Before Opening day there is the World Baseball Classic. Every year since 2006 teams from around the world square off to become the best baseball team in the world. This year Japan secured their third title against the United States in the championship game. The game was close 3-2 in the ninth inning, the game ended in a standoff between teammates Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani struck out Trout on a 3-2 count to win the title.

One of the fan favorite teams of the World Baseball Classic was the Czech republic. The Czech republic had one major leaguer on the team (Eric Sogard) with the rest of the players working normal every day jobs, one of which was a high school history teacher. The Czech team even upset China winning 8-5.

Countries take the world baseball classic super seriously.  Players from Dominican Republic said they would rather win the world baseball classic over the world series. One player even earned citizenship to Mexico by playing for Mexico’s team. Baseball as a sport has gone international and the world baseball classic allows athletes from around the world to showcase their abilities to the rest of the world and in front of MLB teams.