Once every 3-4 years, 20 national teams from around the globe compete for the coveted title of World Champion of Baseball, and lucky for us, it’s taking place this year. The World Baseball Classic or the WBC, is taking place from March 5th to March 17, ending just before Opening Day for the MLB. Many countries are competing with many of the greatest players in the MLB playing for their home countries. Some notable players include Aaron Judge (USA), Edwin Diaz (PR), Shohei Ohtani (JPN), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (JPN), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (DOM), Fernando Tatis Jr. (DOM), and Paul Skenes (USA).
The WBC has been played 5 times in the past, with Japan winning the 3 championships (2006, 2009, 2023), the Dominican Republic winning in 2013, and the USA winning in 2017. The first game of the WBC was played in March of 2006. The Classic began to help spread the popularity of baseball around the world and to showcase the talents of some of the best players in the world who play in different leagues and would normally not have a chance to play against each other. The USA, Japan, and the Dominican Republic are considered the best teams in the WBC and are the past winners of the Classic. Other notable teams include Mexico, South Korea, Australia, and Canada.
The way the WBC works is that there are 4 different pools based in 4 different cities (Houston, Miami, Tokyo, and San Juan), with five teams in each. From there, the winners and runner-ups of each pool will play in the quarterfinals, and the winners of that will play in the semi-finals, and so on. This year, the Championship game will take place in Miami, Florida, on March 17.
Many people have filled out brackets and made their predictions for who they think will be the winner of each pool and who will win it all. For Pool A, many people have predicted that Puerto Rico will win with Canada as the runner up. In Pool B, the USA is predicted to win with Mexico as their runner up. Over in Pool C, Japan was predicted to win, and Korea is predicted to be the runner-up. The Dominican Republic is predicted to win Pool D, with Venezuela being the runner up. As for the winner of the championship, the USA is predicted to win it all with Japan and the Dominican Republic as runners up.
This year’s WBC was an exciting one with many home runs and nail-biting moments. Roman Anthony (USA) and Gunnar Henderson (USA) hit home runs to help propel the USA to beat the Dominican Republic in the semifinals and Venezuela had a comeback against Italy to make it to the Championship match against the USA. Japan, to everyone’s surprise, was knocked out in the quarterfinals, also by Venezuela. The winners and runner-ups of each pool are as follows: Pool A Winner: Canada, Pool A Runner Up: Puerto Rico, Pool B Winner: Italy, Pool B Runner Up: USA, Pool C Winner: Japan, Pool C Runner Up: Korea, Pool D Winner: Dominican Republic, and Pool D Runner Up: Venezuela. The Championship took place on March 17th with Venezuela narrowly beating the USA with a score of 3-2. This was a huge upset for the US, because they were the overall favorite to win. Venezuela took the crown and turned into a massive powerhouse that somehow beat 3 of the best teams in the Classic.