On March 5th, the sixth-ever World Baseball Classic (WBC) will kick off. The WBC, a tournament very similar to the World Cup due to its consisting of national teams, rounds of group play, and being played every four years, is a time of great excitement for baseball fans.
This year, the tournament will take place in four cities: San Juan, Puerto Rico; Tokyo, Japan; along with Houston and Miami in the United States. The tournament itself will consist of 20 national teams from all across the globe but mainly the Americas and East Asia, who will all battle it out in the double-elimination contests.
Among the plethora of teams, three are considered likely favorites to win: Japan, the United States, and the Dominican Republic.
Coming off their win in the 2023 WBC, Japan is likely to win this year’s tournament. Headlined by MLB stars—and Los Angeles Dodgers teammates—Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, as well as NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball: the Japanese baseball league) stars like Hiromi Itoh and Terauki Sato, the Japanese team will look to repeat the undefeated championship run they had last year.
The U.S. national team is looking to recover from its tough loss in the 2023 WBC finals to Japan and win a second championship after its first win in 2017. Highlighted by a plethora of MLB’s best, such as Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Cal Raleigh, Aaron Judge, and Bryce Harper, the U.S team is a formidable foe.
Important to note is that in the last WBC, the U.S had a significantly weaker pitching staff, with two of the starters now being retired (Lance Lynn & Adam Wainright) and the other two (Merrill Kelly & Nick Martinez) are well, to put it simply, not to the same caliber as Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes—two of the best pitchers in MLB, if not the planet.
After a very disappointing 2023 WBC, in which they didn’t even make it out of the group stage, the baseball-rich nation of the Dominican Republic is going for gold. Headlined by an all-star outfield of Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Julio Rodriguez, as well as other MLB stars such as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Manny Machado, the Dominicans have a very strong team.
Off the field—in the dugout, rather—the Dominicans have yet another MLB star, this time making decisions for them. Albert Pujols, an all-time MLB player with over 3,000 hits, 700 home runs, 3 MVPs, and an 11-time all-star, who is also expected to be inducted unanimously into the Baseball Hall of Fame, has been hired to be the manager for the Dominican team. The managerial presence of one of the best hitters of the 21st century, as well as the on-field play of some of the other best hitters of the 21st century, will surely make a very hard team to beat.
Another team of note in the WBC is the Czechia national team. While not considered a contender—or even likely to make it past their group stage—they are still likely a fan favorite for one simple reason: none of their players are professionals; they all work normal jobs and play baseball as a pastime.
Their story really hit the media last WBC, as during their game against Japan, they scored two runs and struck out seven hitters against the soon-to-be champion. Most famously of all, Ondrej Satoria, a full-time electrician, struck out Shohei Ohtani, the best hitter in the world, on the biggest baseball stage of all.
“America is the only country in the world where the biggest sporting event is club versus club and not country versus country,” said overseer of the WBC and senior vice president of MLB, Jim Small.
For many international MLB players, they consider winning the WBC for their home country just as, if not more important than, winning a World Series. An example comes from the previously mentioned Manny Machado, who, in an interview with La Vida Baseball, said, “[The] World Baseball Classic for me,” after being asked which was more important for him: winning the WBC or the World Series.
All in all, the WBC is an exciting time for all involved; players from all facets of life and professional ball get to play both with and against each other; fans get to see these fun, exciting, star-filled matchups; and the sport of baseball gets to grow in popularity all across the globe.
And for anyone wanting to watch, the games will either be on FOX, FS1 & 2, as well as Tubi. Just remember, the games in Japan are going to either be very late at night or in the wee hours of the morning!
