The Houston Astros have been off to a tough start in the 2025 season, despite having quite a bit of young talent to build around. They also are likely starting to think ahead to the World Baseball Classic which will take place again in 2026, as the Astros had quite a few players in attendance on various rosters.
In fact, they had 14 players selected for the 2023 event, including six for the Dominican Republic team, two for the United States, two for Venezuela, and one for Mexico and Puerto Rico each.
This event brings in an enormous amount of money to the cities it takes place in, and in 2026, Houston will be one of the primary areas utilized for the games.
With how successful it was in 2023 in terms of viewership and attendance, Daikin Park is in for a treat come next year, as they will be hosting the Pool B group of teams. This is a substantial group as well, with Mexico, the United States, Italy, Brazil, and Great Britain being the five teams included.
In a recent press release, the Astros put up the schedule for Pool B, which includes eight games they will play host to at Daikin Park. This includes two games a day from March 6 to March 9, and then one a day on March 10 and 11.
Alongside those ten games, they will also host two more in the second round, which will take place on March 13 and 14. In total this is a dozen matchups for fans in the area and from abroad to watch, and a substantial amount of income for the stadium which only recently changed its naming rights.
Taking a look back at which players made the World Baseball Classic roster in 2023, only some still remain on the team so far in 2025. The Astros who are still with the club are Bryan Abreu, Ronel Blanco, Cristian Javier, Jeremy Peña, Jose Altuve, and Colton Gordon.
As for those who are no longer with Houston, that group includes Rafael Montero, Héctor Neris, Ryan Pressly, Kyle Tucker, Luis Garcia, José Urquidy, Martín Maldonado, and Derek West.
Losing out on more than half of their 2023 group is tough, but some of the players were ultimately unlikely to make it for 2026 in terms of talent level. With lots of young talent and quality pitchers building their way up this season, they will likely find plenty of talent to send to the event, and represent them when the games come to down next spring.
