Taiwan competes as “Chinese Taipei” in the World Baseball Classic because of a political compromise with China dating back to 1981.

Taiwan are not expected to win the World Baseball Classic but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team's blue tooting horns and belting out songs.

Shohei Ohtani led Team Japan to a 13-0 blowout with with a grand slam in Friday's World Baseball Classic opener against Taiwan.

When does the World Baseball Classic start? Check out the full, game-by-game schedule for the 2026 international baseball tournament.

TOKYO (AP) — This is the Shohei Ohtani effect. Ohtani put on a giant show in batting practice hours before he hit a grand slam in the second inning — in the first he doubled on the first pitch of the game but didn’t score — as Japan hammered Taiwan 13-0 in Pool C at the World Baseball Classic.

Japan defeated Australia 4-3 in the World Baseball Classic, while Taiwan edged out South Korea 5-4 in a thrilling ten-inning match.

Australia opened the World Baseball Classic today by beating Taiwan 3-0 on Robbie Perkins’ two-run homer in the fifth inning and Travis Bazzana’s homer in the seventh at the Tokyo Dome. The two big swings were enough in a tight game dominated by pitching on both sides.

Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Ohtani’s grand slam homer set the tone as Japan scored 10 runs in the second inning alone in front of about 42,000 fans at the Tokyo Dome. Their dominance meant the game was cut short after seven innings under the so-called mercy rule.

Shohei Ohtani launched a grand slam as Japan hammered Taiwan 13-0 in Tokyo, launching their World Baseball Classic title defense in dominant fashion

Australia got the World Baseball Classic underway with a 3-0 win over a Taiwan team cheered on by thousands of passionate fans in Tokyo in Thursday's opening game. "I appreciate that the fans were cheering us,