I Thought The World Series Was King
Baseball is an American game, and the rest of the world in the early 20th century hadn’t developed pro teams. So, of course when a modern championship series between the American and National Leagues was devised in 1903, it wasn’t surprising it was considered a world championship. Who was going to play and compete with us outside of America? Yet over the 20th Century there were other championships that were created. For example, from 1938-2011 there was the Baseball World Cup (Cuba held the record winning 25X). The Olympics made baseball a medal sport starting in 1992 with Cuba winning and then again in 1996. In 2012, however, baseball was removed from the Games, only to be reinstated for 2020 when (in 2021 due to Covid rescheduling) Japan won. Pro baseball players weren’t allowed to compete until 2000, but MLB took issue with its players interrupting their seasons to play in the Olympics. So in 2006 The World Baseball Classic began and found a way to solve the problem for pros.
Who Plays For Whom?
A pro player can start spring training with his club but can break for a few weeks if selected for the World Baseball Classic. The Classic was created with the idea of presenting baseball around the globe. Yet which country can a player represent if he’s from Japan but plays for the Dodgers, an American baseball team? Well, it appears that he can play for either country. For example, Red Sox pitcher Greg Weissert was born in the U.S. but pitched for Italy in the 2026 Classic. His paternal grandmother was an Italian who immigrated to the U.S. Below is a link to eligibility rules:
Quality Of Teams
With some MLB players splitting up to other countries of their heritage, what are the results? The U.S. has won our national game only once, in 2017. Japan won in 2006, 2009, and 2023. Venezuela recently won the 2026 WBC title. Congratulations to Japan and Venezuela on their victories. But with all the celebrations, how many baseball fans consider Japan and Venezuela to be world champs based on the World Baseball Classic wins? Can MLB still claim to have the true world champion? If this was mainly a promotional exercise for baseball, then why get so emotional over a tournament that wasn’t meant to crown a legitimate champion?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz_8z3frdYs
What does it mean to pitch for Italy when you never were born there and your paycheck is from an American team? I’m not asking this rhetorically; players from the Dominican Republic dream of playing MLB in the U.S. Yet they won the WBC in 2013 and lost a close semifinal game to the U.S. this year. Does this suggest that our best MLB teams would lose if the World Series were a true tournament of each country’s best teams? Has the World Series lost its luster? On the other hand, is MLB’s championship the true world championship in terms of collecting players from all countries to form the world’s best team?
Let me know what you think in the comments section.