The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is generally held every four years , though in practice the gap has sometimes been three to four years depending on scheduling and disruptions like the pandemic.

Basic schedule pattern

  • First held in 2006 , then 2009 , 2013 , 2017 , and 2023.
  • The next edition is set for 2026 , making it a three‑year gap after 2023, the first such short cycle since the early tournaments.

How often it actually plays

  • Officially, organizers aim for a quadrennial (every‑four‑years) cycle , similar to the Olympics or FIFA World Cup.
  • The 2021 tournament was skipped due to the COVID‑19 pandemic, which compressed the interval between 2017–2023 and now 2023–2026.

Tournament frequency at a glance

Tournament Year Years since prior WBC
1st WBC 2006 —
2nd WBC 2009 3 years
3rd WBC 2013 4 years
4th WBC 2017 4 years
5th WBC 2023 6 years (2021 skipped)
6th WBC (next) 2026 3 years
In short: **the WBC is planned every four years** , but recent disruptions mean fans may see it as often as **every three years** in some cycles.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.