Angels' Mike Trout Plans to Play for Team USA in 2026 World Baseball Classic

Mike Trout is enjoying his time at the World Baseball Classic as a member of Team USA. So much so, in fact, that he's already committed to the next tournament in 2026.

"I already told them I am doing the next one. I am already in," he said on the FS1 broadcast Tuesday. "If I'm DHing, playing left field, whatever they want, I'm in, I'm in. And I think that's coming from all the guys. Talking to them, just how proud we are wearing that across our chest, and just coming out here in the ninth inning and hearing the 'USA' chants, it's special, man."

Trout and the United States are facing Japan in the World Baseball Classic final on Tuesday night. The run to the final has been meaningful for the U.S. players.

"These guys are the best at what they do, they're ultimate competitors, and in an environment like that there is 100 percent buy-in," manager Mark DeRosa told reporters. "It just happens organically. And to represent your country, it means the world. Maybe it doesn't start out that way, but I mean, it has become that. These guys want it."

And Trout wants it in 2026, too.

He isn't alone—the 2023 iteration has been a rousing success, and an incredibly fun event for players and fans alike:

A subset of baseball fans doesn't enjoy the WBC because of the potential injury risk it poses for players, which in turn could impact the MLB season. That was the case for some New York Mets fans after Edwin Díaz was likely lost for the 2023 campaign with a torn right patellar tendon.

"It was heartbreaking," Francisco Lindor, Díaz's teammate with both Puerto Rico and the Mets, told reporters. "I never knew I loved Edwin so much until I couldn't stop crying. And that's when I realized I loved Edwin a lot. It's one of those moments that you wish you could go back and kind of do it in slow motion that way no one goes through that. It broke my heart. It did not feel good. Edwin kind of calmed the team a little bit. He talked to us after the game. It was a very, very sad clubhouse."

Despite that moment, however, the WBC has been a dramatic and fun event and one that, on balance, has been excellent for the sport of baseball. It should come as no surprise that Trout wants to run it back in three years.