Teammate Connections During World Baseball Classic Pool Play

Everybody remembers the biggest moment from the 2023 World Baseball Classic. In the championship game, with Japan leading the United States 3-2 in the top of the ninth, Mike Trout stepped into the box as the tying run. Even though he was the Mike Trout – the surefire Hall of Famer with 71 WAR to his name who was coming off a 176 wRC+ in 2022 – he looked a little nervous. Before he even dug his cleats into the dirt, he sneaked four different peeks out toward the pitcher’s mound.

He did so for good reason. Out on the mound was Shohei Ohtani, the most fearsome player in the game, as well as Trout’s teammate. The endgame was a chess match. Ohtani started Trout with a ferocious sweeper just below the zone, but Trout took an absurdly easy take. No longer nibbling, Ohtani blew a center-cut fastball right by Trout at 100 mph. He touched 102 on the next pitch. At the end, with the count full, Ohtani threw a sweeper that started out over the heart of the plate and then took a left turn so sharp you’d think it had just read A People’s History of the United States. Trout couldn’t lay off it. Japan had won. Pandemonium reigned in the Tokyo Dome.

We could easily get another best-on-best matchup to end the 2026 WBC. Whether you believe that the best pitcher in baseball right now is Tarik Skubal or Paul Skenes, either one of them could find himself trying to close out the championship against Ohtani or Juan Soto (or Ronald Acuña Jr., or Vladimir Guerrero Jr., or Fernando Tatis Jr.; those Juniors really can hit). We could just as easily see Yoshinobu Yamamoto or Cristopher Sánchez facing down Aaron Judge.

As exciting as all those matchups would be, though, they’d fall short of the 2023 finale in one crucial respect. None of those players stars would be stepping up against his own teammate. Ohtani and Trout were the best players in the game, and they’d spent years playing side by side, training together, batting back-to-back in the lineup, occasionally, uh, crowning each other.

That connection brought the drama to a new level. In 2026, the best we can hope for on that front might be preeminent closer Edwin Díaz trying to punch out his new teammate Ohtani or his old teammate Soto.

For now, the knockout round is a ways away. Let’s get excited for the WBC by highlighting some of the most prominent sets of teammates who will see each other in the pool round. Major league stars and role players populate the rosters of most teams, so we’re going to run through some of the teammate-on-teammate connections we’re about to see. I did my best to focus on the biggest names, but the web of connections is truly dizzying, and there were many times when I lost myself while writing this article. I survived, but just barely.

Pool A

We’ll start with Pool A, because we’re not anarchists. Despite the alphabetical order, Pool A is one of the quieter quadrants, home to Puerto Rico, Cuba, Canada, Panama, and Colombia. Even with its roster diminished due to insurance concerns, Puerto Rico still carries stars like Díaz, Nolan Arenado, and Heliot Ramos. Yet, the most noteworthy matchup may be Arenado and Canadian Tyler O’Neill, who were teammates in St. Louis from 2021 to 2023. We could also see Canada’s Bo Naylor step into the box against Guardians teammate Logan Allen, whom he normally gets to catch. The Florida-born Allen is playing for Panama, as his mother Pam was born in the Canal Zone and moved to the United States in her 20s. “She’s pumped,” he told MLB.com.

Canada doesn’t have many major stars – and only one Blue Jay in prospect Adam Macko – but it does have a sneaky good team with plenty of big league talent. Jameson Taillon headlines the pitching staff, and we’ll see another Canada-Panama connection when he faces Miguel Amaya, who knows him very well. Amaya has caught 21 of Taillon’s starts for the Cubs over the past two years.

Panama also has plenty of other names you’ll recognize: Edmundo Sosa, Paolo Espino, old friend Christian Bethancourt, and Orioles prospect Enrique Bradfield Jr. When Panama plays Puerto Rico, Blue Jays infielder Leo Jiménez may get to hit off teammate José Berríos, and against Cuba, he’ll get the chance to face Yariel Rodríguez.

Colombia rounds out Pool A, featuring notable names like Gio Urshela (teammate of Canadian Denzel Clarke), Donovan Solano, Jorge Alfaro (who will see Royals teammate Seth Lugo in the Puerto Rico game), and Julio Teheran (who was teammates with Puerto Rico’s Díaz on the 2024 Mets).

Pool B

Pool B gets things going in a much bigger way. It contains the United States, whose entire roster is populated by major league stars. That makes Team USA the Kevin Bacon of this particular exercise. When the U.S. faces off against Mexico, we’re likely to see at least one catcher bat against a pitcher he knows quite well. Cal Raleigh might get to face Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz, and he’ll definitely get to say hello to Randy Arozarena, who took the last WBC by storm. On the other side of the matchup, Alejandro Kirk will get to see Blue Jays teammates Ernie Clement, Jeff Hoffman, and Tyler Rogers.

Making the Blue Jays connections even more confusing is Team Brazil, which is short on major league stars, but does feature Dante Bichette Jr. Bichette may be pleased to meet so many of his brother Bo’s former Blue Jays teammates.

