Here’s the preview for Pool B of the World Baseball Classic…
About the Venue: Daikin Park has gone through several names and also used to have a hill in center, but regardless of what name or shape it is, it remains the home of the Houston Astros and a capacity of over 41 thousand.
About the Pool: This is Team USA’s pool, and only Mexico is any major threat to beat them for the pool title. Italy also could be interesting. Great Britain and Brazil are likely also-rans, but you never know, can you?
Go below the jump for the full preview.
United States of America
About The Country: …Seriously? Do I have to do an “about the country” for the USA? Look at your history books or something. Okay, fine: Declaring independence from Great Britain in 1776, the United States of America has grown from a 13-state experiment to a 50-state union that is one of the world’s leading powers in economics, politics, science, technology, military might, sports and entertainment, amongst other areas.
Baseball History: The history of American baseball is, more or less, the history of baseball. While it is no longer the most popular sport as far as TV ratings or public-opinion polls go, its cultural impact in American history and its yearly attendance (more people attend MLB games than the other three major sports leagues combined, although admittedly MLB seasons are longer) remain unchallenged.
International Baseball History: Team USA, not surprisingly, has always been a major force in international baseball, although the amateur nature of most international competition kept it from being dominant and the fact that MLB is loath to allow players to take part in any events aside from the WBC (and, according to some reports, the 2028 Olympics) has meant that even now most national teams are either made of minor leaguers or college players. Despite that, Team USA won four of the old World Cups, the 2000 Olympics (as well as the 1988 demonstration sport Olympics). USA is currently third in the world rankings.
Road to the WBC: Automatically qualified.
America’s Baseball League: Major League Baseball, obviously. Also the minor leagues and independent leagues.
American MLB Players: I’m not going to bother trying to find how many Americans have played in leagues that MLB considers major, but needless to say… there are a lot. And every single player on the team is either signed to an MLB squad or would be if they weren’t doing one last pre-retirement hurrah…
Notable names: … That person, of course, is Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw had wanted to pitch in the 2023 WBC, but insurance issues kept him out of it. With him no longer having a career that needs to be insured, however, he’s free to finally throw this year. Kershaw will likely serve primarily as a innings-eater or mop-up guy, but also is providing some good veteran leadership and overall coolness-of-the-future-hall-of-famer-being-there to the proceedings.
Highest Achievers: An embarrassment of riches. Team USA has, not counting Kershaw, at least two guys (Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper) who would be surefire Hall of Famers if they retired right this second (hopefully they do not, as they have games to play). They also have several others who may one day enter that territory. They have the reigning NL Cy Young (Paul Skenes) and the reigning AL Cy Young (Tarik Skubal), although Skubal reportedly will only be able to pitch in one game during the Classic. They have a man who hit 60 HR last year (Cal Raleigh), another who led all of baseball in hits (Bobby Witt Jr.), and still another who led in RBI (Kyle Schwarber). Their third-best starting pitcher (Logan Webb) was the NL strikeout leader last season. Their second-best catcher (Will Smith) is a three-time All-Star. The team’s worst (or at least least-famous) regular position-playing starter (Brice Turang) slashed .288/.359/.435 last season and won a Gold Glove the year before that. Three of the top 10 leaders from last season in relief pitcher WAR at Fangraphs (Garrett Whitlock, David Bednar, and Mason Miller) are in the bullpen. Even with Skubal only going one game and some injury issues potentially keeping the Twins’ Joe Ryan out of the competition, this is the most complete team that the USA has ever had in the WBC.
Ones to Watch: And yet, somehow, there are still some young guns to be had. In the tradition of Alex Bregman in 2017 and Bobby Witt Jr. in 2023, this year’s Team USA team has designated young people in the form of 21-year-old Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony and 24-year-old Mets RHP Nolan McLean. Even more remarkable: it’s hard to argue with either of their inclusions, although it should be noted that Anthony was added only after Corbin Carroll was injured earlier this calendar year.
Manager/Coaching Staff: Mark DeRosa, AKA “DeRo”, returns for the second time as Team USA manager. Known as one of the best super-utility men of the 2000s and early 2010s (a role played on this team by Ernie Clement), his outgoing attitude and long experience at MLB Network have made him someone with connections to seemingly everyone in baseball, a valuable asset even if his actual managerial experience starts and ends with the WBC (although he continues to be a common candidate brought up for opening managerial positions). Also on the staff are a host of retired major leaguers like Andy Pettitte, Matt Holliday, David Ross, and Michael Young, plus longtime coaches like Dino Ebel, Fredi Gonzalez, and George Lombard.
