For the first time in 2023 the World Baseball Classic will be expanding to 20 teams. All 16 teams from the 2017 games have automatic bids and Panama, Czech Republic, Great Britain, and Nicaragua claimed the final 4 spots. There are 5 teams in each of the 4 pools that will compete in round robin tournaments between March 8th and March 15th. The 2 top teams from each pool advance to the quarterfinals which are single elimination games held between March 15th and March 18th. On March 19th and 20th will be the semi-final games followed by the championship game on March 21st.