The World Baseball Classic will feature 20 teams from 20 different nations attempting to assert their dominance on the international stage. Japan won the tournament last time around to secure bragging rights for a three-year period. Now, Shohei Ohtani and company will attempt to defend that title against a talent-rich field, including a star-studded Team USA and the not-so-dark horse Dominican Republic.

In addition to preparing for an awesome slate of baseball, this is a good time to judge the aesthetic value of each country’s uniforms. This is done entirely according to personal taste, as many of these uniforms are cut from the same cloth, literally and figuratively. But only one team can reign supreme, kind of like on the field.

Here are each country’s uniforms, home and away, for the 2026 World Baseball Classic:

20. Italy

A lot of these uniforms are basically the same, so let’s start there. You will find the differences in apparel between Italy, Israel, Nicaragua and Puerto Rico almost negligible. But what’s the deal here, specifically? The Italian flag is iconic in its simplicity: the vertical color bars of green, white and red. None of those colors appear on Italy’s uniforms, except for the literal flag patch. Italy’s national soccer team also uses the primary blue colorway, so this crisis goes much deeper than baseball.

19. Israel

Again, very cookie-cutter white with blue trim (or vice versa). The lighter blue accents (and lettering on the away jerseys), as well as the emphasized logo on the cap, are nice touches. But we are once again begging for a bit of creativity, which is sorely lacking across the board.

18. Nicaragua

Look, not to dump on the color blue (a color I am fond of), but we really need to mix things up a bit. These are the Italian (and Israeli) uniforms with a different font from the Microsoft Word selection box. Blue and white are the colors of the Nicaraguan flag, so the real blame circles back to whomever devised the Italian uniforms. But mix it up!

17. Venezuela

Venzeula falls into the same blue-and-white bucket as the teams mentioned above. The yellow trim and red lettering, unlike Italy, at least gestures to the nation’s actual colors, and the cursive lettering on the nameplate is some of the best in the tournament. Still, one can’t help but feel like there’s something missing here.

16. Chinese Taipei

Credit to Chinese Taipei for deviating from the script ever so slightly. The Taiwanese team opts for a “C.T.” logo on the jerseys, rather than lettering across the chest. It’s a neat visual, even if the cap feels a bit redundant. The red pops compared to straight blue and white too, so it’s at least a change of pace. Be warned, though: Other red, white and blue uniforms exist, shockingly enough.

15. Puerto Rico

These are literally the Chinese Taipei uniforms with “Puerto Rico” across the chest, but hey: These are a bit cleaner and the P.R. logo is a classic.

14. Canada

Oh my god. Not a speck of blue in sight! These are basically the Canadian jerseys across all international competitions — red with white lettering or vice versa. The layered text element is neat and the maple leaf logo with a baseball whizzing out is a personal favorite, but otherwise there isn’t much to write home about.

13. Panama

Clean and simple, like the Panama flag, which features four color blocks, three colors (red, white, navy) and two caddy-corner stars. The (literal) accent on the “á” pops in a way other country names simply cannot. Of the many “clean and simple” WBC uniforms, this at least has a bit of personality baked in.

12. Brazil

Credit to Dante Bichette (seen above) for the green hair, but Brazil neglecting green — the base color of their flag — feels like a missed opportunity, as no other country in the WBC has green and blue at its disposal. The home uniforms are basically the Italy/Israel/Nicaragua home uniforms, but the away jerseys lean into the color scheme a bit more, which is a nice departure. The yellow pops, but you can probably find that font on Canva.

11. Colombia

The Colombian uniforms align a little too closely with Brazil, but the bisected font and their choice of accents — the yellow stripes, rather than blue, on the home uniforms and a snazzy yellow cap with a thick, maroon “C,” a nod to the final stripe on Colombia’s flag — set this in a higher tier.

10. Cuba

Now we’re getting to the good stuff. Cuba shares a colorway with other members of the two American continents, obviously, but the underlined text with a star is distinctive, and Cuba’s blue hat against white and red jerseys should play well on your TV screen at home. This is the ideal usage of these colors and a nice homage to the country’s flag.

9. Czechia

Czechia will be cast as a team of (sometimes literal) plumbers, but these uniforms are effectively sparse. The home uniforms are almost Yankees-coded, without the pinstripes — solid white with navy accents, and “Česko” pops nicely on the nameplate. The away uniforms are far less singular, but the benefits of the font and overall layout remain. Plus, the hat stands in a nice contrast to the home whites especially.

8. South Korea

The Korean uniforms are all in the lettering. That jagged, explosive font really sells the whole deal, and you’d be hard-pressed to argue for a better hat design than navy with a single white, cursive “K.” These uniforms map nicely onto the country’s flag, which is evidently the standard by which I am arbitrarily grading all of these.

7. Great Britain

It is common knowledge that Jazz Chisholm Jr. will add significant style points to any uniform combo. But more importantly, the top/bottom split of Great/Britain across the chest is effective and this is probably the best primary red alternate jersey in the tournament, even if it’s basically the Panama jersey (sigh).

6. United States

Look, the United States probably doesn’t deserve so much credit for uniforms that are carbon copies of Netherlands (more soon) and Czechia, but there’s something undeniable about that U.S.A. logo with the flag weaved through the middle. The “U.S.” on top of a gold star on the hat is also special.

5. Dominican Republic

These are essentially the inverse of the Cuban uniforms — blue lettering with a vibrant red hat. But it works. The font choice is effective — “Dominicana” with all-caps “REPUBLIC” nestled between the “D” and “A” in small text. That hat will go triple platinum if the D.R. can go on a deep run.

4. Japan

You need to award points for singularity in a situation like this. The Japanese uniforms aren’t exactly my cup of tea, but you won’t find the pinstripes anywhere else in this tournament, nor the graded coloring of the away uniforms. The gold trim around a regal, ornate nameplate works, and Shohei Ohtani will sell a bazillion of these jerseys through official and nonofficial channels.

3. Netherlands

The Netherlands quietly put together a real team, and while the basic framework of these uniforms is rather basic and commonplace, their implementation of the Crown of the Netherlands earns bonus points. Netherlands is the only team without an abbreviation or initials on the cap. Moreover, the crown right in the center of the chest — along with “Kingdom of the” in small text above the main letters — gives these jerseys a certain gravitas.