They play the World Baseball Classic about every four years, similar to the World Cup in soccer.

From its start, the tournament has not been perfectly regular: it was held in 2006, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2023, and now again in 2026. After the 2009 edition, the organizers’ plan was to make it a recurring event on a four‑year cycle, which is why you usually see it described as a quadrennial tournament.