The World Baseball Classic or WBC 2023 will finally host its final game featuring defending champions Team USA vs Japan, check out a brief preview of the match, schedule, date, time and how to watch live.
Team USA will be looking for a back-to-back trophy win against the two-time winner Japan.
USA vs Japan World Baseball Classic (WBC) 2023 final game today schedule, date, time, location, prize money, live stream telecast
Will Team USA repeat or will Team Japan go undefeated for its 3rd #WorldBaseballClassic title?
Find out Tuesday night at 7 PM ET on @FS1! pic.twitter.com/NkzfX0BShk
— MLB (@MLB) March 21, 2023
Team Japan remains undefeated in the 2023 #WorldBaseballClassic! pic.twitter.com/Jb486WdPks
— World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) March 21, 2023
USA have previously won the 2017 championship and would join Japan (2006 and 2009) as the only consecutive tournament winners if they manage to win this year’s title.
World Baseball Classic WBC 2023 final USA v Japan preview
The defending champion United States qualified for the finals following a 14–2 thrashing of Cuba. USA’s Trea Turner continued his hot streak scoring two home runs during the semi-final against Cuba. For the upcoming match, Merrill Kelly of the Arizona Diamondbacks will likely start the final for Team USA. Kelly could first go up against two-way star Ohtani Shohei. MLB pitcher Darvish Yu is also expected to start.
Based on the schedule, Team USA have a slight advantage of an extra day’s rest Japan played their semi-final on Monday night. Team USA also holds the WBC upper hand with a 2–1 overall record over Team Japan. However, Japan won in the last time the two national teams met back in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 final.
World Baseball Classic WBC 2023 final date and time
The final match of the World Baseball Classic WBC 2023 will take place on on Tuesday, March 21. The first pitch is set for 7pm Eastern time, which correlates to 4pm Pacific time, and 8am Japanese time on Wednesday, March 22.
World Baseball Classic WBC 2023 final
The USA vs Japan final championship game will take place at the LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida.
Team Japan have the advantage of the home team designation, which gives teams the advantage of batting in the bottom half of each inning. Japan won the advantage following their unbeaten record in the tournament, while the Americans are close behind with one defeat.
World Baseball Classic WBC 2023 final prize
The final prize for the winner includes the World Baseball Classic trophy, and the right to be called national team world champions. It also comes with a 1$million cash prize besides the other cash rewards for clearing each stage.
How to watch World Baseball Classic championship game live
In the United States, the championship game will be telecast from 7pm Eastern (4pm Pacific) on FOX Sports 1. Spanish-language coverage is available on Fox Deportes. Online streaming is available through the FOX Sports app. Radio commentary is available on SiriusXM and TuneIn on the MLB Network Radio station.
In Japan, the WBC is broadcast on TV Asahi and TBS, as well as streaming on J SPORTS.
Audio commentary in English, taken from the MLB Network Radio feed, will also be available worldwide on mlb.com and worldbaseballclassic.com.
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