Team USA! World Baseball Classic champs!

By Reid Pitts, Staff Writer, Staff Photographer

The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an Olympics-like tournament that occurs every 4 years. Countries gather teams and major league players go home to play their roots.

The WBC started back in 2006, and the USA has been there since the start. Only finishing in 8th of 16, the US left the 2006 WBC with a 3-3 record. The eventual winner of the 2006 WBC, Japan, would go to win it all again in 2009, where the US finished in 4th place with a 4-4 record.

While, the 2013 WBC saw the US finish in 6th with another 3-3 record, 2017 Team USA proved why America is the king of baseball. With a star studded roster containing a large portion of MLB super stars, The US finished in 1st place with a 6-2 record. The US was very consistent in the early pool rounds, only loosing two close games, and made it to a nail biting, tie breaker game with the previous champs, the Dominican Republic. Everyone was on the edge of their seats, as the DR finished 8-0 last WBC. However, with a huge homer by Giancarlo Stanton and a stellar catch by Adam Jones which prevented the DR from achieving a home run. The US won, 6-3. Following, Team USA faced two-time world champion Japan in a rainy 2-1 victory. Team USA then advanced onto the championship round against undefeated Puerto Rico. In a surprising tun of events, Team USA won 8 nothing against Puerto Rico and sealed their first ever WBC championship title. Finishing with a 6-2 record and a championship trophy, Team USA has high hopes for the 2021 WBC.