When the U.S. faces Team Italy, Bobby Witt Jr. and Michael Wacha will take the field against Royals teammates Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone. Raleigh will presumably recognize Mariners teammate Dominic Canzone. Aaron Nola is also playing for Italy, so fellow Phillies Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Brad Keller may get to see his curveball in a whole new light. Those three might also get to see teammate Taijuan Walker when the U.S. takes on Mexico.

Red Sox connections abound. When the U.S. faces Great Britain, Roman Anthony will see current teammate Nate Eaton, and he’ll get to catch up with his good friend Kyle Teel. Anthony and Teel constituted half of Boston’s Big Four prospects before Teel got sent to Chicago in the Garrett Crochet trade. Against Mexico, he and former Red Socker third sacker Alex Bregman will see Jarren Duran and maybe get to face Brennan Bernardino (who is now with the Rockies).

Team Italy also boasts Adam Ottavino, whose big league career stretched over 16 years. You’d be hard-pressed to find a team to which he doesn’t have a connection, and that’s before you account for the fact that he’s playing in his third WBC, after runs with Italy in 2009 and the U.S. in 2023. Even if we just limit ourselves to 2025, not only did he play briefly with Judge and Paul Goldschmidt (and Tim Hill, but not David Bednar) on the Yankees, he also played with Bahamian Jazz Chisholm Jr., who will be the biggest star on team Great Britain. Harry Ford will be catching for the Brits, so he’ll be reunited with Raleigh when the British face team USA.

Pool C

Next up is Pool C, which features Japan, Australia, Korea, Czechia, and Taiwan. When Japan and Korea face off, Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto will get to see Dodgers teammate Hyeseong Kim. Tatsuya Imai, who signed with the Astros this offseason, may also recognize infielder Shay Whitcomb from camp. Whitcomb is unlikely to start the season in Houston, but he’s playing with Korea to honor his mother Yoonie.

The A’s have a surprisingly large connection to Pool C. Max Durrington, who will represent Team Australia, spent most of 2025 with the Single-A Stockton Ports alongside Taiwan’s Wei-En Lin and Tzu-Chen Sha.

Czechia doesn’t feature any big league stars, but it does boast Terrin Vavra, who spent three years with the Orioles. More importantly, you might recognize names like Martin Schneider and Ondrej Satoria from Czechia’s run in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, which earned the team a huge following in Tokyo. Satoria, you might recall, whiffed Ohtani, who was so impressed with the Czech club that he arrived stateside wearing the team’s cap. Martin Cervenka made it to Triple-A in the Mets organization, where he played alongside WBC participants like Mark Vientos and Robert Stock, but none from Pool C.

Pool D

We’re almost there. I don’t remember what country I’m from or even what year this is, but we’re almost there. Pool D features an absolute powerhouse Dominican team. As with the U.S., the major league connections here are endless, so I will just do my best to highlight the biggest ones.

Perhaps the most fun connection, though, doesn’t involve the D.R. at all. Acuña naturally takes top billing for Venezuela, and the Netherlands includes several stars from Curaçao. So when the two countries meet, Acuña will share the field with Ozzie Albies. The two have been teammates since 2017, when the 19-year-old Acuña and the 20-year-old Albies played together at Triple-A Gwinnett. He’ll also recognize teammates Jurickson Profar and Chadwick Tromp.

When Venezuela faces off against the D.R., Brewers phenom Jackson Chourio will get first-hand experience stepping in against Abner Uribe’s 102-mph fastball. Fellow Venezuelan William Contreras will likely be a little bit more comfortable, as he’s got plenty of experience catching it. During that game, we’ll also get to see Venezuelan Andrés Giménez visiting with Guerrero. When the D.R. faces the Netherlands, Xander Bogaerts will get to catch up with fellow Padres Tatis, Wandy Peralta, Manny Machado, and even Juan Soto, who played with for the Dads in 2022 and 2023.

The Domincans also feature Carlos Santana, who has played for so many teams since he debuted in 2010 that I’m not even going to try to trace the connections. Let’s just save ourselves some time and assume he knows everyone in the world.

Vientos is playing for Nicaragua, so when he plays the D.R. he’ll get to see Soto, and when he plays Israel he’ll get to catch up with current teammate Stock and 2024 Mets teammate Harrison Bader. Bader is now teammates with Venezuelan José Buttó — another 2024 Met — on the Giants. Stock is currently with the Mets, and he has his own international history, pitching in Mexico, the D.R., and Korea before finding his way back to the states.

Once again, we see plenty of Red Sox connections. Ranger Suárez, who signed with Boston this winter, will be Venzuela’s ace, and he’s joined by fellow Red Sox Wilyer Abreu and Willson Contreras. They’ll face Brayan Bello when they play the D.R., Ceddanne Rafaela when they play the Netherlands, and brief 2025 teammate Stock when they play Israel. Suárez will also face former Phillies teammates Bader and Garrett Stubbs when the D.R. faces Israel.

And that’s it. We’re done. Could I tell you that the D.R.-Israel matchup will also feature Pirates teammates Oneil Cruz and Spencer Horwitz, or that Soto and Israel’s Tommy Kahnle were teammates on the Yankees in 2024? I could; in fact, I just did! But that’s the last of it, I swear, because you have to draw the line somewhere. We’re finished with the world.