Nicaragua and Chinese Taipei are headed back to the World Baseball Classic! Nicaragua defeated the hosts, 6-0, to close out round-robin play on Sunday as the undefeated pool winner, while Chinese Taipei -- playing in front of sold out crowds at the Taipei Dome -- defeated Spain, 6-3, on Tuesday to advance as the second-place team.

It will be the second time that Nicaragua has qualified for the World Baseball Classic after first accomplishing the feat at the 2022 Qualifiers in Panama. Chinese Taipei has participated in every Classic tournament since it began in 2006.

It was a shock that Chinese Taipei was even playing in Tuesday’s second-place final. Ranked No. 2 in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, many considered the team to be the strongest at the Qualifier -- especially coming off its first gold medal at the Premier12 in November. It would have been one of the biggest upsets in WBC history had Chinese Taipei failed to qualify, especially after hosting this week’s tournament.

Playing the role of the underdog cardiac kids, Nicaragua pulled off back-to-back, 10-inning, walk-off, 2-1 victories against South Africa and Spain to put itself in great position entering Sunday’s contest against Chinese Taipei. Knowing it would advance as the pool winners as long as it allowed fewer than six runs, Nicaragua didn’t leave anything to chance.

Brandon Leyton led the offense, going 6-for-13 over the three games, but it was really the pitching staff that paved the way for Nicaragua’s success. The veteran group led by Ronald Medrano (5 IP, 8 K vs. South Africa) surrendered just two runs on 16 hits -- both tournament bests -- in 29 innings of work.

It'll hopefully find more offense by next year’s Classic, though: Nicaragua scored just one run in each of its contests in 2023, going 0-4 in group play. At the Taipei Qualifier, batters posted just a .612 OPS.

With Chinese Taipei and Nicaragua now in the fold, we know the first 18 teams that will play in 2026. The final two entrants for the 2026 Classic will be determined at the Qualifier tournament in Tucson, Ariz., which will begin on Sunday. Brazil, China, Colombia and Germany will vie for the final two spots.