Aaron Judge and a loaded US roster hope to dethrone Ohtani's Japan at the World Baseball Classic

Aaron Judge is trading pinstripes for a plain jersey with red, white and blue letters. "Getting the chance to wear that across my chest is going to be pretty powerful," the U.S. and New York Yankees captain said of the World Baseball Classic. "I think a lot of people have a lot of pride for their country." After losing 3-2 in the 2023 final when Japan's Shohei Ohtani ended the game by striking out Mike Trout, the U.S. will be trying for its first championship since 2017 when 20 nations compete for the sixth championship starting Thursday. Australia plays Taiwan at the Tokyo Dome in the opener, and action starts the next day in Houston, Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The final again will be at Miami, on March 17. A much-improved pitching staff includes Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal and Mason Miller, and the batting order likely will include Judge, Cal Raleigh, Kyle Schwarber and Bobby Witt Jr. Having watched the last two tournaments, Skenes has hoped to receive an invite from U.S. manager Mark DeRosa. "When DeRo called, it was like, just, 'Yeah, I'm in. You don't need to talk me into this or anything,'" said Skenes, who played two seasons at Air Force Academy before transferring to LSU. "It was a quick yes." Players have been in contact with each other long before reporting this week. "The group chat's been firing away for the last couple of months," Philadelphia's Bryce Harper said. Rotation boost Logan Webb is slated to start the Americans' Friday opener against Brazil in Houston, followed by Skubal on Saturday against Britain, Skenes vs. Mexico on Monday and top Mets prospect Nolan McLean against Italy on March 10. The foursome has a combined 19.8 Baseball Reference WAR last season. The Americans' four starters in 2023, Adam Wainwright, Nick Martinez, Lance Lynn and Merrill Kelly, combined for a 7.8 the previous season. Skubal intends to make one start, then return to the Tigers. A pitcher is limited to 65 pitches in first-round games, 80 in a quarterfinal and 95 in a semifinal or final. If a player throws more than 50 pitches in an outing, he can't pitch for the next four days. If he throws more than 30, he can't pitch the next day. No one may pitch three days in a row. "There are obviously guardrails for the tournament to begin with, pitch-count wise, but there's also guardrails for guys having to throw on certain days to get ready for their team's opening day," U.S. manager Mark DeRosa said. Trying to do it again Japan is trying to win its fourth title and become only the second repeat champion after the 2006 and 2009 Samurai Warriors. Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto have some experience at consecutive titles after helping last year's Los Angeles Dodgers become the first repeat World Series champion since the 1998-2000 Yankees won three in a row. "Going back to back, that is our only goal," Yamamoto said through a translator. Yamamoto, the World Series MVP, is scheduled to start Japan's opener against Taiwan on Friday. Los Angeles is allowing him to pitch for Japan after he threw 211 innings last year, including the postseason. "The Dodgers understand how big the WBC tournament is, big in Japan," he said. "The Dodgers and the WBC, they both are very important to me equally." Japan's pitching staff is missing Ohtani, who won't take the mound, along with Roki Sasaki, who remained at Dodgers camp following an injury-interrupted rookie season, and Yu Darvish, sidelined following elbow surgery. Star-filled Dominican roster Seeking its first title since its only previous win in 2013, the Dominican Republic has a roster that includes six players who finished among the top 10 in MVP voting last year: Junior Caminero, Jeremy Peña. Geraldo Perdomo, Julio Rodríguez, Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Manny Machado and Ketel Marte also are on a roster that includes pitchers Sandy Alcantara and Cristopher Sánchez. "It can be a headache also because you have so much talent. You wish that you can make everybody happy," Dominican manager Albert Pujols said. "The Dominican Republic has been blessed with so many talent." Venezuela, with the Dominicans in Group D, is led by Ronald Acuña Jr., Jackson Chourio, Eugenio Suárez and William and Willson Contreras. Playing through politics, war Judge says there's significance representing the U.S. in a tournament starting days after the U.S. and Israel launched a Middle East war with joint strikes on Iran. Skenes and reliever Griffin Jax played college ball at Air Force. "There are individuals out there that have sacrificed everything for this country to allow me to have my wife safe at home, my daughter safe at home and I get a chance to come out here and play a kids' game," Judge said. Israel is also in this year's tournament. Outfielder Assaf Lowengart is the only player on the roster born in the country. Venezuela, with what appears to be among the strongest rosters, plays in Miami two months after the U.S. military captured former Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro. Following his ouster, Venezuela elevated the autocrat's vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, to serve as acting president. Eight members of Cuba's delegation were denied U.S. visas, including a pitching coach and federation executives, the Cuban Baseball and Softball Federation said. Hot pr ospect Travis Bazzana makes his Australia national team debut in the tournament opener after being selected first overall by Cleveland in 2024 amateur draft. While playing for Australia's under-18 team in 2024, Bazzana wrote a note on his phone dreaming of being Australia's second baseman and leadoff hitter at this year's WBC. "Growing up, I always looked ahead and kind of had a vision of things I wanted to do in this game, and this was a big part of it," he said Wednesday. "I was always writing about it and thinking about it." Bazzana has an .801 OPS in 111 minor league games and is expected to start the season at Triple-A. Back after injury Edwin Díaz is on Puerto Rico's roster after tearing the patellar tendon in his right knee during the 2023 WBC. Díaz missed the 2023 season with the New York Mets because of the injury, sustained during an on-field celebration with teammates following a 5-2 group-stage win over the Dominican Republic that clinched a quarterfinal berth. Several star players will be missing from this year's tournament due to insurance issues, including Puerto Rico's Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa and Venezuela's Jose Altuve.