2026 World Baseball Classic Preview for Games on Thursday, March 5, 2026

By Frank Ammirante | Mar 05, 2026, 1:01pm

We’re on to Day 2 of the 2026 World Baseball Classic on Thursday, March 5th, with one game remaining. We already saw Korea blow out Czechia 11-4 at 5 a.m. ET in Pool C action. Tonight, Czechia will face Australia at 10 p.m. ET.

The Aussies are coming off an upset as +200 underdogs against Chinese Taipei, led by a pair of home runs, including a solo shot by Cleveland Guardians’ top prospect Travis Bazzana. Australia would put itself in a strong position to potentially advance with another victory here. Meanwhile, the Czechs are in big trouble following their loss earlier this morning.

In this column, we’ll take a closer look at Czechia vs. Australia, providing a World Baseball Classic guide for the one remaining game on Mar. 5. You’ll find a game preview and best bets for this matchup. Visit us daily as we’ll get you set each day of the World Baseball Classic with recaps, look aheads, and much more!

2026 World Baseball Classic Betting Resources

Wednesday’s WBC Schedule

Czechia vs. Australia , – 10 p.m. ET (FS1)

Czechia vs. Australia Preview

Czechia is starting Tomas Ondra, who wasn’t on the 2023 WBC team. However, you can make a legit case that he’s the best pitcher on the team. In Ondra’s last three seasons in the Czech Extraliga, he combined for a 3.16 ERA and 1.05 WHIP with 200 strikeouts in 193 innings. This is a pitcher with elite control, as highlighted by an impressive 3.8% walk rate during that stretch.

On the other side, the Aussies are projected to start Josh Hendrickson, who pitched in Triple-A back in 2023. The lefty wasn’t able to pitch in the 2023 World Baseball Classic due to insurance issues. This past season, Hendrickson pitched for the Kansas City Monarchs in the American Association, which is an MLB Partner League. Hendrickson put up a 3.61 ERA in 104.2 innings for the Monarchs.

Looking beyond their 10-4 loss to Korea today, here are Czechia’s results from the 2023 World Baseball Classic:

8-5 win over China
10-2 loss vs Japan
10-3 loss vs Korea

We’ll do the same for Australia. Here’s what they did back in 2023:

8-7 win over Korea
12-2 win over China
8-3 win over Czechia

Not only has Australia won four WBC games in a row, but one of those was against these Czechs. The Aussies are starting to establish themselves as an underrated team in this tournament.

Czechia vs. Australia Game Odds

Czechia vs. Australia Betting Analysis

Australia opened as -575 favorites, with Czechia as +400 underdogs on DraftKings, but the line has moved considerably in the Aussies’ favor, as they’re now listed at -700 odds. Obviously, we’re not going to lay that much juice on Australia, but we’re also not confident that the Czechs can pull off the upset, despite getting a +450 price.

The Czechs are listed as +3.5 on the run line, which feels like the right side with their ace on the mound. I’m betting that Ondra will cause problems for the Aussie bats, especially with the way that he can pound the strike zone.

Czechia can also bring in Ondrej Satoria, who famously struck out Shohei Ohtani on three pitches in the 2023 WBC. Given that they can deploy an Ondra+Satoria combo, I think this one can be closer than expected.

I know that the Czechs have been bad so far, but I don’t feel confident riding with Australia on the run line. Coming off an upset over Chinese Taipei, I’ll bet on a letdown result from the Aussies here.

Best Bet: Czechia RL to win 1 unit

2026 World Baseball Classic Betting Tracker

We correctly handicapped that Chinese Taipei pitcher Jo-Hsi Hsu would pitch well, as he went four scoreless innings. The problem was that the bats couldn’t get anything going. Serves me right for laying such heavy juice on an unpredictable tournament. We’ll look to bounce back with Czechia on the run line here.

Record: 0-1
Units: -2.1

2026 World Baseball Classic Betting Results

Moneyline (Favorite-Underdog): 1-1
Run Line (Favorite-Underdog): 1-1
Run Total (Over-Under): 1-1

Wednesday, Mar. 4

Chinese Taipei 0 vs. Australia 3 (+2.5) – Under

Thursday, Mar. 5

Czechia 4 vs. South Korea 11 (-6.5) – Over

Frank Ammirante

Frank Ammirante has been creating sports betting and fantasy sports content for 5+ years, specializing in baseball and football, but also writing about basketball, hockey, and soccer. He has also written online casino, sweepstakes casino, prediction markets, and news articles while working as a content editor as well. You may have seen his work at The Game Day, RotoBaller, FantasyPros, Deadspin, Casino.org, and much more. Frank started out in the fantasy sports space and has competed in popular industry events like Tout Wars. His work has recently been published in this year's Fantasy Index fantasy baseball magazine. As an avid Blue Jays fan, Frank is still mourning their World Series loss to the Dodgers, calling it "one of the biggest collapses in sports history."