The World Baseball Classic has become the most prestigious international baseball competition, and it returns this upcoming March. It's 20 national baseball teams, with players from the Majors, Minors, and international leagues, all vying for national baseball supremacy on the biggest stage possible.
Nationals fans aren't new to the concept of watching their players ball out on the global stage: in the 2023 edition of the tournament, Joey Meneses, on the heels of his electric 2022 MLB debut campaign where he posted a .930 OPS with 13 home runs in 56 games as a 30-year-old rookie, shocked the United States, hitting two home runs in a group stage victory for his native Mexico. "CabaJoey" was joined by Nationals teammates Erasmo Ramírez (Nicaragua) and Jeimer Candelario (Dominican Republic) as members of the 2023 team representing their countries in the Classic.
The 2026 edition of the WBC begins in March, and three players on the Nationals roster have the best chance to follow in the footsteps of Adam Dunn (USA, 2009) and Gio González (USA, 2013) as active Nats to wear their nation's colors when the lights are shining brightest.
James Wood (United States)
The outfield mix figures to be crowded for the United States, with MVP right fielder Aaron Judge having already been named the captain for the team, but coming off a campaign where he hit 31 home runs with a 127 wRC+ in his first full Major League season, James Wood would almost certainly have a spot on Team USA's 30-man roster. The United States' outfield already looks like it might be drastically different than it was in 2023, when it featured Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, Kyle Tucker, and Cedric Mullins. Of course, both a player and his team must agree to take part in the World Baseball Classic, but it would be a watershed moment for a true superstar National to play in the WBC.
MacKenzie Gore (United States)
Much like Wood, Gore's probably got a spot on the 30-man roster if he decides to commit to Team USA for the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Pitcher usage is heavily restricted by rule in the WBC to ensure that teams don't coast to the championship off of a small selection of top arms, so assuming Mac is healthy, USA manager Mark DeRosa should jump at the chance to have a young starter with a career 9.9 K/9 as an option in the Classic. The USA's got no shortage of pitching talent, with Pirates ace and National League Cy Young Award favorite Paul Skenes already committed to the national team, but in 2023 they struggled to get top MLB pitchers to commit to the roster, needing to employ Aaron Loup just to round out the squad.
That team ultimately fell to Samurai Japan in the championship, who pitched Shōta Imanaga, lockdown Japanese closer Taisei, Yu Darvish, and Shohei Ohtani to beat them 3 runs to 2. Oh, right--they also rostered a 24-year-old Yoshinobu Yamamoto and 21-year-old Rōki Sasaki, the latter of which was coming off a season which saw him throw a 17-strikeout perfect game, then throw 8 more perfect innings with 14 strikeouts his very next start. The USA needs truly overpowering arms to stand a chance. Of course, one can't even be sure whether Gore will be on the Nats' roster come March, but that's neither here nor there.
Luis García Jr. (Dominican Republic)
Luis is actually eligible for both the United States and Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, but I figure names like Nico Hoerner or Brice Turang might take precedence at the second base position on the USA national team. That's no disrespect to García or the Dominican Republic national team, though, neither of whom are slouches by any means. The DR, for their part, have an All-Star cast of middle infielders of their own, from Ketel Marte and Elly De La Cruz to Jeremy Peña and Willy Adames. Still, with a 92nd percentile expected batting average in the 2025 MLB season and the sixth-highest xwOBA among the 22 qualified primary second basemen, García should at the very least have a reserve role should he desire one.