Michael Clair
Manny Randhawa
Nicaragua has earned a berth in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, with a 6-0 victory over Chinese Taipei on Sunday morning capping a 3-0 run through the Classic Qualifier in Taiwan. They join 16 teams that had already secured their places in the Classic next spring.
Three other spots are still up for grabs, with the next one getting decided in a winner-moves-on showdown between Chinese Taipei and Spain on Tuesday morning at 6 ET. (The other qualifier taking place in Tucson, Ariz., will begin on March 2.)
World Baseball Classic Qualifiers
Where to watch:
Every game is available to be streamed on WorldBaseballClassic.com, the World Baseball Classic YouTube and Facebook pages, and on MLB.TV.
Nicaragua 6, Chinese Taipei 0
It all began with an error. Nicaragua’s mustachioed outfielder Juan Montes started the game by hitting a sharp grounder to Chinese Taipei's Yu Chang, a Major League veteran, at shortstop. Chang bobbled the ball and Montes found himself on first base with no one out.
That play would prove critical: Second baseman Brandon Leyton, on fire at these Qualifiers, followed with an RBI double to give Nicaragua the lead. Center fielder Chase Dawson, who impressed in independent ball last season, followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0 – a lead that Nicaragua would never give up, tacking on three runs in the ninth en route to the victory.
Chinese Taipei’s best chance came in the fourth inning, when they loaded the bases with one out. Nicaragua then brought in veteran pitcher Osman Gutierrez, who had pitched nine shutout innings in the 2022 Qualifiers that sent Nicaragua to its first ever World Baseball Classic. Gutierrez retired the next two batters to end the frame.
Few had expected Nicaragua to win the pool — especially with Chinese Taipei coming off their first gold medal at the Premier12 and playing host inside the new Taipei Dome. But Nicaragua’s pitching staff shut down the opposition, allowing just a pair of runs in 3 games.
Chinese Taipei and Spain will now face off in a rematch on Tuesday to determine which team will take second place and advance to the Classic. Spain upset Chinese Taipei, 12-5, on Friday, but they have reason to be wary. At the 2022 Qualifiers in Regensburg, Spain had two chances to advance. But losses to Great Britain and Czechia left Spain on the outside looking in — a result they’ll try to avoid on Tuesday.
Spain 9, South Africa 1
In a dominant all-around performance, Spain improved to 2-1 in the Classic Qualifiers tournament and sent South Africa (0-3) to elimination.
The starting pitcher for Spain, right-hander Pablo Guillen, was brilliant over six innings, yielding just one unearned run on two hits while walking two and striking out eight on 81 pitches. He then gave way to reliever Fernando Baez, who tossed two perfect innings to get the ball to Jorge Balboa, who closed the game out with a 1-2-3 ninth.
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At the plate, Rusber Estrada led the way with a two-hit game that included a two-run homer in the third inning. Jesus Ustariz also went deep, launching a solo homer in the fifth. Frank Hernandez went 3-for-3 and drove in a run, and Edison Valerio went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.
Spain tacked on four more runs for good measure in the eighth inning and with the victory, kept its quest to reach the 2026 World Baseball Classic alive.
Chinese Taipei 9, South Africa 1
After being stunned in a 12-5 loss to Spain in its first game of the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, Chinese Taipei entered Saturday’s game against South Africa needing a win to keep its hopes of advancing afloat.
Playing in front of a sold-out and raucous crowd at the Taipei Dome, the hosts took care of business in a 9-1 victory.
After getting runners into scoring position in each of the first two innings, Chinese Taipei broke through against South Africa in the third inning as team captain Chieh-Hsien Chen walked and former MLB shortstop Yu Chang doubled. Both came around to score to break the deadlock.
From there, Chinese Taipei slowly kept adding to the lead — adding two more in the fourth, another in the sixth on an inside-the-park home run from speedy young outfielder Cheng-Jui Sung, and another two runs in the seventh. Backup third baseman Tsung-Hsien Lee added an exclamation mark with a two-run shot in the 9th inning.
A’s prospect Tzu-Chen Sha started the game, pitching 2 2/3 shutout innings before being lifted with an injury, and Pirates Double-A prospect Po-Yu Chen was impressive with three shutout innings in relief.
Nicaragua 2, Spain 1 (10)
For the second consecutive day, Nicaragua celebrated an extra-inning walk-off win in the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, improving to 2-0 in the tournament thanks to a Benjamin Alegria single to center field in the 10th inning to beat Spain at the Taipei Dome.
