Tickets are still available for the World Baseball Classic  Pool D games to be staged at the Charros Estadio de Beisbol in Zapopan between March 9 and 12.

The schedule is as follows:

Thursday, March 9,  8 p.m. Mexico vs. Italy

Friday, March 10, 8 p.m. Venezuela vs. Puerto Rico

Saturday, March 11, 2 p.m. Venezuela vs. Italy

Saturday, March 11, 8:30 p.m. Mexico vs. Puerto Rico

Sunday, March 12, 1:30 p.m. Italy vs. Puerto Rico

Sunday, March 12, 8 p.m. Mexico vs. Venezuela

Tickets can be purchased at the stadium box office or through Ticketmaster.  

Fans can expect to see established Major League stars in action, including Adrian Gonzalez of the Dodgers (Mexico), Jose Atuve of the Astros (Venezuela), Felix Hernandez of the Mariners (Puerto Rico) and Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs (Italy).

The winners and runners-up advance to the second round group games, along with two teams from Pool C (United States, Canada, Colombia and the Dominican Republic). These games will be played at Petco Park in San Diego March 14-19. The semi-finals and final take place at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles March 20-22.

The World Baseball Classic started in 2006 in the hope it might catch on with the public and become baseball’s version of the hugely popular World Soccer Cup.

Previous winners of the tournament are Japan (2006 and 2009) and the Dominican Republic (2013).