The World Baseball Classic is a tournament that takes place every four years with teams from around the world. The last tournament took place in 2017 and as happened with everything else, the next iteration that was supposed to be played in 2021, was moved to 2023.

The 2017 tournament brought a lot of attention and was a rousing success by all accounts. The first WBC was in 2006 and won by Japan. The next two tournaments were won by Japan and the Dominican Republic in 2009 and 2013. The United States best finish to that point was fourth in 2009 and with that, no one in the U.S. cared about the event.

The main reason as to why the U.S. had so little success was because the best players in the country couldn't play in the WBC. It wasn't until after the 2013 tournament that Major League Baseball sanctioned the event and thus allowed its players to participate. That changed everything for the 2017 iteration because that meant that all countries with MLB players could invite those guys to be on their roster.

That change by itself changed the face of the WBC overnight because now there were recognizable faces and names on the teams and people could actually put together a rooting interest. The 2017 U.S. team included Chris Archer, Marcus Stroman, Nolan Arenado, Matt Carpenter, Brandon Crawford, Paul Goldschmidt, Eric Hosmer, Adam Jones, Andrew McCutchen, Buster Posey and quite a few other well known major league players.

This influx of talent fundamentally heightened the competition and brought the U.S. its first WBC title over Puerto Rico in a wildly entertaining tournament. The whole event from start to finish was incredibly successful compared to the prior two tournaments and made the WBC sustainable for the future.

2023 is the biggest yet

Now that the WBC is on the map because of 2017, this tournament is gaining steam like never before. Big name players are signing on once again in Pete Alonso, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Tim Anderson, Mookie Betts, and Mike Trout. Given how much fanfare is circling just the announcements that players are agreeing to participate, this tournament is going to carry significant weight.

If you watched the 2017 edition, the emotion and gravity of each game was palpable for anyone who stopped to watch. For the sport of baseball that is often called boring, the tournament was an exciting couple weeks with top-tier baseball and brought a different type of entertainment. It makes sense that MLB has gotten on board with the WBC because it offers a new avenue with greater jeopardy for fans to find the game. It is tough to walk into a MLB season and try to pick a team to root for where you don't know any of the names. The WBC operates just like the Olympics where your allegiance is baked in which makes the introduction exceptionally easier and hopefully carries into MLB.

The 2023 WBC will be contested March 8th-21st in Taiwan, Japan, Phoenix and Miami with qualifiers in Germany and Panama. It has yet to be announced but is readily assumed that MLB Network will televise most if not all of the games giving baseball fans something to root for in the offseason.

The tournament will take place during Spring Training for MLB but it is doubtful that anyone will mind having games that could see your country crowned World Champion over meaningless exhibitions.

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Saints Sports Network is a Christian group that brings you interesting sports coverage. Our name comes from Ephesians 2:18-21 where it notes that all Christians are saints in God's eyes. Therefore we are saints who write about sports but also want to make sure to share the Gospel. That's where Mound Visit comes into play because we all need a visit to the mound from God in good times and bad to recenter our lives and trust in him. We'll do that by highlighting a Bible verse for you to think and pray about in each newsletter that you receive from us.