On the heels of a winter Olympic games that saw national pride in USA men’s and women’s hockey, the World Baseball Classic gets underway today.

The WBC was hatched because of the Olympics, in fact. 

When baseball was dropped from the summer Olympics, Major League Baseball decided to conduct its own tournament.

It started slowly, with very little interest from the jaded American players. But with each staging of the WBC, more American players are interested in playing for their country, and interest in the tournament has grown nationally. It’s much bigger in other countries where baseball is a religion and, in many cases, the salvation, the only way off the island.

While many Rangers will be playing in the WBC, none are playing for Team USA.

Alejandro Osuna and Robert Garcia will play for Team Mexico. Cal Quantrill for Team Canada. Nabil Crismatt for Team Columbia.

It all gets underway at 9:00 tonight as Australia plays Chinese Taipei, with a full slate of games tomorrow. 

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Texas versus Team Brazil, 2:05