If, in the aftermath of the Winter Olympics, many Minnesota Twins fans find themselves craving the glorious camaraderie of global sportsmanship, baseball offers a tonic to their late-winter malaise.
Return, baseball cries, to my international grounds. Put aside your quarterback frustrations and first-round fears. For a time, the onslaught of franchise-gutting trades and payroll imbalances shall not reach you.
This Thursday, for your early spring enjoyment, the sixth World Baseball Classic arrives.
If you happened to miss the 2023 finale, allow me to show you how the final at-bat went down. If you saw it, you certainly remember it — and won’t mind this chance to reminisce.
Such moments, as Joe Davis articulates, are “impossible theater.”
While it might be greedy to expect a showdown of such cinematic aspirations, the rosters, personnel, and storylines of the 2026 WBC are certain to prove a riveting prelude to the 2026 MLB season, if not a sort of coda to the Olympics themselves.
It’s March baseball, but with an Olympic flavor, and far more to play for: gold medals, a Tiffany and Co. trophy, and the requisite discourse about pride for one’s country (and whatever that means to you).
And the Twins will be there — for the most part.
Leading Minnesota’s rostered players is, of course, Byron Buxton, who couldn’t be happier to be on Team USA:
I never had a chance to play with Team USA coming up, so to be able to put those colors on and put ‘USA’ across the chest is a blessing…I’m grateful for the opportunity and I’m very thankful. It was a no-brainer…to be able to get the opportunity to come back around…it’s a blessing.
A quick assessment of the roster may indicate Buxton will serve as Team USA’s fourth outfielder. However, Statcast gives us pause: in his age-32 season, Buxton’s sprint speed still ranks fourth-best in all of baseball, and second-best among all outfielders (only St. Louis’ Victor Scott II ranks higher).
Buxton will serve as one of the two right-handed bats in the outfield, alongside team captain Aaron Judge (NYY). The other two outfielders, Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC) and the newly-added Roman Anthony (BOS), bat from the left side.
Tough as it may be to believe: Buxton is still – by far – the fastest outfielder on Team USA, and the second-fastest on the roster. Against a lefty-heavy staff like Venezuela, Australia, or Japan, Minnesota’s centerfielder should see considerable time in the lineup.
A bit bleaker is the situation on the pitcher’s mound. It will not surprise Twins fans to learn Pablo López won’t be pitching for Team Venezuela at all. Joe Ryan’s status remains uncertain for the WBC, just as it does for his innings of spring training. And while there is cause for optimism, if we see Ryan and his league-best fastball appear in the Classic, it likely won’t be until knockout play begins on Friday, March 13.
Other Twins players who might have a part to play for their respective national teams:
- Relief pitcher Dan Altavilla (ITA), whom the Twins recently signed, threw a respectable 29 innings for the Chicago White Sox last year and caught the eye of new Twins bullpen coach, LaTroy Hawkins.
- Eduardo Salazar, currently rostered to Venezuela’s extremely deep pitching pool, has an opportunity in the Classic to reestablish some of the promise he showed in 2024.
- Team Puerto Rico pitcher Luis Quiñones, also signed in December after being cast out from the Toronto Blue Jays, can craft himself into a potential solution to Minnesota’s pitching issues by delivering a showcase of his talent on a much larger stage.
Beyond Minnesota’s modest eight-player contribution to the national teams of the world (the Seattle Mariners and the New York Mets have the most, at 18 each), the WBC affords us the chance to see the very best of baseball every night of the tournament. If you’ve never had the chance to see the impossible Paul Skenes take the mound, his two WBC starts have just become appointment viewing for you.
Team Venezuela looks built to challenge for their first WBC title, and we know the fire Ronald Acuña Jr. (ATL) can bring from Olympus. Team Dominican Republic boasts a peerless lineup of thunder-crack bats. That lineup? Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (TOR), Juan Soto (NYM), Oneil Cruz (PIT), and Fernando Tatis Jr. (SD).
It’s hard not to consider Team Japan a favorite to reach the later rounds, having won three of the five previous Classics. Despite Shohei Ohtani (LAD) stepping back from pitching duties, his at-bats are still the most electric in baseball, and the WBC is a source of great pride for the four-time MVP.
But beyond all that, the World Baseball Classic in 2026 is the perfect moment for baseball to transform from a sport and back into a game, if only for a few weeks. Yes, the WBC wants to grab our consumer impulse with fresh New Era hats and yet another March “bracket challenge.”
But in an international event such as this, play supersedes competition. Wiewers’ preferred teams may not advance; it is a tournament, after all. Still, those watching are certain to find something — a player, a matchup, a storyline — to carry their attention through to the final on Tuesday, March 17, a scant eight days before the 2026 regular season opens.
And when the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants take the field that night, we must prepare ourselves for the looming stormwall discussion of labor difficulties, salary caps, and expansion talk. The paratext of the sport is sure to overwhelm the 162 games each club will play in the coming months, and it will not take long for the discourse of baseball to be exhausted with the possibility that Major League Baseball may not return in 2027.
That is a trouble we are better off leaving unborrowed until later this year. For now, baseball summons us to its growing international self. It invites us to San Juan, Houston, Tokyo, and Miami, to watch the free agents of a sport play instead of a series of games, kitted in the proud colors of their home countries.
The 2026 World Baseball Classic begins Wednesday, March 4. Team USA begins Pool B play against Team Brazil in Houston at 7:00 pm CT on Friday, March 6, on FOX.
