The World baseball classic is right round the corner and is happening again for the first time since the most recent one being in 2023. These are my top 3 teams that I have to win it all.
1. USA
Not only is this team super stacked by having really good hitters such as Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Bobby Witt Jr, Pete Crow Armstrong, Byron Buxton, Gunnar Henderson, and of course the captain Aaron Judge. But they also have a really good pitching staff including Clayton Kershaw, Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Logan Webb, and flamethrower Mason Miller who actually threw the fastest pitch of the 2025 season being clocked at 104.5 mph.
Team USA is also going to have Will Smith and Cal Raleigh who broke the homerun record in a single season for a catcher. With all the success that we’ve seen with all these players on their own teams and now that they’re all together especially having the 3x mvp winner Aaron Judge I think this team is going to be really hard to beat and will most likely bring home the trophy depending on how everything plays out.
2. Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is by far one of the best countries to ever do it when it comes to producing professional baseball players and I think that plays a big role in this. The roster for this team includes some pretty big power hitters such as Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr, Manny Machado, Julio Rodriguez, and Ketel Marte. For the pitching side that includes Sandy Alcantara, Christopher Sanchez, Luis Severino, Bryan Bello, Camilo Doval, and more.
This team has a lot of potential even bringing in a new addition like Austin Wells who has proven to be pretty good behind the plate. Another thing would be with how we’ve gotten to see players such as Juan Soto being a big part of the New York Yankees making it to the world series in 2024 or Vladimir Guerrero hitting a lot of homeruns against really good team like the Los Angeles Dodgers I think it’s going to be a really good combination of players and won’t be an easy team to get by.
3. Japan
We’ve seen a lot of good players come out of Japan such as Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, and the Chicago White Sox new player being Munetaka Murakami. When you analyze all that these players have done such as Shohei Ohtani throwing over 100mph at a consistent rate or Munetaka Murakami who has been a really anticipated player over the years that can hit homeruns consistently and get on base.
In the most recent World Baseball Classic(2023) Japan won against team USA 3-2 in a final at-bat moment with Shohei Ohtani striking out Mike Trout giving team Japan the win. This will be a dangerous team overall to look out for, but with Shohei not pitching this time due to getting his insurance denied this might turn out being a slight change in this teams overall outcome.
