Twenty national teams have made at least one appearance in the World Baseball Classic. The 2006 and 2009 tournaments each had the same 16–team field, chosen by invitation. Beginning with the 2013 tournament, the four last-place teams from the previous tournament's first round each contested a qualifying round against three new teams. The outcome of this process has been that 14 of the original 16 teams have continued to appear in every tournament. In 2013, Canada and Chinese Taipei re-qualified while Panama and South Africa were respectively replaced by Brazil and Spain. In 2017, Australia and Mexico re-qualified while Brazil and Spain were respectively replaced by Israel and Colombia.
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The two teams to have won the tournament are Japan (2006, 2009) and the Dominican Republic (2013). A third team will be assured of its first title in 2017, with Puerto Rico facing the United States in the final. Other teams to have reached the championship game are Cuba and South Korea. Other teams to have reached the semifinals are the Netherlands and Venezuela. Other teams to have reached the second round are Israel, Italy, Mexico, and Chinese Taipei. Since qualifiers were introduced, only two debut teams have been assured to participate in the forthcoming tournament: Israel and Colombia.
Comprehensive team results by tournament
Number of appearances
The 2006 and 2009 tournaments each had the same 16–team field, chosen by invitation. Starting with the 2013 tournament, the top 12 teams from the previous tournament qualified automatically and a qualifying round has been used to determine the remaining 4 teams.
All–time win–loss records
Combined results including 2017 current tournament, excluding qualification games.