Overview:
Location: Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Teams: USA, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Great Britain
Venue: Chase Field (home of the Arizona Diamondbacks)
Initial Thoughts:
A pool containing the defending WBC champions will always give much to talk about, but this edition of Team USA comes with even more hype than usual and for good reason. Even with the losses taken through withdrawals and injuries this is a great squad. North American rivals Canada and Mexico will strive to dethrone the champs and bring strong teams to the group. Colombia is a sneaky good outfit and Team GB is ripe for an upset or two.
Mark DeRosa’s team contains the player of the 2010’s, Mike Trout, and a litany of other stars. Mexico is bringing perhaps its best ever team to this competition even with the recent loss of Alejandro Kirk. Canada will look for its first big breakthrough in a WBC after years of frustration and close calls. With Freddie Freeman in tow, we have a great chance to finally break out from the group stage. Colombia are a well balanced team with several MLB pieces including Harold Ramirez who enjoyed a breakout 2022 for the Rays. The UK will be without Jazz Chisolm as injuries in 2022 meant the Marlins held him back but they will be lead forward by Mariners hot prospect Harry Ford as they were during their dream qualifying run last September.
Chase Field is no stranger to the WBC. It is home field for the Americans but also for Mexico in many ways given the proximity to that country and the very significant presence of Mexican-Americans in the Phoenix area. That game will be a barn burner for sure. Team Canada knows this place well too as this was the site of that infamous brawl versus Mexico in the 2013 tournament. Colombia and Great Britain are playing at Chase Field for the first time at the WBC and Team GB is one of the three debutants at this edition.
USA:
The defending champions come bearing expectations of repeating the feat of 2017. Luckily, the squad is in place to pull off such an accomplishment. Yes, they have suffered a few losses such as Clayton Kershaw and Logan Webb plus Trevor Story and other pieces but the stars and stripes still have a formidable setup for Mark DeRosa to deploy. Having no less than Ken Griffey Jr. as hitting coach also helps. Speaking of hall of fame level hitters, the USA will be able to count on the likes of Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Trea Turner, Mookie Betts, and the player of the 2010’s Mike Trout. Supporting this core are all stars such as Jeff McNeil, Cedric Mullins, Kyle Tucker, Tim Anderson etc. Young stud Bobby Witt Jr. is all in also and this team has the luxury of two all-star catchers in J.T. Realmuto and Will Smith. Pitching includes all-star level starters like Lance Lynn and Miles Mikolas plus Cardinals legend Adam Wainwright. The bullpen is deep; very deep. Rays standouts from 2022 Brooks Raley (formerly of the KBO as is Merrill Kelly) and Jason Adam are in. Ryan Pressly, Daniel Bard and Kendall Graveman lurk in the late innings. Bullpen depth is key especially given pitch limits on starters in this competition so even though starting pitching has taken some hits, a deep bullpen helps mitigate.
Team USA won the 2017 edition but they have also crashed out twice in the second round (2006, 2013) but did make the semis in 2009. The home of baseball has a long history of international success for obvious reasons including Olympic gold in 2000, silver in 2021 (supposed to have been 2020) and bronze in 1996 and 2008. It’s safe to say that anything less than repeating as champs or at least making back to the final would be bitterly disappointing for an American squad that is being billed as their strongest yet. As far as the group is concerned, they are heavy favorites to top the group and expectations will be extremely high. Team USA should get out of round one as it has at every WBC thus far but given what Pool D looks like, it would be foolhardy to assume anything for the quarterfinal even with a squad like this.
Canada:
Our boys are looking for their first major WBC breakthrough. A poor 2017 WBC is in the rearview mirror and a nice crop of young talent is perhaps what we need here. We have starpower on the coaching staff also with Hall of Famer Larry Walker multi-time all-star Russell Martin in tow. Ernie Whitt is once again the manager as he has been since the first WBC, the only man with that distinction. On this squad, the ghost of Canada past, the ghost of Canada present, and the ghost of Canada future are all present. Veterans Adam Loewen, Scott Mathieson, John Axford and Andrew Albers are on the pitching staff for one more kick at the can. Current stars include Freddie Freeman who is the unquestioned leader of the squad, Cardinals standout Tyler O’Neill and Guardians starter Cal Quantrill who will have his father Paul on the coaching staff. A nice crop of young prospects includes Bo Naylor, Denzel Clarke, Otto Lopez, Matt Brash, and Owen Caissie. This edition of Team Canada brings a nice blend of experience and youth. Unfortunately, we will be missing Nick Pivetta due to Covid, and will also have to do without Josh Naylor, Jameison Taillon and James Paxton.