Outlook: Easily the favorite of the group (only Mexico can be said to threaten them) and one of the “Big Three” for the tournament at large, if everything goes right Team USA should win the whole damn thing. However, in baseball… it’s rare that everything goes right, doesn’t it?
Mexico
About The Country: Gaining recognized independence in 1821 (11 years after it was declared), Mexico is built where the Olmecs, Mayans and Aztecs once lived. Mexico is home to a rapidly-modernizing economy, the largest metropolitan area in the Western Hemisphere (Mexico City, beating out New York), and a diverse ecology. However, it has also had to deal with inequality and crime, particularly related to the drug trade.
Baseball History: Although it is not nearly as popular in Mexico as futbol, baseball still holds a long and storied history there. Nobody is quite sure how it was first introduced, although it is likely the Americans were involved in some way. Notable events in Mexico’s baseball history include the formation of the Mexican League in 1925, the back-to-back victories of a Monterrey team in the 1957 and 1958 Little League World Series, and Fernando Valenzuela‘s debut with the Dodgers in the early 1980s.
International Baseball History: Mexico is a longtime participant in international baseball competition and is currently rated sixth in the world. The Mexican National Team has taken part in every WBC, with their best finish being third in 2013. They also have finished second in the old World Cup on a few occasions, had a third-place finish in the 2019 Premier12, and have won Pan-Am Games bronze on five occasions.
Road to the WBC: Automatically qualified.
Mexico’s Baseball League: Mexico has two major professional leagues. The first, the Mexican League, is the primary summer league (there are some smaller minor or independent leagues). That league has 20 teams and is generally regarded as the best professional summer league in North America outside of the MLB structure- for years it was labeled as an independent AAA league. The other major league in Mexico is the Mexican Pacific League, which is primarily teams on the west coast of Mexico. Playing in winter, it is this league that sends its champion to the Caribbean Series. Some organizations have holdings in both leagues.
Mexican MLB Players: About 152 players born in Mexico have played in MLB-level leagues, and there have also been many who were born in the USA but raised in Mexico. Mexico also often calls upon Mexican-Americans to further upgrade the squad. Mexican-born MLBers on the roster this WBC include Alejandro Kirk, Jonathan Aranda, Andres Munoz, Javier Assad, and Joey Meneses. Among the Mexican-Americans on the team are Rowdy Tellez, Jarren Duran, Taijuan Walker, and Alek Thomas.
Notable names: And we would be amiss if we didn’t mention Randy Arozarena. Arozarena has fully embraced Mexico since defecting there, earning citizenship and starting a family there. Which is a good thing for Mexico, as he hit .450/.607/.900 and a unanimous selection to the All-tournament team in 2023.
Highest Achievers: Six players from the Mexican League have been selected to the squad and make up the highest-level players outside of MLB on the roster: Manny Barreda, Jesus Cruz, Julian Ornelas, Roel Ramirez, Gerardo Reyes, and Alexis Wilson. Alexander Armenta is in the Japanese minors.
Ones to Watch: The top prospect on Team Mexico is righty pitcher Luis Gastelum. A changeup specialist, the No. 22 St. Louis prospect has reached as high as AA and has also pitched well in winter-ball.
Manager/Coaching Staff: Former big-leaguer Benji Gil again manages Mexico after previously helming them in the Olympics and 2023 WBC. He’s mainly managed in Mexico over the last decade, including for a Caribbean Series title. Other members of the coaching staff include Vinny Castilla and Gil Velazquez.
Outlook: Mexico is the best team not named Team USA in this pool, and should join them to get out of the pool. However, they may get threatened by Italy.
Great Britain
About The Country: Once the owners of the world’s largest empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland no longer rules the waves, but remains one of the world’s most powerful and influential cultural, economical and political powers. Technically the United Kingdom is actually a country made up of the nations of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland as well as other territories such as the islands in the English Channel, each of which have varying degrees of independence in domestic affairs. However, that’s a lesson for another day and probably another blog.
Baseball History: Baseball, as has been noted before, is in many ways descended from various games back in the mother country, some of which even were called “baseball” or “base ball”. In fact, Jane Austen even mentioned “base ball” in her 18th century novel, Northanger Abbey.
Many of baseball’s founding fathers, most notably Henry Chadwick, came from there. The United States and United Kingdom are forever linked by history, blood and language, and to this day many sports similar to baseball, such as rounders and cricket, are played in the British Isles.
