The World Baseball Basic is formally again! We’re been operating preview content material for the final two weeks, however now that the match is definitely underway, you’ve acquired to select a workforce to root for. You could even have to select one workforce from every of the 4 swimming pools. That will help you select a your favourite, I’ll offer a motive to cheer for every of the 20 groups within the discipline. We began with Pool C and Pool D yesterday. Pool B will run later right this moment.
Canada
The massive motive to root for Canada is that this would possibly lastly be the 12 months the workforce breaks by and makes it to the knockout spherical. With Puerto Rico on the prime, Pool A is on no account a cakewalk, however the second spot doesn’t have a hands-down favourite. Baseball America’s energy rankings have Canada ranked seventh within the match, with Cuba ninth, Colombia 14th, and Panama sixteenth. Canada’s outfield goes to be actually enjoyable. Let’s break it down.
Proper Discipline: When wholesome, Tyler O’Neill is a human mountain who hits majestic dingers. (When not wholesome, he’s nonetheless a human mountain, simply with out the dingers.) O’Neill had an unpleasant 2025 season, moving into simply 54 video games for the Orioles (because of not wholesome) and operating a wRC+ of 93. Nonetheless, the underlying numbers weren’t unhealthy in any respect. He posted a paltry .218 BABIP and a strong .360 xwOBA, the second-highest mark of his profession. The small pattern measurement is messing with us right here. O’Neill is only one 12 months faraway from a 2024 season through which he launched 31 dwelling runs with a 133 wRC+, and he’s raked in spring coaching. He additionally batted .615 within the 2023 WBC. Be careful.
Middle Discipline: O’Neill was as soon as a plus defender, however age and accidents have slowed him down, and his numbers in recent times aren’t nice. Fortunately, Denzel Clarke can cowl for him. Denzel Clarke can cowl all the pieces. The A’s middle fielder has a weak bat, however you would make a robust argument that he was the perfect defensive outfielder in baseball final 12 months. In response to Statcast, his 11 fielding runs ranked thirtieth amongst all outfielders, regardless that his 383 2/3 innings performed ranked 123rd. On a per-inning foundation, nobody might contact him.
Left Discipline: We’ve acquired extra energy within the corners. Marlins prospect Owen Caissie simply got here in at 62 on our High 100 Prospects checklist. Final 12 months with the Cubs, he struck out a whopping 41% of the time in his temporary main league debut, however he additionally launched 22 homers in 99 video games at Triple-A Iowa. The 23-year-old Caissie goes to make loud contact or whiff huge. Both method, it’ll be enjoyable to look at. Ought to we end with some gratuitous Denzel Clarke highlights? After all we must always.
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Colombia
If you wish to root for the workforce that’s most certainly to have a pitcher take a deep breath and say, “I’m getting too outdated for this sh*t,” then Colombia is your squad. The workforce options the beginning pitching duo of Jose Quintana and Julio Teheran. The 37-year-old Quintana made his main league debut in 2012, and he’ll be suiting up for the Rockies this season. Teheran is a mere 35, however he debuted for the Braves in 2011 on the tender age of 20. He spent 2025 within the Mexican League and is at the moment a free agent. If he pitches nicely, he might earn one final experience. Collectively, Quintana and Teheran have performed for 11 completely different main league groups and made greater than 600 main league begins. Their backs should be killing them.
Neither pitcher appeared within the 2023 WBC, however each pitched brilliantly in 2017, giving up one run apiece of their respective begins. Teheran gained his, however Quintana earned a no-decision as Colombia went on to lose in additional innings. This workforce additionally has an actual shot right here. Colombia will certainly be counting on expertise greater than youth – I didn’t even point out the 38-year-old Donovan Solano – however Pool A is fairly large open, and the workforce allowed only one run throughout its three-game qualifiers. How time flies.
