By: Rishabh Shah

Belz_ on Flickr ​​photo link

Midway through 2023, baseball players from all around the world have committed to represent their country in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Some of these players include Shohei Ohtani declaring for Japan, Mike Trout for the US, and Juan Soto for the Dominican Republic. The three teams just mentioned are the top three teams odds-wise, to win the event. 

Regarding group management, each group’s top two teams prevail to the quarter finals held in Miami, Florida. In my opinion, each group was evenly decided based on the skill of the teams. 

As of now, the tournament has ended but definitely on a memorable note. Many upsets and surprises have happened leaving fans all over the world in shock. Teams like Cuba, Australia, Czech Republic, Mexico and Australia all come to mind regarding the surprises this season. Cuba played better than expected, as they went a decent 2-2 in the group matches and made it to the knockouts on run differential. Although Cuba’s route to the quarter-finals wasn’t filled with talentful teams (like DR or Japan), it is still a surprise that they made it. 

The Czech Republic is a country that had banned the sport of baseball once upon a time. Although they hadn’t achieved any wins, the DR were leading the game against the mighty Samurai Japanese team for a number of innings. A team made up of electricians, plumbers, principals, and geography had an advantage against Shohei Ohtani and Japan. Although their lead quickly diminished, it was fun while it lasted before Japan took the win with a final score of 10-2.

USA was a team in the past that was never as good as they were supposed to be. Many players used to opt out of the WBC due to MLB team curfew or guidelines but, this year things were different – the American players went all in. 

Japan is a team that has always been all in and has gotten a great result from winning 2 and by winning the 2023 edition, that number would become 3. The 2 super-teams clashed in the finals, providing a thrilling game that came down to the last pitch. Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike trout in the bottom of the 9th inning with a full count to win. 

This WBC pops the question, will this be the greatest baseball tournament yet? With the ups and downs this season, the wins and losses all contributed to greatness in the end.

Works Cited

“World Baseball Classic.” MLB.com, https://www.mlb.com/world-baseball-classic. Accessed 28 March 2023.

“World Baseball Classic – News, Scores, Schedule, Standings.” ESPN, https://www.espn.com/world-baseball-classic/. Accessed 28 March 2023.