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The 2031 World Baseball Championship was the 85^th edition of the event and was hosted in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. It also featured the first format change since 2021 and had the largest change since the 1950s. Baseball had continued to grow in popularity exponentially through the 2020s, leading to another expansion of teams in the WBC. For the prior decade, 96 teams participated spread out across eight divisions.

For 2031, this grew to 112 teams, meaning each division would have 14 teams. The divisional round continued to be a round robin, but the expansion meant each team now would play 13 games instead of the previous 11. Since 1956, only the division champion advanced to the next round. The expansion doubled the playoff field to 16, allowing for both the first and second place divisional finishers to advance.

The next phase remained four-team double round robins, although now split into four groups. The top two teams from each group advanced to a best-of-three quarterfinal, followed by a best-of-five semifinal and the best-of-seven World Championship. Overall though, many smaller nations were excited at the chance to participate more regularly and more games generally meant more money as well.



Division 1 had an intense three-way tie for first at 11-2 between Canada, Ecuador, and Moldova. By the tiebreakers, the Canadians finished first and the Moldovans second, leaving the Ecuadorans out of the group stage. Canada advanced for the 42^nd time in WBC history, although they hadn’t done it since their 2023 world title. Moldova became the 87^th unique nation to earn a playoff spot. The small Eastern European nation hadn’t been a regular participant until the 2021 expansion. England was a competitive fourth in D1 at 9-4. Algeria, last year’s surprise world champ, was a non-factor at 6-7.

Last year’s runner-up the United States rolled the Division 2 field at 12-1. The Americans have moved forward in 63 of the 85 WBCs thus far. There was a three-way tie for second at 9-4 with Panama advancing on a tiebreaker over both France and Belgium. It was only the fifth time the Panamanians had advanced, last doing it back in 2009.

The Czech Republic and China both advanced out of Division 3 at 10-3 with the Czechs taking first on the head-to-head. Wales was a close third at 9-4 with Scotland, Bangladesh, and Burkina Faso each in the mix at 8-5. The Chinese ended an eight-year drought and advanced for the 28^th time. The Czechs earned repeat trips for the first time, picking up their seventh division crown overall.

Division 4 was very competitive with Poland and Japan prevailing at 9-4. Kenya, Malaysia, and Spain each were 8-5 while Myanmar, Nigeria, and Portugal all went 7-6. The Poles took first on the tiebreaker for their 11^th playoff trip and first since the 2028 runner-up finish. The Japanese secured their third playoff trip in five years and their 23^rd overall.

A top-heavy Division 5 had India and Vietnam dominate the field both at 12-1. Honduras was a distant third place at 9-4. The Indians took first on the tiebreaker for their 12^th division title. India remained strong with their third playoff trip in four years, having finished third overall in 2030 and fourth in 2028. It was the fifth playoff trip for the Vietnamese and their third in six years.

D6 had a three-way tie with Haiti, the Netherlands, and Germany each at 9-4. The Haitians took first on the tiebreakers with the Dutch second, leaving last year’s fourth place finisher Germany on the outside. Somalia and Venezuela were also close behind at 8-5 while Mexico and Turkey were 7-6. It was Haiti’s fifth division title, ending a drought all the way back to 1988. The Dutch moved forward for the ninth time and ended their own sizeable drought dating back to 2012.

South Korea and Romania took top honors in Division 7 at 10-3 with first place going to the Koreans. Bolivia and Russia were the next closest competitors at 8-5. South Korea earned its 20^th division title, but surprisingly hadn’t done it since 2004. The Romanians advanced for the second time in three years and seventh time overall.

Lastly in Division 8, Indonesia led the way at 11-2 for a 28^th division title and their third in four years. Brazil and Peru both went 9-4 with the Brazilians advancing on the tiebreaker, while Iraq was next at 8-5. The Brazilians ended a rare five-year drought, moving forward for the 36^th time. That is the third most behind the US (63) and Canada (42). Brazil was tied with Mexico entering the 2031 event.

Group A had a three-way tie at the top with Brazil, Canada, and Poland each at 4-2, while Panama was ousted at 0-6. The tiebreakers sent the Brazilians and Canadians forward to the new quarterfinal round. In Group B, India and Romania prevailed at 4-2 over the Netherlands at 3-3 and Czechia at 1-5.