Cuba
As soon as once more, it’s all in regards to the arms. Cuba is with out a number of outstanding main leaguers, however the roster might nicely have sufficient pitching to make it work anyway. We’ve to start out with the 30-year-old Livan Moinelo, who performs in Japan for the SoftBank Hawks. The southpaw debuted in Japan in 2018, and he seemed high-quality in his first season. Then he become the most effective pitchers within the league. Pitching in aid, he ran a 1.32 ERA and a 1.80 FIP from 2019 to 2023. That’s 5 years, and his ERA by no means rose above 1.69! In 2023, he put up a 0.98 ERA regardless of an elbow challenge and a hip damage that required surgical procedure after the season. Naturally, at that time, SoftBank determined to show him right into a starter. Dangerous transfer with a man who’s coming off surgical procedure and simply put up a sub-one ERA, proper? Don’t fear. Over the previous two years as a starter, Moinelo is 23-8 with a mixed ERA of 1.67. He’s enjoyable to look at, too. He’s listed at simply 5-foot-10 and 154 kilos. He incorporates a four-pitch combine with a giant, crazy curveball he’s not afraid to find within the strike zone and a sneaky mid-90s fastball that appears to leap out of his hand.
If that’s not sufficient, can I curiosity you in Raidel Martínez, who spent the primary 10 years of his profession with the Chunichi Dragons and is now with the Yomiuri Giants? Martínez is in some methods the alternative of Moinelo. He’s a lanky right-handed nearer with a profession 1.99 ERA in NPB. The final time he ran an ERA above 2.00 was 2021. In 2023, he allowed simply two runs in 48 appearances. He posted a 0.39 ERA. Over the previous two years, he has a mixed 89 saves. Perhaps he ought to strive beginning.
Final, you could be conversant in Yariel Rodríguez, who put up a 3.08 ERA throughout 66 appearances for the Blue Jays final 12 months. Because of an unpleasant stroll price, his peripherals weren’t as rosy, and he acquired lit up within the playoffs. Nonetheless his fastball touches the higher 90s.
Panama
On Wednesday, MLB.com revealed an article titled “World Baseball Basic companions with greater than 150 manufacturers from around the globe.” Do you know that there was an entity referred to as World Baseball Basic, Inc.? I’m betting you didn’t, as a result of nothing kills the romance of a giant worldwide sporting occasion like considering the filthy lucre that makes the entire thing run. And but, proper there on MLB.com, nestled amongst tales about thrilling prospects and grizzled managers and sibling connections, is a press launch trumpeting the triumph of company synergy that’s the WBC. What does this should do with Panama? Properly, I’m writing up completely different causes to root for 20 completely different groups, and I figured with 150 completely different company companions around the globe, not less than one among them deserved to be rooted for. So I simply picked one.
Congratulations, Panama. Positive, we might be cheering for outdated mates like Christian Bethancourt and Rubén Tejada and thrilling prospects like Enrique Bradfield Jr., however largely we might be cheering in your jersey sponsor, Caja de Ahorros, which is a financial institution.
Let’s go Caja de Ahorros! Who needs a checking account? Loans for everyone! Panama means enterprise.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico has one of many higher rosters within the match, but it surely’s arduous to speak about this workforce with out speaking about what may need been. The insurance coverage suppliers for the WBC refused to insure not less than eight completely different Puerto Rican gamers, together with stars Carlos Correa, José Berríos, Victor Caratini, and Francisco Lindor, citing an elevated damage threat. One imagines that the actuaries on the insurance coverage corporations threw a small, unhappy breakroom get together with soda and mini cupcakes once they came upon that Lindor had injured himself anyway. That every one this occurred proper earlier than the match began added insult to damage, and the workforce thought-about pulling out altogether. It’s not all that usually that you simply get to mix two really rewarding passions: rooting for a baseball workforce and heaping scorn on insurance coverage corporations, so you need to actually seize this chance whilst you can.
In case you’re in search of a extra constructive motive to cheer for Puerto Rico, look no additional than the catcher place. With out Caratini, Group Puerto Rico is operating out 39-year-old Martín Maldonado and 35-year-old Christian Vázquez. These two share greater than only a place, a sophisticated age, and a fatherland. They’re each no-bat catchers who don’t grade out nicely in keeping with the superior defensive metrics. They’re nonetheless taking part in commonly as a result of wherever they go, their workforce believes they’re bringing the intangibles. It’s Nichols’ Regulation of Catcher Protection in motion at a world scale, and Maldonado and Vázquez are taking part in their commerce below supervisor Yadier Molina. Can vibes-based catching take Puerto Rico to a championship? Perhaps, however provided that you imagine arduous sufficient.