Canada has a golden opportunity in front of them at the World Baseball Classic.
With two games remaining in the group stage and their record at 1-1, Canada can advance to the quarter-final of the tournament for the first time ever with a win against Cuba on Wednesday. And if they can beat Puerto Rico Tuesday night and also win Wednesday, they would finish atop the group.
Long-time Toronto Blue Jays catcher and Team Canada manager Ernie Whitt joined TSN 1050 Toronto’s First Up Tuesday morning and said he was confident in his team’s chances.
“I feel good about them. I think our pitching is lined up for the two countries we’re playing against. We just want to play clean games,” Whitt said.
“We’re looking at all the details of what we need to go. No.1 goal is we need to move forward, so we know that, win or lose tonight, it basically boils down to tomorrow against Cuba since they lost against Puerto Rico. So, if we beat Cuba head-to-head tomorrow then we’re moving forward.”
Team Canada manager Ernie Whitt joins us to discuss Canada's up and down tournament so far, difficult games coming up vs Puerto Rico and Cuba & having a coaching staff full of Canadian legends#WBC https://t.co/ubGRWof9tI
— First Up (@FirstUp1050) March 10, 2026
With a 3-0 start, Puerto Rico has already advanced, leaving Canada and Cuba to battle for the other Group A quarter-final spot. Only the top two teams from each of the four WBC groups will progress to the knockout round.
Even if Canada loses to Puerto Rico Tuesday night, they can still finish second by beating Cuba since they would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Canada beat Colombia 8-2 Saturday afternoon in their first game of the tournament and lost 4-3 to Panama Sunday evening, primarily due to an error-filled sixth inning that allowed Panama to plate three.
Whitt said minimizing mistakes will be key for Canada over their next two games.
“Again, these situations, you really can’t afford to give the other team extra outs. And that is stressed upon. And so I’m just hoping we play a clean game and we throw a lot of strikes and we score a lot of runs,” he said.
Whitt described the tournament so far as “one good game, one bad game” but said the privilege of representing Canada on the world stage is unforgettable.
“The experience of just representing your country and going out and playing the game. We really have a good schedule this time around, so we have two important games left. You know, we have an opportunity to go forward. We just need to show up and play,” he said.
Logistical challenges at WBC
While he’s excited at the opportunity to move on, Whitt did admit he feels hamstrung by the tight restrictions on players at the WBC, particularly with pitchers.
A pitcher must have at least four days rest if they throw 50 or more pitches in a game. They also must have a minimum of one day off if they throw 30 or more pitches or pitch on back-to-back days. There are also aggregate limits on pitches thrown during each round, which increase as the tournament goes deeper.
MLB teams often impose specific usage limits on their own players as well, which Whitt said is difficult but necessary to work around.
“It’s definitely a challenge. Everyone knows what the MLB rules and restrictions are. A lot of people don’t realize the restrictions we get from the organizations. You know, it’s difficult to do,” he said.
“It’s patching and putting together things as you go along. The timing of the tournament itself I don’t like, but trying to find the right timing, like in the middle of the season I think would be the best but I don’t think the owners would like that either.”
