Day 4 of the2026 World Baseball Classicstarted with a near-cycle and a whole lot of math. South Korea's Bo Gyeong Moon rocketed a 430-foot homer to open the scoring gates at the Tokyo Dome and then added an RBI double and an RBI single to help his team establish a 5-0 lead over Australia in a must-win game in Pool C action on Monday.
South Korea maintained a critical five-run advantage in what turned into a 7-2 victory that booked its ticket to the event's quarterfinals for the first time since 2009.
Three teams in Pool C finished with a 2-2 record — South Korea, Australia and Chinese Taipei — but, because of a run-quotient tiebreaker, South Korea advanced. Australia could have made it out of pool play with a win or a loss by four runs or fewer.
South Korea joins a Shohei Ohtani-led Japan squad as the two teams to make it out of Pool C. Undefeated Japan, though, will wrap up pool play on Tuesday against Czechia, which has yet to win a game at this year's WBC.
Later on Monday, Team USA will be back in action. Witha 9-1 win over Great Britain on Saturday, the Americans improved to 2-0. Now they'll face a 2-0 Mexico team.
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South Korea 7, Australia 2
Moon came into the day tied with Venezuela's Luis Arráez for the most RBI (seven) in this year's WBC. He tacked on four more in the emotional win over Australia.
But South Korea also got a lift from Jung Hoo Lee, both offensively and defensively. Lee knocked in a run while doubling to center in the third inning. Then, in the ninth, he played a big role in South Korea preserving its five-run lead, making a sliding grab in right-center field with one out and one man on base.
If you're wondering about that complex run-quotient tiebreaker that comes into play when three or more teams have the same record in pool play, here's how FS1 broke it down on the broadcast, noting that, in this case, the three teams that are tied are "ranked by lowest quotient of fewest runs allowed divided by number of defensive outs."
South Korea defeated Czechia 11-4 in its first WBC game this year before falling to Japan 8-6 and then to Chinese Taipei 5-4. A bounce-back, five-run win got the team over the pool-play hump and into the quarterfinals.
Monday's WBC schedule, how to watch
Dominican Republic vs. Israel, 12 p.m. ET on FS1
Colombia vs. Panama, 12 p.m. ET on FS2
Brazil vs. Great Britain, 1 p.m. ET on Tubi
Cuba vs. Puerto Rico, 7 p.m. ET on FS1
Venezuela vs. Nicaragua, 7 p.m. ET on FS2
Mexico vs. United States, 8 p.m. ET on Fox