Per a tweet from Enrique Rojas of ESPN, the World Baseball Classic will not be played in 2021. Bob Nightengale of The USA Today adds that the next rendition of the WBC will be played in either 2023 or 2025. It was scheduled to begin on March 9th, 2021, and would last until March 21st, 2021.
With so many uncertainties about baseball, both in the US and overseas, the International Baseball Foundation has made the decision that it would be impossible to hold the World Baseball Classic as intended. After all, this is a worldwide event. Sixteen different countries, including the US, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Japan, participated in 2017’s tournament. There were several different locations that were used to host the games, including several spots where there have been COVID-19 outbreaks over the last couple of months.
It first took place in 2006 and after a brief respite after the first tournament, the goal was to play a bracket-like tournament every four years. In 2009, David Wright‘s memorable walk-off double allowed the US to come from behind to clinch a spot in the semis, earning him the moniker “Captain America.”
Eight years later, the US won the tournament overall for the first time, defeating Seth Lugo and Team Puerto Rico in the finals, at Dodger Stadium.
Current Mets who participated in 2017’s WBC include Seth Lugo, Edwin Díaz, Marcus Stroman (United States), Jeurys Familia (Dominican Republic), and Brandon Nimmo (Italy).
Earlier this year, Stroman took to social media to recruit Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, Cody Bellinger, and others for Team USA.
