What is the World Baseball Classic?

Baseball 09 Mar 23

There’s nothing better than an underdog story and Great Britain are certainly providing one at this month’s World Baseball Classic.

It’s a tournament that will capture the imagination of the world from Taiwan to Miami and houses megastars like Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout.

But it's a new one for sports fans on these shores - understandably, given GB have never participated before.

Welcome to the story of a group of British-qualified players, ranging from students to MLB millionaires, trying to upset the odds.

What is the World Baseball Classic?

The World Baseball Classic is the World Cup of baseball - it’s modelled on the Football World Cup. It’s the richest, biggest tournament outside of Major League Baseball.

This is the fifth edition with the first having taken place in 2006.

Group matches will be staged in Taiwan, Tokyo, Phoenix and Miami, with the final in Florida on 21 March.

It will see 20 teams from four continents compete for the title of world champion.

Is baseball in the Olympics?

The short answer is no. It won’t feature at Paris 2024.

It featured eight times as a demonstration sport down the decades and was reintroduced as a medal discipline at Barcelona 1992, before dropping off after Beijing 2008.

Tokyo 2020 added baseball and softball to the programme given their popularity in Japan.

Baseball is one of nine sports shortlisted for inclusion at the behest of the local organisers of LA 2028, with GB Baseball directing their efforts towards involvement in those Games.

Its Olympic future will be decided when the programme is finalised at October’s IOC Session.

How did Great Britain qualify?

“Qualifying for us was a stretch target,” says GB Baseball’s Head of Delegation Gary Anderson. “We had to perform unbelievably well to qualify. That was our cup final.”

In September 2022, Britain stunned the baseball world in beating France, Germany and Spain to qualify for the big dance.

Spain led the must-win final for nine innings before GB came roaring back and Alex Crosby drove in the winning run to spark wild celebrations in Regensburg, Germany.

It all means Britain are making their World Baseball Classic 2023 debut as one of two teams new to the tournament, alongside Czech Republic.

Who is playing for Great Britain?

The biggest star in the GB squad is Trayce Thompson, fresh from a breakout year with the LA Dodgers.

Infielder Lucius Fox played ten games for the Washington Nationals last season and is expected to be a key figure.

Qualifying heroes Crosby, Matt Koperniak and Justin Wylie all return and six players in the squad were born in the UK.

The full roster can be found here.

What are our chances?

The latest odds for outright winner of the tournament have Great Britain at 40,000-1.

That means the bookies see them as more likely to win the WBC than Leicester were to win the Premier League - but not by much.

GB go to the tournament as massive underdogs and one of the least-fancied of the 20 teams.

And it’s fair to say the group stage draw hasn’t been kind. They open up against - gulp - reigning champions USA and go on to face Canada, Mexico and Colombia.

“If I’m honest, winning one game would be an unbelievable achievement,” says Anderson, whose background lies in Olympic sport as a former Performance Director at the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association and Team Leader at the Winter Olympics.

“Our expectation has shifted since the qualifiers. We’re not going there to enjoy the ride and enjoy the show - we want to be competitive.

“We don’t have a bad baseball team, it’s a strong team. We’ve been quietly rising up the rankings and that trajectory has taken a very steep upward curve in the last 12 months.

“This is an incredible opportunity for us to put baseball on the map in Great Britain.”