American sports fans who enjoyed the drama of this year’s Winter Olympics are about to get an encore, particularly if they enjoy baseball.
The World Baseball Classic kicks off on March 5, as Team USA will look to avenge its 2023 defeat to Team Japan in the championship game and claim its second title in the 20-year history of the event. Japan has won three WBC trophies, while the Dominican Republic is the only other country with a title.
It’s not as if Team USA needed much more motivation to come through this time around, but getting to watch their country’s men’s hockey team defeat Team Canada for its first gold medal since the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980 on Sunday certainly didn’t hurt.
According to Chicago Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman, who will soon play in his second WBC and first since 2017, that American victory was an inspirational moment for the Cubs clubhouse.
“That was fun,” Bregman said Monday, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. “That was a great time. Really cool. I cheer for the USA every Olympics and watch as many events as possible. We were all fired up. We were going crazy in the clubhouse when we scored.”
Bregman will be joined on Team USA by two Cubs teammates, center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and left-handed pitcher Matthew Boyd. Right-handed pitcher Jameson Taillon will represent Canada, but was born in Florida, so it’s quite possible he was among those rooting for the Americans as well.
And it’s no surprise Bregman believes the baseball version of Team USA can draw inspiration from Jack Hughes, Connor Hellebuyck, and the rest of the heroes from Sunday’s gold medal win in men’s hockey.
“Let’s do it,” Bregman said, per Bastian. “Let’s go win. USA, baby.”
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