Baseball's best found purpose and passion in 2023 WBC

MIAMI — The fun and games are over. The players are packing up, flying back to their countries or returning to spring training to prepare for the MLB regular season. Endings are often bittersweet and nostalgic. But this World Baseball Classic was different, more significant, for many players. To understand how meaningful the tournament was, just listen to the athletes who participated in it. 

"It was probably the funnest 10 days I've ever had," Team USA captain Mike Trout said. "It reminded me of travel ball when I was a kid, just the friendships. You grind every day and play against these guys and now they're your teammates. The whole WBC was special for me." 

Trout, despite his decorated 12-year big-league career, hasn't played too many meaningful baseball games for a Los Angeles Angels organization that annually fails to make the playoffs. The three-time MVP is typically toiling in relative obscurity come August. The WBC was Trout’s first real extended stretch of baseball on a national stage, complete with unhinged passion from fans and a nail-biting atmosphere. And guess what? Trout loved it so much that he has already committed to playing in the next iteration, which will take place in 2026.

But the WBC isn’t only meaningful for players used to spending Octobers at home. Those with no playoff experience and those who know what it’s like to play in multiple World Series alike agreed this international tourney is on another level. 

"The combination of nationalism and sport is really, really powerful and if you have an opportunity to participate in an event that combines the two, you have to take it," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said.

Throughout the week, several American players described their WBC accomplishments — from Trea Turner’s grand slam against Venezuela to Paul Goldschmidt’s two-run home run against Cuba — as career highs. And these remarks were often unprompted. There’s just nothing else these MLB players can compare the rush to. 

Winning alongside an assortment of elite stars with "USA" written across their chests, all to prove America is No. 1 in the world in baseball, poses an entirely different sort of challenge and pressure. The most elite players in the world crave those moments under the bright lights in sell-out stadiums.

Turner has played in 43 career playoff games and crushed home runs in three of them, yet he titled the grand slam as his highest individual achievement in baseball. And then take Kyle Schwarber, who won a World Series with the 2016 Cubs and fell just short of the title with the pennant-winning Phillies last year. The gregarious slugger said the WBC was special for him because the environment of playing against countries versus major-league teams is unmatched. 

"Yeah, this is our Olympics," Schwarber said. "For us to represent our country and to see the way that the fans have been reacting in our games to where, you know what, this is playoffs before the season even starts. It's a great atmosphere for everyone, it's a great atmosphere for us as players and this is the atmosphere that we all love to thrive in and be in. It's great to be able to play against all different kinds of competition."

This year’s USA team enjoyed playing in the WBC so much that players were visibly melancholy hours before Tuesday’s championship game given that — win or lose — this was the last day. After rubbing elbows with the greatest peers in the sport, picking their brains and working together, it’s almost surreal that players will separate and leave behind the dream-team lineup that united in Miami. 

Of course, that feeling isn’t exclusive to the Americans. Not even a full minute had passed since Shohei Ohtani's exhilarating strikeout of Trout to clinch the title for Japan — a moment the ordinarily stoic two-way star celebrated with unbridled joy — that previously eliminated players began itching for the WBC's next installment. 

"Wow what a tournament," tweeted Francisco Lindor, who played for Puerto Rico. "When are we running it again?"

If it’s still difficult for fans to understand why Turner, Schwarber and other MLB stars are giving more weight to the WBC over their postseason and World Series highlights, the answer lies in winning, and the love for their country. Players who are the best at their craft are always hungry to match up against others who are at the top of their game. Mets ace Max Scherzer is always vocal and loud about how he wants to challenge himself by pitching against the best hitters in the game. That same idea translates to the WBC, but in this case, players get to face off against competition they are not as familiar with, which only further motivates them to come out on top.

It was telling that player-driven support of the WBC kicked into another gear after the Edwin Díaz injury, which Manfred took as a sign that the players care deeply about the tournament and didn't want it to end. But Diaz’s knee injury, which will likely cause him to miss the 2023 season, and Jose Altuve’s hit by pitch that will require thumb surgery, sparked debates. Fans criticized the WBC, asking legitimate questions like why the Classic is played in March, setting players up to miss significant time in the regular season if they sustain injuries, and how pitchers are supposed to ramp up in a playoff setting. 

But the players who are participating in the tournament believe the WBC is so meaningful that it negates most, if not all of those concerns. Those injuries can happen anywhere, including in a backfield spring training game while playing it safe. And even beyond the injury issues, MLB players agreed that their WBC at-bats and intense matchups were the best way to get ready for the upcoming season. 

"Everyone's entitled to an opinion, but at the end of the day the opinions that matter most are probably the players that are out here playing for their countries and the people that are tuning in every single night that root on their country and their team," Schwarber said. 

Playing in the WBC can also have a permanent impact. David Wright, Team USA’s captain in the 2006 WBC, often mentions how meaningful the tournament was for him and that ‘06 squad. The only two jerseys Wright has hanging up in his house are his 2015 World Series jersey and his WBC threads. It’s another indication that the WBC doesn’t only matter to players while they’re participating in it. They’re creating memories that will last their lifetimes. 

So, if you're one of the those people still complaining about the WBC, try following the players' lead on the matter. As the past two weeks proved, the passion and electricity of the tourney is unparalleled. Plus, it's the players putting in the work. All we have to do is sit back and enjoy it.

"People look at it differently than others. But what we had in there was special," Trout insisted. "With injuries, it sucks, you hate to see it. But I think if you have the chance to do this, I highly recommend it."

Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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