In Group C, China took top billing at 5-1. South Korea and Vietnam were both 3-3 with the tiebreaker favoring the Koreans, while Haiti was 1-5. And in Group D, the United States rolled at 5-1 and advanced with 3-3 Japan. Both Indonesia and Moldova were 2-4.

The quarterfinals saw two sweeps with Japan over China and the US over South Korea. The other two matchups needed all three games with India edging Canada 2-1 and Brazil over Romania 2-1. The Indians earned their third trip to the final four in four years, while it was the second in three years for the Japanese. The Koreans hadn’t been a semifinalist since their fourth place finish in 2004, although it was their 12^th time making it that far. The Americans grabbed their 55^th semifinal trip, Japan its 13^th, and India its 7^th.

The United States swept Japan 3-0 in the semifinal to earn repeat finals trips and a 51^st shot at the world title. Brazil edged India 3-2 in a classic on the other side, sending them to their 10^th finale and first since the 2025 runner-up finish. The Indians officially were third for back-to-back seasons and Japan was fourth for the third time.



The 85^th World Championship was not the first time the Americans and Brazilians had met for the title. The US was victorious in their 1966, 1976, and 1984 encounters. 2031 had the same end result as the United States swept Brazil, making the US 42-9 all-time in the final. Despite having won nearly half of the world titles, the Americans hadn’t taken the top spot in a decade. Prior to that, the US hadn’t gone longer than three years without a championship.

It did also continue the general parity for the top spot, as there have been 11 different world champs since the Americans’ 2020 title. With the defeat, Brazil was now 4-6 in their finals appearances. With the expanded field and more games, the US did set new event records for hits (272) and home runs (105). Their 202 runs scored fell just short of the top mark of 204 by the Americans way back in 1952.



Records were also shattered by Tournament MVP Thomas Rich, the reigning National Association MVP with Indianapolis. The 32-year old first baseman set new WBC records for runs (39), total bases (126), home runs (26), and WAR by a position player (4.42); marks that all still hold as of 2037.

Rich beat the previous records by large margins also with the previous highs being 35 runs (Morgan Short, 2008), 108 total bases (Connor Neumeyer, 1972), 20 home runs (Neumeyer), and 3.49 WAR (Ezekiel Thomas, 2008). It was the second-best WAR mark by any player, still behind Nick Hedrick’s incredible 4.66 on the mound back in 1957.

In 26 games, Rich also had 42 RBI, 4 doubles, 15 walks, a .407/.492/1.167 slash, 1.659 OPS, and 349 wRC+. His RBI mark was the second-best behind Thomas’s 46 in 2008. Rich remarkably had three different games with three homers. Prior to that, only Russia’s Grigori Ovsianikov had posted three such games in a WBC career.

Best Pitcher went to Zimbabwe’s John Ziocha, the two-time defending National Association Pitcher of the Year for Wichita. In 20 innings, the 24-year old lefty had a 0.45 ERA with 8 hits, 3 runs (one earned), 28 strikeouts, 5 walks, 1-1 record, and 1.2 WAR. It was one of the last hurrahs for the young phenom, as Ziocha would be plagued by severe shoulder inflammation in the next few years.

Other notes: In part due to the extra games, Brazil’s Octavio Furtado set a new event record with 50 hits allowed. 2031 had two no-hitters, the first coming from Cameroon’s Vinny Nga against Chile on January 11 with 18 strikeouts and one walk. Three days later, Russia’s Oleh Kravets did it with 15 Ks and one walk facing Mauritania.

Brazil’s Alonzo Porfirio hit for the cycle on January 29 against Romania, becoming the 21^st player to do so. Canada’s Mark Johnston smacked four home runs on 1/23 against Panama, the 14^th such game in WBC history. Carrying over from the prior year, Chile’s Will Arocha had a 20-game hitting streak. It was only the 11^th hitting streak of 20+ games in WBC history.

Below are the updated all-time event stats. Brazil passed Mexico outright for the third-most points after entering the year tied.