All of these facts, however, have proven to be both a gift and curse to baseball’s place in Britain, where, despite a long history and a few spurts of popularity, it remains a curiosity sport at best and a weird American obsession at best. Baseball as we know it was introduced to the Brits in the late 19th century after tours my MLB teams led by Albert Spalding.
It has had two brief spurts in popularity, at least relative to the rest of baseball’s history over there. The first came in the 1890s after it initially arrived, and a second increase occurred in the years just before WWII, where some teams were getting enough fans where they were playing in soccer stadiums and a semi-pro team actually beat a team of Americans in what is now considered the first Baseball World Cup. Since then, however, baseball has been an afterthought at best in the UK, although MLB has begun to play occasional series there.
International Baseball History: The win in the first Baseball World Cup (mentioned above) is probably the overall highlight of British baseball history, although they also have a trio of silver medal finishes in the European Championships. They are currently ranked 19th in WBSC rankings.
Road to the WBC: Automatically qualified.
Britain’s Baseball League: Baseball in Britain is strictly amateur, made up of a few tiers of leagues that are all under the British Baseball Federation umbrella.
British MLB Players: A total of 52 people born in Great Britain have played in MLB, but the vast majority of them moved to America at a young age, including one of the two born-in-Britain players on the squad, Michael Peterson (born in London but moved to America at a very young age). Thankfully for Team GB, the lax citizenship eligibility rules of the WBC allows them to, like with the Netherlands, take advantage of some connections to the Caribbean or to British parents to bolster the team. The most notable such players are those from Bermuda, such as Jazz Chisholm Jr., as well as Americans Nate Eaton and Harry Ford.
Notable names: Neither Vance Worley or Trayce Thompson currently hold MLB contracts, and Worley hasn’t played professionally since 2022, but they both bring MLB experience to the squad.
Highest Achievers: The highest-playing members of the team outside of the MLB structure are three guys from the Mexican League, all pitchers: Nick Wells, Tyler Viza, and Chavez Fernander.
Ones to Watch: The three best prospects on the squad are Ford (No. 3 Washington, No. 71 overall), right-hander Brendan Beck (Yankees No. 22), and another right-handed pitcher in Gary Gill Hill (Tampa No. 27). Matt Koperniak, a London-born (but not raised) outfielder, is in AAA for St. Louis.
Manager/Coaching Staff: Brad Marcelino is a minor league hitting coordinator in the Diamondbacks organization. Marcelino actually is from outside of London, and was also on the previous coaching staffs for Team GB.
Outlook: Team GB is one of the weakest teams in the pool and may be in danger of getting knocked into relegation, especially if they fail to beat Brazil.
Italy
About The Country: In the centuries after the Roman Empire fell, the Italian Peninsula split into various city-states, and the peninsula would remain like that until it was more-or-less reunified in the 19th century (although to this day the small city-states of Vatican City and San Marino remain). After fighting for the Axis in WWII, Italy became a founding member of NATO and the European Union. It continues to hold a important part in global politics, culture, and economics.
Baseball History: Italy is one of the two traditional baseball powers of Europe (along with the Netherlands), and first encountered the game during one of Al Spalding’s world tours, but it didn’t really gain anything like a foothold- despite some pockets of interest fostered by people who had visited America (most notably a man named Max Ott)- until the United States had gained a foothold of a different sort after the Anzio landings in early 1944.
Anzio was a debacle, a long slow slog that saw thousands die on both sides and the initial American commander relieved of duty. As a sad side-effect of this, the Americans established a cemetery in the coastal town of Nettuno. Both during and after the war, it was the American troops in the region that spread baseball, first during downtime between battles and then while seeing to the upkeep of the cemetery. The game stuck with the locals, including a local Prince named Steno Borghese, who allowed a stadium for the game to be built on his land.
Thanks to the efforts of Ott, Borghese, and various other boosters, baseball has kept a presence on the Italian Peninsula ever since.
International Baseball History: Italy, alongside the Dutch, dominate most of European competition, winning 10 European Championships and making four appearances in the Olympics. Italy is often bolstered by Americans and Canadians of Italian descent due to international baseball’s lax eligibility rules, although they often also feature real honest-to-goodness Italians as well. They are currently ranked 14th in the WBSC ratings.
Road to the WBC: Automatically qualified.
