"The World Baseball Classic, gearing up for its sixth iteration, is still trying to find its footing as a true, best-on-best international tournament. It wants to be the FIFA World Cup, but everything wants to be the World Cup and nothing is besides the World Cup. It would probably settle, right now, for being the Four Nations Face-Off: a respectable simulacrum of a tournament that makes a lot of money for its organizers and stumbles into some excellent late-stage games."
"Team Puerto Rico has been particularly hard-hit, learning this weekend-a month before the tournament starts in San Juan-that at least eight of its players have been denied insurance and will be unable to play. Given the relatively late notice, Team PR is leaving open the possibility of withdrawing from the WBC altogether. "That option [of withdrawing] is on the table," Joey Sola, Team Puerto Rico's operations manager, told The Athletic. "It obviously will depend upon if we can figure out the substitute players.""
The World Baseball Classic aims to be a true best-on-best international tournament but currently resembles an exhibition and struggles with missing stars. Several marquee players, including Jose Altuve, Elly De La Cruz, Francisco Lindor, and Carlos Correa, will not participate after being denied insurance coverage. Team Puerto Rico learned at least eight players were denied insurance a month before the tournament in San Juan and may withdraw if substitutes cannot be found. National Financial Partners provides the WBC insurance, covering MLB salaries for injury absences and is a partner of MLB. The WBC purchases the policies and is co-owned by MLB and the MLB Players Association.
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