World Baseball Classic 2026 Scores, Reaction from Wednesday Pool Play Results Ahead of KO Bracket

The 2026 World Baseball Classic kicked off on Wednesday with two games in Pool C.

Australia earned the first win of the tournament by defeating Chinese Taipei at the Tokyo Dome.

Here are the updated standings and results after the first day of action.

Pool C Standings (Run Differential)

1. South Korea: 1-0 (+7)
2. Australia: 1-0 (+3)
3. Japan: 0-0
4. Chinese Taipei: 0-1 (-3)
5. Czech Republic: 0-1 (-7)

South Korea 11, Czechia 4

South Korea's offense overpowered Czechia en route to an impressive 11-4 win in the WBC opener for both teams.

Shay Whitcomb led the offensive onslaught for the Korean team with two homers and three RBI. The Houston Astros prospect joins Ken Griffey Jr. and Trea Turner among the players in WBC history with a multi-homer game.

Moon Bo-gyeong got he scoring started for South Korea with a grand slam in the first inning off Daniel Padysak. Jahmai Jones capped off the scoring barrage with a solo blast in the bottom of the eighth.

This marked South Korea's first WBC game with at least three homers since 2009. That was also the year the country had its best finish in the tournament, losing to Japan in the championship game.

On the mound, South Korea had seven pitchers combine for 12 strikeouts in the win. Hyeong Jun So got the start and allowed no runs over three innings.

Czechia will have a short turnaround time as it looks to rebound against Australia on Thursday night at 10 p.m. ET. South Korea will have two days off before taking on Japan at 5 a.m. ET.

Australia 3, Chinese Taipei 0

Dominant pitching was the story of Australia's victory over Chinese Taipei. Three pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout. Alex Wells got things started with six strikeouts over three hitless innings.

Jack O'Laughlin and Jon Kennedy followed Wells with three scoreless innings of their own.

The Australian offense didn't string together a lot of hits against Chinese Taipei's pitching, but they made the most of the ones they did get. Robbie Perkins got the scoring started with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth.

Travis Bazzana, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB draft by the Cleveland Guardians, put the exclamation point on the game with a solo home run in the seventh. He finished 2-for-4 overall at the plate in his first WBC game.

"The two things I thought about most growing up was playing in the WBC—thinking about the Tokyo Dome because we always come here—and obviously playing in the World Series in MLB," Bazzana told reporters after the game. "It's special."

On top of the loss, Chinese Taipei will also be missing a significant part of its lineup for the remainder of the tournament. Team captain Chieh-Hsien Chen left the game in the top of the sixth after being hit by a pitch on his hand.

There has been no official update on Chen's status at this point. The 32-year-old is making his second appearance in the WBC after hitting .357/.438/.643 in four games during the 2023 tournament.

Australia will be back in action on Thursday night against Czechia at 10 p.m. ET. Chinese Taipei will look to rebound against defending champion Japan on Friday morning at 5 a.m. ET.