Canada has a history of frustration at the WBC, having crashed out in round one each time. Performances were creditable in 2006 and 2013 with an upset win over the US in the former tournament but also a near upset loss to South Africa and that famous win and fight against Mexico in 2013. 2006 remains our strongest result though. Back to back losses at home ended our 2009 WBC (I was in the crowd for the USA game and still have the program) and 2017 was an unmitigated disaster with an unacceptable -18 run differential. Canada has never won an Olympic medal in baseball but finished fourth in Athens and we do have two Pan-Am golds (2011, 2015). I hope we can finally break through in 2023 and reach the latter stages of this WBC. Baseball is growing in Canada and lots of talented young players are making their way through major league farm systems that we will see here, and we can be extremely thankful that Freddie Freeman, though born in the US and more than capable of making team USA, loves this country enough to wear our jersey instead. That alone makes our chances so much better and hopefully even though we are missing a number of Canadian MLB players, he can lead us to a breakthrough.
Mexico:
Losing Alejandro Kirk will put a significant dent into a Mexican team carrying high expectations but this is still the most formidable Mexican squad I can recall at a WBC. Just the starting pitching would be among the better rotations in MLB. Julio Urias, Jose Urquidy, Taijuan Walker, Patrick Sandoval and Javier Assad makes for a very nice starting staff with a legit ace and four solid hurlers behind him. The bullpen is solid too and Giovani Gallegos lurking in the 9th inning is no joke. Mexico will be tough to score against with this pitching staff. Also, Oliver Perez will be one of the mighty handful who have played in all five WBC tournaments. Mexico can hit too. Brewers masher Rowdy Tellez is in tow as well as Luis Urias and Isaac Paredes. Randy Arozarena is the main star though with his five tool skillset. Alex Verdugo also adds depth to an already good lineup. This team is deep and impressive even without Kirk, Andres Munoz and Ramon Urias.
Mexico has a complicated history at the WBC. On one hand, they did make the second round in both 2006 and 2009. On the other, they crashed out in bizarre fashion in 2013, upsetting the US in between lackluster losses to Italy and Canada. In 2017, those same Italians snatched victory from them with maybe the greatest 9th inning comeback in WBC history and yet Mexico still picked up a nice win against Venezuela. A history of underachieving tortures them, but the potential is there for more. Mexico were 4th and 3rd at the 2015 and 2019 premier 12 tournaments for example. They also qualified for the Tokyo Olympics but these ended in a winless disaster that has many in Mexico questioning if Benji Gil is the right bench boss for this WBC. He will have to silence the doubters. Luckily, he has the players to do it and Mexican baseball legend Vinny Castilla by his side on the coaching staff. Mexico are expected to reach the knockout stages and anything beyond that is gravy given how Pool D is set up. Failure to get out the group though will bring out the pitchforks though.
Colombia:
Colombia come into the 2023 WBC looking to build off of a creditable performance in the 2017 edition as debutants. They bring a team with plenty of MLB level talent and some good prospects to Phoenix. Veteran MLB hurlers Jose Quintana and Julio Teheran will lead the rotation. Jorge Alfaro is a solid receiver and a game caller who is a perfect fit for what is mostly a very young pitching staff. Losing Donovan Solano will be a blow but they still have Gio Urshela and 2022 revelation Harold Ramirez to lean on in the lineup. They also have plenty of holdvers from 2017 who now come into the tournament with much needed experience.
Colombia first attempted to qualify for the 2013 WBC but failed to do so. They did reach the WBC for 2017 though and though they did go out in round one they proved a tough customer only losing 3-2 to the US in extra innings on a controversial call at home plate (had they won the eventual champs would have gone out in round one) and beating Canada. They will see both teams again this year. Colombia have never played Olympic baseball or played at the Premier 12 tournament. Colombia are not expected to make it out of the group but they were not in 2017 either and came rather close to doing just that. They have the ability to score an upset or two so watch out.
Great Britain:
The debutants in this group are no slouches. They romped through qualifying and showed both the ability to dominate and the grit to not break in tough moments. The roster includes some MLB vets on the pitching staff such as Akeel Morris and Vance Worley. CTBC Brothers pitcher and Taiwan Series winner Tyler Viza is in too. Heroes from qualifying to watch include outfielders D’Shawn Knowles and Anfernee Seymour as well as Matt Koperniak who was so crucial in punching the ticket to the WBC in that Spain game. That said, the undisputed star is Mariners catching prospect Harry Ford. “May The Ford be with them” was the cry and their Ford did respond in a big way all through qualifying. Harry Ford was very much an Alpha Plus during those six days in Regensburg and a big reason why the Brits are here for the first time.
Great Britain is an emerging power in international baseball. They are taking part in the WBC for the first time after failed attempts to qualify in 2013 and 2017. Sadly, they will be missing Jazz Chisholm who was part of their attempt to qualify for the 2017 edition. Team GB has no Olympic or Premier 12 experience but has medalled twice at the European Baseball Championships (1967, 2007). That said, they are not one of the three major European baseball powers but they are one of several now looking to break the dominance of that triumvirate. Expectations will be predictably low to the point of being disparaging, but this will come from those who haven’t been paying much attention. This is a solid team with a can-do spirit and no pressure. Even one win can also be a boon for British baseball especially as the London Series returns this year. If they do get that first win out of the way, there’s no telling how far they can go. Ford knows.
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