St. Louis Cardinals: Cardinals in the World Baseball Classic

Following the ever-popular FIFA World Cup, baseball now comes to the international stage in March.  This year marks the 4th ever World Baseball Classic.  Baseball might not be the popular international sport that soccer is, but baseball fans worldwide are incredibly excited to see this tournament.  We will get a chance to see a lot of St. Louis Cardinals players taking the field for their respective country.

The last World Baseball Classic we saw was in 2017, where we saw the United States beat their own territory of Puerto Rico in the championship game.  This tournament is loaded with passion and an opportunity to become a hero for your country.

You get to see many of the world’s best baseball players playing with their compatriots with one goal: lifting that large silver trophy at the end of the tournament.  The 2017 tournament provided us with many memories and breathtaking moments of excitement like Adam Jones robbing a home run from his Baltimore teammate Manny Machado, Javier Baez pointing to Yadier Molina before even applying the tag on a stolen base, Molina back-picking Profar to end a crucial first-inning rally, and finally the United States lifting the trophy at the end.

If the 2023 World Baseball Classic is half as exciting as the 2017 version, then we are still in for an amazing tournament.  Loads of elite players have already committed to playing in the WBC.  Trout, Harper, and Betts are set to lead the loaded USA team with an immaculate outfield.  Juan Soto, Julio Rodriguez, and Manny Machado are going to anchor the star-studded Puerto Rico lineup.  

The tournament will feature an all-star cast of managers.  Ian Kinsler will manage Team Israel, Mark DeRosa will manage Team USA, Mike Piazza will manage Team Italy, and our very own Yadier Molina will be from starting catcher in the 2017 World Baseball Classic to being the skipper for Team Puerto Rico.  

In 2017, the Cardinals were represented by a plethora of players in their system.  Most notably, the Cardinals who participated were Seung-hwan Oh (The Final Boss) for South Korea, Yadier Molina for Puerto Rico, and Carlos Martinez and Alberto Rosario for the Dominican Republic.  Alex Reyes was on the roster to play for the Dominican Republic but suffered an injury right before the tournament.  The Cardinals also had five other minor league players who played for their country in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

The St. Louis Cardinals are on track to be well represented again in this year’s version of the World Baseball Classic.  They currently have five players that have confirmed they will be playing, while many others have either been asked or will most likely be asked to participate.