Chase Field to Host World Baseball Classic Games

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February 6, 2023

Chase Field to Host WBC Games

Chase Field to is set to host World Baseball Classic games from March 11-15, 2023. Phoenix, Arizona is one of four host cities. This makes a lot of sense since this tournament overlaps spring training, and Arizona’s Cactus League. Taichung City, Taiwan and Tokyo, Japan are the international host cities.

The Miami Marlins‘ home park, LoanDepot in Miami, Florida, is the other U.S city hosting. It becomes the first venue in the tournament’s history to host games in all three rounds of the WBC within the same year. They’re hosting Pool D teams in the early round. Pools C and D winners will meet there for the quarter finals. The park then hosts semi-final, and final games.

Teams at Chase Field

Pool C teams, which includes the defending WBC Champion Team USA, will be playing at Chase Field. The other teams playing at the Arizona Diamondbacks‘ ballpark are Team Canada, Team Mexico, and Team Colombia. The final team in Pool C is Great Britain, who qualified for the first time with a walk-off, come-from-behind victory over Spain last September.

Rescheduled

The WBC tournament begins in early March at the four host sites. It returns for the first time since 2017. The previous event, 2021, had to be rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The collective bargaining agreement expired in 2021, and rescheduling the event was up for negotiation under the latest agreement.

Five Timers Club

For the first time the tournament expands to 20 teams. Phoenix and Chase Field are no strangers to this epic event. They have hosted the first-round games twice before, in 2006 and again in 2013. It is the fifth time that Chase Field will be a host venue for the WBC.

Exhibition Games in Arizona

Before the games begin on March 8, the 20 teams will play exhibition games against major league teams at selected spring training facilities. In Arizona, exhibition games begin Wednesday, March 8 with the Cleveland Guardians vs. Mexico (1:05 p.m. MST at Goodyear). The Oakland A’s will be taking on Colombia (1:05 p.m. MST at Mesa). The Chicago Cubs will face Canada (1:05 p.m. MST at Mesa). The Milwaukee Brewers will play Great Britain (1:10 p.m. MST at Phoenix). There is also one night game. That will be the San Francisco Giants against Team USA (7:05 p.m. MST at Scottsdale).

Exhibition games on Thursday March 9, has the Chicago White Sox against Colombia (1:05 p.m. MST at Glendale), and the Kansas City Royals against Great Britain (1:05 p.m. MST at Surprise). The Los Angeles Angels against USA (1:10 p.m. MST at Tempe). The Colorado Rockies will play Mexico (1:10 p.m. MST at Scottsdale). And the Seattle Mariners will play Canada (1:10 p.m. MST at Peoria).

The tournament begins, Saturday, March 11, Chase Field will host two games per day, one-day game and one night game. You can view the full schedule for all Pool C games here.

Team USA

Team USA might have one of the best teams they have ever put together for this baseball classic. It includes superstars such as Pete Alonso, Tim Anderson, Bobby Witt Jr, and Mike Trout. For pitching, there is Clayton Kershaw, Miles Mikolas, and the Arizona Diamondbacks’ own Merrill Kelly. Plus, there are many more MLB superstars to watch, and cheer for as they vie for the title.

TV and Radio Coverage

FOX Sports is the exclusive TV broadcast home of the 2023 WBC. The 47-games will be shown live across FOX, FS1, FS2, FOX Deportes, and Tubi from March 8-21, 2023. Radio broadcasting will depend on the stations available in your area. The WBC will likely be featured on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM.

Worldwide Event

Chase Field will host World Baseball Classic games in this world-wide event. The tournament is modeled after the World Cup Tournament (soccer). It will never be as big as the World Cup in attendance, worldwide interest and viewership, etc. However, the WBC serves as an excellent opportunity for international fans to see MLB players, and American baseball fans get to learn how popular their home-grown sport has become worldwide. Watching the WBC makes American fans appreciate that we are not the only nation that loves the game of baseball.