Italy’s Baseball League: The Italian Baseball League, sometimes called Series A1, is (alongside the Hoofdklasse of the Netherlands) generally regarded as one of the top two leagues in Europe. They play about 42 games, primarily on weekends. Like the Dutch, they used to have a soccer-style promotion/relegation system, but don’t anymore.
Italian MLB Players: Nine players born in Italy have played in MLB, although most (but not all) of them moved to America when they were young. One of those born-and-raised Italians, however, is left-hander Sam Aldegheri, who has had appearances for the Angels the last two seasons. Among the “passport players”. the biggest names are Vinnie Pasquantino, Jac Caglianone, Michael Lorenzen, Aaron Nola, and Dominic Canzone.
Notable names: Longtime pitcher Adam Ottavino and 2022 stolen-base leader Jon Berti aren’t on MLB rosters right now, but are on the Team Italy squad.
Highest Achievers: Claudio Scotti and Gabriele Quattrini are the two lone players from Serie A1, and so it’s safe to assume they are the best Italian players that their domestic league has to offer.
Ones to Watch: Beyond Aldegheri (who hasn’t had enough MLB games to lose prospect status), the top prospects on the Italian squad include outfielder Dante Nori (Philadelphia No. 7), third-baseman Andrew Fischer (Milwaukee No. 6), and outfielder Nick Morabito (Mets No. 13).
Manager/Coaching Staff: Francisco Cervelli manages the squad, with former big-leaguers like Sal Fasano, Jorge Posada, Dave Righetti, and Alex MaestrI (an actual Italian who played in Japan).
Outlook: Italy’s many “passport players” make it a threat to almost anyone, but it also isn’t a team that can be expected to seriously threaten to go deep (although they could, because baseball is weird like that). Their most-likely role is that of spoiler.
Brazil
About The Country: The largest economy of South America, Brazil is also notable for the Amazon rain forest, being the only country in the hemisphere that speaks Portuguese, and its great soccer tradition.
Baseball History: Brazil’s baseball heritage is, unique amongst the Western Hemisphere, because of Japan, not America. Brazil has a long history of Japanese immigrants, and they brought their love of baseball with them. In addition, Cuban coaches often hold clinics and provide aid to Brazil: Yan Gomes, the first Brazilian MLB player, got into the game because his father was a friend with a Cuban baseball coach.
International Baseball History: Brazil is usually an also-ran in international baseball competition, outgunned by most of Latin America. However, this is their third WBC appearance, and they also had a silver medal at the 2023 Pan-Am Games. They are currently 22nd in the WBSC world rankings.
Road to the WBC: Brazil qualified for this WBC by winning a qualifying round in Arizona, beating Germany 6-4 to grab the second qualifying spot from the event.
Brazil’s Baseball League: The Campeonato Brasileiro de Beisebol (“Brazilian Baseball Championship”), an amateur league with about 12 teams.
Brazilian MLB Players: Five players from Brazil have played in MLB, although there are no active players from Brazil. One of the previous MLB players, Thyago Vieira, is on the squad.
Notable names: The most notable names are literally that: names. Dante Bichette Jr., Lucas Ramirez (son of Manny Ramirez) and 17-year-old Joseph Contreras (son of Jose Contreras) are all on the squad due to having Brazilian mothers. Bo Bichette considered playing, but decided against it when he changed teams this offseason.
Highest Achievers: The connections between Japanese and Brazilian baseball remain strong, and several players in or formerly in NPB are on the squad, including pitchers Hugo Kanabushi (who now plays back in Brazil), Oscar Nakaoshi (who now plays in the Japanese Industrial Leagues), and most notably Bo Takahashi, who remains with the Seibu Lions. Outfielder Leonardo Reginatto reached as high as AAA in America, while Tiago Da Silva and Eric Pardinho are in Mexico.
Ones to Watch: Two players of Brazilian descent on the squad play in Division I of the NCAA, both right-handed pitchers: Contreras (who is signed to play at Vanderbilt) and Tomas Lopez (Columbia).
Manager/Coaching Staff: Yuichi Matsumoto was a long-time player in NPB and continues to coach there. His coaching staff includes guys like Andre Rienzo, Paulo Orlando, and Yan Gomes, who all played in the big leagues.
Outlook: Brazil is likely playing Great Britain for a chance to avoid getting relegated, but in baseball… you never know.
Pool Outlook: Team USA and Mexico should win this pool, but Italy could surprise. Great Britain and Brazil are likely playing to avoid relegation.
- USA
- Mexico
- Italy
- Great Britain
- Brazil
The Baseball Continuum 