With the bases loaded and one out, Alegria lined a 2-2 pitch from reliever Rhiner Cruz over center fielder Engel Beltre, who leaped but couldn’t reach the drive.
Much like in Nicaragua’s 2-1 win in the tournament opener, pitching ruled the day, with just a solo home run from each side accounting for all the scoring through nine innings — Brandon Leyton launched one in the bottom of the first inning for Nicaragua, and Spain’s Carlos Colmenarez delivered an equalizer in the third.
But Nicaragua’s pitching staff and defensive prowess held Spain scoreless the rest of the way. There were several tremendous plays on both sides, but Nicaragua’s defense shined the brightest, particularly in the sixth inning.
That’s when shortstop Freddy Zamora made a sliding back-handed grab of a sharp ground ball in the hole between short and third before making a long throw to rob Wander Encarnacion of a hit. Later in the frame, Chase Dawson made an incredible leaping catch before slamming into the center-field wall to steal extra bases from Rusber Estrada.
Another defensive highlight for Nicaragua came in the top of the ninth inning, and this one proved to be a huge play to preserve the 1-1 tie. Spain loaded the bases with one out, and Beltre hit a sharp ground ball toward the hole between first and second base. Leyton moved to his left to spear it, turned and threw to second to begin an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
Spain 12, Chinese Taipei 5
Spain entered a packed and raucous Taipei Dome, the new stadium filled with fans hungry to see the Chinese Taipei team, which had become stars following its Premier12 gold medal in November.
The visitors quickly silenced the crowd as Spain won in a shocking 12-5 blowout — Chinese Taipei narrowly avoiding a mercy-rule defeat before tacking on a few meaningless runs in the ninth inning.
Spain got it started early: They scored two runs in the first inning, added two more in the third and broke it open with six runs in the fifth, when the Chinese Taipei pitchers couldn’t find the strike zone. That inning, Spain drew two walks and two hit batsmen en route to the crooked number. Wander Encarnacion, the 2023 European Championship MVP, and Jesus Ustariz led the way with three hits apiece in the middle of the order.
Catcher Gabriel Lino put the finishing touches on the scoring with a two-run home run in the sixth inning to push the lead to double digits.
"It was really exciting to play here, in front of 40,000 people and to win against a team like Chinese Taipei," Lino said after the game. "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."
Yu Chang, named to the All-WBC team in 2023, hit a two-run home run in one of the few bright spots for Chinese Taipei, while A’s 19-year-old pitching prospect Wei-En Lin, signed for $1.35 million last year, looked sharp in one inning of relief.
It was a big win for Spain, which is looking to return to the World Baseball Classic for the first time since its lone appearance in 2013. The favorites in the 2022 Qualifiers in Regensburg, the team had two chances to advance before upset losses to Great Britain and Czechia had it on the outside looking in.
Nicaragua 2, South Africa 1 (10)
The opening game of the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers was a thriller, and even involved some ingenious trickery.
In a well-pitched contest that featured a combined 10 hits, Nicaragua emerged victorious on a walk-off single to right field by Ronald Rivera in the bottom of the 10th inning.
The frame opened with an automatic runner at second base, Emanuel Trujillo. Trujillo moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Elian Rayo, and following an intentional walk to Freddy Zamora, Rivera delivered the game-winning hit.
Aside from the walk-off single, the lasting highlight from this game will be the successful execution of the hidden ball trick by South Africa in the seventh inning. That's when Zamora's RBI single tied the game, 1-1, and Zamora eventually moved to third following a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly.
But after the sac fly, when the ball went to South African third baseman Anthony Phillips, Phillips walked toward pitcher Justin Erasmus and acted as though he was placing the ball into Erasmus' glove. Erasmus then walked back toward the mound while Phillips — who had actually held onto the ball — went back to his position at third.
As soon as Zamora took his lead off third base, Phillips ran over and tagged him. While the play was initially ruled a balk, upon replay review, the call was overturned and Zamora was called out. The hidden ball trick had preserved the tie into the eighth inning.
But in the end, despite falling victim to the unorthodox move, Nicaragua edged South Africa to put itself in the win column on Day 1 of the tournament.
We’ll be breaking down the action in every Qualifier game here, so check back every day for updates from Taiwan. And for more information on the teams taking part and the players to keep an eye on, click here.
Tuesday
Game 7: Spain vs. Chinese Taipei, 6 a.m.
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