About Spring Training: A Different Perspective

About Spring Training: A Different Perspective

By Tim Kabel

March 17, 2026

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On Sunday night, The United States of America beat the Dominican Republic 2-1 in the semifinals of the WBC. The American team, led by Aaron Judge, will play the winner of the semifinal game between Italy and Venezuela. It was truly an exciting well-played game. It will be hard for the finals to live up to the semifinal game between The United States and the Dominican Republic.

After the game, Aaron Judge stated that the WBC is baseball's biggest event. “It's bigger and better than the World Series.” Yes, he really said that. I would take issue with that statement. Before anyone calls me a jingoist, allow me to explain my position. The World Series is the pinnacle of the Major League season. The greatest aspiration that any professional baseball player can have is to play in the Major Leagues. Even the players from Japan do everything they can to come over to America. Major League teams and organizations have players from all over the world. The Yankees recently signed players from Hungary and the Netherlands. If MLB is the supreme league and organization in professional baseball, it would follow that winning the championship of the MLB, the World Series, would be the greatest thing that a professional baseball player could do.

There have been 121 World Series through the end of the 2025 season in MLB. The current WBC is the 6th one that has been played. They have been held in 2006, 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2023. The gap between 2017 and 2023 was the result of COVID. After the 2026 contest is concluded, the next one is scheduled for 2030. They will occur every four years thereafter. When it comes to tradition, the WBC pales in comparison to MLB.

I am not trying to detract from the WBC. It is terrific. It's sort of like the Olympics. It promotes nationalism and patriotism and pride in the country. All those things are great. The WBC can be a wonderful thing on its own. It is a wonderful thing. However, when you compare it to Major League Baseball and winning the World Series, it's not even close. If it is, that's a problem. The goal of every Major League Baseball player should be to win the World Series. I'm not saying that Judge doesn't want to do that but when he goes out and says that the WBC is bigger and better than the World Series, that's a little ridiculous. Perhaps he should win a World Series and then maybe he could make the comparison. 

It is possible and desirable for both the WBC and the World Series to exist in the same universe. One does not have to be made superior to the other. We can have the best of both worlds. I like Aaron Judge very much. I think he is one of the best baseball players who has ever played and is the best baseball player I have ever seen. He is a tremendous Yankee and a tremendous captain. I think he was caught up in the moment and said something silly. Everyone does that. Some of us say many more silly things than Judge does.

Judge was not alone. After the Dominican Republic lost, Juan Soto stated that the Dominican Republic team was still the best team in the world, despite losing. Remember last year, he said he was the best player in baseball and didn't even mention Aaron Judge in the same sentence. I think Soto has an unrealistic view of the situation. If the Dominican Republic was the best team in the world, they probably wouldn't have lost. They are a very good team.

Their players are tremendous. Albert Pujols did a wonderful job as the manager. However, they lost. The gracious thing would have been to say that at least on Sunday night, the American team was better. However, Juan Soto does not seem to say the gracious thing very often. I am less inclined to cut him slack than I am to do so for Judge because with Soto, this seems to be a pattern.

The WBC is a wonderful thing. It should continue every four years. I hope Aaron Judge is able to play in the one in 2030. However, I have even greater hope that between now and then, he wins at least one World Series so he can see what that feels like. I bet afterward; he will have a different perspective. As far as Juan Soto, I think he will continue to think he is the best player on the best team no matter what the statistics and the scoreboard say. That is wonderful but I think it is unlikely that he will have a World Series ring, at least one that isn't imaginary, in the future.