Pujols named Dominican Republic's manager for '26 World Baseball Classic (report)

After leading Leones del Escogido to the Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League (LIDOM) championship in the 2024-25 winter season -- his first managerial experience -- followed by the 2025 Caribbean Series crown in Mexicali earlier this month, Albert Pujols will be named skipper of the Dominican squad for the 2026 World Baseball Classic, according to a report by Enrique Rojas of ESPN.

Pujols, 45, hit 703 home runs in a 22-year Major League career and will be on the BBWAA¡¯s Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 2028. Pujols¡¯ only World Baseball Classic as a player was in 2006, when he hit .286/.483/.429 with a home run and three RBIs in seven games for the Dominican Republic.

In the recently concluded Winter League season, Pujols took the reins of the Escogido club, the same team he rooted for as a child and later played for in the 2021-22 campaign, before his last year as an active MLB player. Pujols was able to ride out an uneven regular season in LIDOM to make the playoffs and eventually win the title with a memorable Game 7 win over the Leones¡¯ Santo Domingo intracity rivals, the Tigres del Licey.

At the Caribbean Series, Pujols¡¯ Leones won the winter league tournament of champions with a 1-0 victory over Charros de Jalisco (Mexico) in the championship game to give the Dominican Republic its 23rd crown in the event and Escogido¡¯s fifth.

The Dominican Republic won the 2013 World Baseball Classic with an undefeated squad led by Tony Pe?a. In the last edition of the event, in 2023, the Dominican club managed by Rays bench coach Rodney Linares was eliminated in group-stage play with a record of 2-2 at Miami¡¯s loanDepot park.

In 2026, the Dominican Republic will once again play its group stage in Miami, in Pool D, which will be March 6-11 at loanDepot park. That group will also include Venezuela, Israel, the Netherlands and another team to be determined at next week¡¯s qualifying tournament in Tucson, Arizona, between China, Germany, Colombia and Brazil.