World Baseball Classic 2023: Top Storylines to Track on This Year's Schedule

After a six-year absence, the World Baseball Classic returns starting on Wednesday with Team USA looking to defend its 2017 title.

There was a tournament scheduled for March 2021, but Major League Baseball canceled the event because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. team won its first WBC title by defeating Japan and Puerto Rico in the championship round. Marcus Stroman was named MVP of the tournament after posting a 2.35 ERA in 15.1 innings over three starts.

Team USA will be on the shortlist of contenders to reach the final in Miami this time around, but they are going to have stiff competition if they hope to repeat as champions.

Here are the top storylines to keep an eye on during the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

---

Will Anyone Stop the Dominican Republic?

The Dominican Republic roster is inarguably the deepest group in the tournament. Manager Rodney Linares can run out a starting lineup that includes, Manny Machado, Juan Soto, Rafael Devers, Wander Franco, Julio Rodríguez and Jeremy Peña.

Toronto Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt told The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal the Dominican squad is "without a doubt the team to beat" because of its lineup depth.

"It probably will go down as the best lineup ever," Bassitt added. "One to nine is an MVP candidate—I mean, literally. We'll compare it to other lineups in like 20 years and say this is still the best one ever."

The lineup did lose some of luster when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. suffered a knee injury in the Toronto Blue Jays' spring training game on March 3. Manager John Schneider doesn't think it will be a serious issue, but Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun reported it will keep the 23-year-old out of the WBC.

The pitching staff features reigning National League Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara and Houston Astros teammates Cristian Javier and Luis García.

Balance is the biggest separating factor for the Dominican Republic and every other team in the field. Some countries have a strong pitching staff and questionable hitting. Others will bring a strong lineup but also a pitching staff that could get lit up.

The Dominican Republic had a disappointing finish in the 2017 tournament after entering as the reigning WBC champion. It breezed through the first round of pool play with three consecutive wins before being eliminated in the second round after losing to Puerto Rico and the United States.

Things are set up for the Dominicans to come out of the 2023 tournament back on top.

---

Does Team USA Have Enough Pitching?

The only team that can match the Dominican Republic in offensive firepower is the United States.

Reigning NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt might be the fourth- or fifth-best position player on the team, behind Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Nolan Arenado. Once you get past that group, there's also Jeff McNeil, Kyle Tucker and J.T. Realmuto.

It's a good thing USA manager Mark DeRosa has a lot of talent to put in his lineup because the pitching staff is a major question mark.

The best starting pitcher on the squad is either Adam Wainwright or Lance Lynn.

One benefit for the American team in a tournament like this is starters won't be as important. MLB teams are still going through spring training and will likely have strict limits on how many pitches their guys can throw.

This is especially good news for Team USA because the bullpen is deep on paper. Milwaukee Brewers star Devin Williams will likely close games. Adam Ottavino, Ryan Pressly and Nick Martinez can bridge the gap from the starters to Williams in the ninth inning.

There could be some games the Americans have to win 11-9, but they are more than capable of doing that with their lineup.

---

Don't Overlook Japan

If you were to put the WBC teams into tiers, most fans would certainly have the Dominican Republic and United States in the top group.

Japan can't match either of those squads in terms of star power, but they are more than capable of competing with them on a stage this big.

Despite not having the overall star power of the Dominican squad or Team USA, Japan does have the best player in the world, Shohei Ohtani, leading the way. He will also be joined in the rotation by San Diego Padres ace Yu Darvish.

Per MLB.com's David Adler, Trout said he was talking to Ohtani in January about the WBC and dropped an interesting nugget about their conversation.

"Talking to Shohei about that team, he tried to tell me that he doesn't think he's the best player on the team," Trout said. "And I—there's no way that there's somebody better than Shohei."

It's unclear which player Ohtani thinks is better than him, though Adler did offer some suggestions. His top pick was third baseman Munetaka Murakami. The 23-year-old has won back-to-back Central League MVPs for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.

Murakami became the first player in Nippon Professional Baseball to hit for the triple crown since 2004 last season. He hit .318/.458/.711 with 56 homers and 134 RBI in 141 games.

Joining Murakami in the lineup is Masataka Yoshida, who signed a $90 million contract with the Boston Red Sox this offseason. Yoshida is coming to MLB after winning two Pacific League batting titles for the Orix Buffaloes.

Japan will also have Roki Sasaki and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the rotation behind Ohtani and Darvish.

Sasaki had 173 strikeouts in 129.1 innings for the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2022. Yamamoto has posted a sub-2.00 ERA with more than 200 strikeouts in each of the past two seasons for Orix.

Japan won each of the first two World Baseball Classic tournaments in 2006 and 2009. It hasn't finished worse than third in this event.

The Dominican and American squads are more formidable on paper, but there's enough talent at all positions for Japan to take home the gold medal for a third time.