 and slugging .651. His career OPS stands at 1.112. Across the Pacific, Despaigne starred for the Chiba Lotte Marines and SoftBank Hawks. Despaigne won the Japan Series four seasons in a row, from 2017 to 2020, and was a three-time All Star. He hit 184 home runs across ten seasons, driving in 545 with a .261 batting average and .349 on-base percentage. Despaigne hit his first WBC home run in the 2009 tournament, before hitting three in both the 2013 and 2017 competitions. While he didn’t leave the yard in 2023, he nevertheless drove in five and recorded seven hits, bringing his WBC total to 27 in 22 games played. Despaigne has not played professionally since 2023, but will return at age 39 to compete in what is likely his last Classic.
On the infield, longtime Chicago White Sox and current Los Angeles Angel Yoán Moncada will appear in his second WBC. The Cuban national team only started to allow Major Leaguers to join in 2023, and in that year’s tournament Moncada batted .435 with 10 hits, four doubles, a home run, and five RBI. The Cuban team will be relying on the 30-year-old Cienfuegos native to provide a strong follow-up campaign, as well as for his steady defense – not elite but generally above average – to maintain its status. Though occasionally bothered by recurring thumb and knee injuries, Moncada’s experience on major league infields will be just as valuable as his bat in the San Juan pool.
Perhaps Cuba’s most fascinating pitcher for the 2026 tournament is Liván Moinelo, a left-hander with the SoftBank Hawks who has been nothing short of ridiculous for Japan’s most potent team. In more than 630 innings, his 1.80 NPB ERA accompanies 42 wins and 40 saves. Moinelo has been a part of five Japan Series titles for the Hawks, as well as winning a Golden Glove and being selected to two all-star teams. After a 2025 campaign wherein he pitched 167 innings with 172 strikeouts, threw three complete games (two of which were shutouts), recorded a 1.46 ERA and was credited with 12 wins, Moinelo was awarded the Pacific League MVP award. He’ll join a long list of reigning league MVPs who will participate in the tournament.
Righty Yoan Lopez saw five years and 121 games in the Major Leagues, pitching to a serviceable 4.39 ERA over time with the Diamondbacks and Mets. He has also pitched for Isla de la Juventad in the Cuban National Series and briefly with the Yomiuri Giants of NPB. In six minor league campaigns, Lopez recorded 302 strikeouts in 283 innings pitched with a 3.78 ERA. Lopez spent last season with the Algodoneros de Unión Laguna, finishing with a 4.89 ERA across 46 innings. The 33-year-old will be hoping that the World Baseball Classic can help him return to form.
Germán Mesa Fresneda, most commonly referred to as Germán Mesa, will be leading the Cuban national team in the 2026 WBC. Mesa is a recent and controversial appointment to manage Los Leones, as he has long opposed the ability of defectors – Cubans who left the island and now live abroad due to their opposition to the current government – to join the team. Yusseff Diaz of Pelota Cubana, a Cuban-American baseball news site, said of Mesa, “[his] selection will not be cheered by the fans and will be booed by the players. Mesa would likely scare off undecided players and is not well-liked by anyone in the country’s baseball system.” Mesa took the Industriales – possibly Cuba’s most popular and powerful team – to a championship in the 2009-10 season, but does not have many other managerial accolades. He earned a bronze medal managing El Salvador in the 2017 Central American Games and went home with a fourth-place finish in the 2017 Bolivarian Games. How he manages a team that notably includes several defectors – Frank Alvarez, Yoan Lopez and Omar Hernández, to name a few – is critical to the team’s success or failure. It will be up to Mesa to build a rapport strong enough to keep the Cuban team together and able to compete at the level the international community expects.
Best-case Scenario:
3-1, advancing from pool play but losing in the quarterfinals. Against Canada, Puerto Rico, Colombia and Panama, I cannot see this team going undefeated. But I also think it’s extremely likely for them to advance. They’ve never failed to, even when their 2023 run was miraculously saved by a five-way 2-2 tie among all teams in the Taichung pool. Their competition in 2026 is more open, and at their height, this team could win the title in San Juan. After that, though, I think they run into a wall of more talented teams in the knockout stage, and their aging core will struggle to lift them over any of their likely opponents.
Worst-case Scenario:
1-3, failing to advance but qualifying for the next WBC. I don’t think the Cubans will lose every game they play – it simply isn’t in the DNA of this national team. But if relations between Mesa and the players aren’t strong enough, and the legendary players on this team fail to live up to their younger selves, I can see Cuba losing to three of their four opponents and failing to advance for the first time in WBC history.
The Likely Scenario:
2-2, failing to advance but qualifying for the next WBC. Maybe it’s a cheap prediction to assume that Cuba will have the same performance as the last Classic, but in my heart an even record feels exactly right to me. I also predicted a 2-2 record for Canada, which I think stands in this scenario as well; who is above whom will depend on tiebreakers, but I would give Cuba a slight edge. Their pitching staff is much more likely to limit runs scored against them, while Canada’s staff looks weaker on paper.
Batter to Watch:
Ariel Martínez – A native of Matanzas and current Nippon-Ham Fighter, Martínez has been impressive internationally across six seasons in NPB. Martínez has played 448 games, batting .248 with 41 homers, 75 RBI and a .742 slugging percentage. His 2023 WBC appearance was hardly in line with past success, and he didn’t contribute much to Cuba’s run to the semifinals. That gives him an opportunity to pick up the slack likely to come from the aging veterans’ reduced production. He may just be a key element to another successful Cuban WBC team.
Pitcher to Watch:
Liván Moinelo – I already discussed the remarkable talent Moinelo represents for the national team, but I continue to believe he might be the most electric arm on this pitching staff. He already pitched well in the 2023 and 2017 Classics, with a 1.23 ERA in 7.1 innings pitched. I expect him to see more action than he has in previous classics, especially given the three seasons he’s pitched in the intervening years.