# 2023 World Baseball Classic qualification

The qualifying round of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, officially callled The World Baseball Classic 2022 Qualifiers was held from 16 September 2022 to 5 October 2022. Teams which participated at the 2017 World Baseball Classic automatically qualified for the 2023 tournament. The qualifying round consisted of two tournaments to be participated by six teams each. The qualifiers were planned to be hosted in Tucson, Arizona in the United States but after the delay, the qualifier hosts were changed to the cities of Regensburg, Germany at Armin-Wolf-Arena and Panamá City, Panama at Estadio Rod Carew. Winners and runners-up of each of the two tournaments qualified for the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
The first qualifying tournament was originally scheduled to be held from March 13–18, 2020 and the second from March 20–25, 2020, before the qualifiers' postponement was announced on March 12, 2020, by Major League Baseball due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In resolving the 2021–22 Major League Baseball lockout, Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association agreed that the World Baseball Classic would return in 2023 and that qualifiers would begin in September 2022.

## Qualified teams

Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate positions in the WBSC World Rankings as of December 31, 2021.
| Team | World ranking | Method of qualification | Classic appearance | Previous best position |
| Australia | 10th | 2017 World Baseball Classic | 5th | Round 1 |
| Canada | 12th | 2017 World Baseball Classic | 5th | Round 1 |
| China | 21st | 2017 World Baseball Classic | 5th | Round 1 |
| Chinese Taipei | 2nd | 2017 World Baseball Classic | 5th | Round 2 (2013) |
| Colombia | 11th | 2017 World Baseball Classic | 2nd | Round 1 |
| Cuba | 9th | 2017 World Baseball Classic | 5th | Runners-up (2006) |
| Dominican Republic | 7th | 2017 World Baseball Classic | 5th | Champions (2013) |
| Italy | 17th | 2017 World Baseball Classic | 5th | Round 2 (2013) |
| Israel | 20th | 2017 World Baseball Classic | 2nd | Round 2 (2017) |
| Japan | 1st | 2017 World Baseball Classic | 5th | Champions (2006, 2009) |
| Mexico | 4th | 2017 World Baseball Classic | 5th | Round 2 (2006, 2009) |
| Netherlands | 8th | 2017 World Baseball Classic | 5th | Fourth place (2013, 2017) |
| Puerto Rico | 16th | 2017 World Baseball Classic | 5th | Runners-up (2013, 2017) |
| South Korea | 3rd | 2017 World Baseball Classic | 5th | Runners-up (2009) |
| United States | 5th | 2017 World Baseball Classic | 5th | Champions (2017) |
| Venezuela | 6th | 2017 World Baseball Classic | 5th | Third place (2009) |
| Great Britain | 23rd | Qualifier 1 Winners | 1st | |
| Czech Republic | 14th | Qualifier 1 Runners-up | 1st | |
| Panama | 13th | Qualifier 2 Winners | 3rd | Round 1 |
| Nicaragua | 15th | Qualifier 2 Runners-up | 1st |

## Venues

| Pool A | Regensburg | Panama City | Pool B |
| Regensburg, Germany | Regensburg | Panama City | Panama City, Panama |
| Armin-Wolf-Arena | Regensburg | Panama City | Rod Carew Stadium |
| Capacity: 3,200 | Regensburg | Panama City | Capacity: 27,000 |

## Pools composition

Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate positions in the WBSC World Rankings as of July 2022.
| Pool A | Pool B |
| Germany (18) (hosts) | Panama (13) (hosts) |
| Czech Republic (14) | Nicaragua (15) |
| Spain (19) | Brazil (25) |
| France (22) | Argentina (27) |
| Great Britain (23) | Pakistan (31) |
| South Africa (26) | New Zealand (46) |
The format was double-elimination. Each pool contained six teams, two of which are given a bye to the second round. The highest ranked teams in the WBSC World Rankings (the Czech Republic and Germany in Pool A, and Panama and Nicaragua in Pool B) received the byes.
Four of the teams had previously participated in the main WBC tournament: Panama and South Africa in 2006 and 2009 (which were by invitation), and Brazil and Spain in 2013. All four had participated in all qualifying tournaments.
Argentina played in WBC qualifiers for the first time, replacing the Philippines, which appeared in previous qualifying tournaments held in 2012 and 2016. The other 11 teams had all previously participated in WBC qualifying. Two have previously won their qualifying group and qualified for the main tournament (Brazil, Spain), six have previously finished as high as second in their qualifying group (Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, South Africa), Two have previously finished as high as third in their qualifying group (Czech Republic, France), and one has previously finished last in its qualifying group (Pakistan).

