The defending champs and the most talented baseball player on the planet make for a dangerous combination. On Friday night, Samurai Japan began its World Baseball Classic title defense, taking on a Chinese Taipei team that upset it in the 2024 Premier12 tournament.

Ondrej Satoria is back for one last ride. The electrical controller-turned-pitcher for the Czech Republic pitched 3.2 scoreless innings against Australia for his homeland in his return to the World Baseball Classic.

Japan and Australia both came into Sunday’s World Baseball Classic matchup with 2-0 records. Japan had already advanced out of Pool C into the knockout round while Australia needed a win over the Japanese or Korea on Monday to advance.

Dodgers star homers and the Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki goes deep twice in an 8-6 pool-play victory over South Korea; Dodgers’ Hyeseong Kim hits a home run in the loss.

Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and Princess Aiko arrived at the Tokyo Dome for Japan’s critical game against Australia and the World Baseball Classic

Yoshinobu Yamamoto takes the mound as Japan faces Chinese Taipei in the 2026 World Baseball Classic at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.

Team Japan stars like Shohei Ohtani, Masataka Yoshida, and Seiya Suzuki are making noise in the World Baseball Classic while boosting their fantasy baseball outlook for 2026.