## Qualifying round
### Pool A

| Opening Round | Opening Round | Opening Round | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Qualifier | Qualifier | Qualifier |
| | | | – | Czech Republic | 7 | | | |
| – | South Africa | 4 | W1 | Spain | 21 | | | |
| – | Spain | 5 | | | | W3 | Spain | 9 |
| | | | | | | W4 | Great Britain | 10 |
| | | | – | Germany | 1 | | | |
| – | Great Britain | 14 | W2 | Great Britain | 8 | | | |
| – | France | 4 | | | | | | |
| Lower round 1 | Lower round 1 | Lower round 1 | Lower round 2 | Lower round 2 | Lower round 2 | Lower final | Lower final | Lower final |
| L2 | France | 1 | | | | | | |
| L2 | France | 1 | | | | L8 | Spain | 1 |
| L3 | Czech Republic | 7 | | | | L8 | Spain | 1 |
| L3 | Czech Republic | 7 | W5 | Czech Republic | 8 | W7 | Czech Republic | 3 |
| | | | W6 | Germany | 4 | | | |
| L1 | South Africa | 5 | W6 | Germany | 4 | | | |
| L4 | Germany | 11 | | | | | | |
| Date | Local time | Road team | Score | Home team | Inn. | Venue | Game duration | Attendance | Boxscore |
| Sept. 16, 2022 | 13:00 | South Africa | 4–5 | Spain | | Armin-Wolf-Arena | 3:10 | 883 | Boxscore |
| Sept. 16, 2022 | 19:00 | Great Britain | 14–4 | France | 8 | Armin-Wolf-Arena | 3:49 | 897 | Boxscore |
| Sept. 17, 2022 | 13:00 | Spain | 21–7 | Czech Republic | 7 | Armin-Wolf-Arena | 3:05 | 1,725 | Boxscore |
| Sept. 17, 2022 | 19:00 | Great Britain | 8–1 | Germany | | Armin-Wolf-Arena | 3:28 | 2,216 | Boxscore |
| Sept. 18, 2022 | 13:00 | France | 1–7 | Czech Republic | | Armin-Wolf-Arena | 3:14 | 911 | Boxscore |
| Sept. 19, 2022 | 12:00 | South Africa | 5–11 | Germany | | Armin-Wolf-Arena | 3:11 | 920 | Boxscore |
| Sept. 20, 2022 | 13:00 | Germany | 4–8 | Czech Republic* | | Armin-Wolf-Arena | 3:00 | 1,102 | Boxscore |
| Sept. 20, 2022 | 19:00 | Spain | 9–10 | Great Britain* | 10 | Armin-Wolf-Arena | 4:15 | 1,186 | Boxscore |
| Sept. 21, 2022 | 19:00 | Czech Republic | 3–1 | Spain | | Armin-Wolf-Arena | 2:52 | 1,229 | Boxscore |
*Home team designation determined by coin toss.

### Pool B

| Opening Round | Opening Round | Opening Round | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Qualifier | Qualifier | Qualifier |
| | | | – | Nicaragua | 1 | | | |
| – | New Zealand | 7 | W1 | Brazil | 4 | | | |
| – | Brazil | 12 | | | | W3 | Brazil | 0 |
| | | | | | | W4 | Panama | 4 |
| | | | – | Panama | 11 | | | |
| – | Pakistan | 4 | W2 | Argentina | 0 | | | |
| – | Argentina | 7 | | | | | | |
| Lower round 1 | Lower round 1 | Lower round 1 | Lower round 2 | Lower round 2 | Lower round 2 | Lower final | Lower final | Lower final |
| L2 | Pakistan | 0 | | | | | | |
| L2 | Pakistan | 0 | | | | L8 | Brazil | 1 |
| L3 | Nicaragua | 12 | | | | L8 | Brazil | 1 |
| L3 | Nicaragua | 12 | W5 | Nicaragua | 6 | W7 | Nicaragua | 3 |
| | | | W6 | Argentina | 5 | | | |
| L1 | New Zealand | 1 | W6 | Argentina | 5 | | | |
| L4 | Argentina | 4 | | | | | | |
| Date | Local time | Road team | Score | Home team | Inn. | Venue | Game duration | Attendance | Boxscore |
| Sept. 30, 2022 | 12:00 | New Zealand | 7–12 | Brazil | | Estadio Nacional de Panamá | 3:17 | 105 | Boxscore |
| Sept. 30, 2022 | 19:00 | Pakistan | 4–7 | Argentina | | Estadio Nacional de Panamá | 3:33 | 466 | Boxscore |
| Oct. 1, 2022 | 12:00 | Brazil | 4–1 | Nicaragua | | Estadio Nacional de Panamá | 3:48 | 695 | Boxscore |
| Oct. 1, 2022 | 20:00 | Argentina | 0–11 | Panama | 7 | Estadio Nacional de Panamá | 2:24 | 5,314 | Boxscore |
| Oct. 2, 2022 | 12:00 | Pakistan | 0–12 | Nicaragua | 7 | Estadio Nacional de Panamá | 2:32 | 495 | Boxscore |
| Oct. 2, 2022 | 19:00 | New Zealand | 1–4 | Argentina | | Estadio Nacional de Panamá | 2:43 | 193 | Boxscore |
| Oct. 4, 2022 | 10:00 | Argentina | 5–6 | Nicaragua* | | Estadio Nacional de Panamá | 3:20 | 185 | Boxscore |
| Oct. 4, 2022 | 20:00 | Brazil | 0–4 | Panama* | | Estadio Nacional de Panamá | 3:09 | 6,789 | Boxscore |
| Oct. 5, 2022 | 19:00 | Nicaragua | 3–1 | Brazil | | Estadio Nacional de Panamá | 3:21 | 769 | Boxscore |
*Home team designation determined by coin toss.