2013 World Baseball Classic Qualification

The 2013 World Baseball Classic was created jointly by Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association and sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation.[1] The tournament's main field consisted of twelve other nations, leaving four spots to be filled through a new qualifying round — the first time a formal pre-tournament qualification process had been used.[2]

Baseball in Israel, meanwhile, was still in an early stage of development. Around 1,000 players practiced and competed under the Israel Association of Baseball at the time, and while Israel had hosted European Championship qualifiers in 2011 and could field competitive national teams across different age groups, the domestic player base was not yet large enough to challenge the top tier of European baseball.[3] Ryan Lavarnway, a catcher then in the major leagues who was approached as a potential recruit in 2012, later recalled being told that Israel had only one baseball field in the country and was ranked 64th in the world.[4]

The Israel Association of Baseball had been invited in June 2011 to compete in the qualifying round.[3] Association president Haim Katz and other officials subsequently traveled across North America, Europe, and Asia to recruit coaches and players and to build broader support for the venture.[3] Katz described developing baseball in Israel as the association's primary goal, while acknowledging the need to balance fielding a competitive team against the aim of engaging Israeli fans.[3] When the association formally proposed a team for the qualifying competition, Katz said officials were surprised the proposal was accepted, and he noted that Israel would have preferred to host its own qualifier but lacked a suitable facility.[1]

Sixteen countries were invited to compete across four qualifying tournaments, each held in a modified double-elimination format with six games per site.[1][2] The four tournament winners would advance to join the twelve other nations in the sixteen-team main event.[2]

The four host sites were Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida; Regensburg, Germany; Panama City, Panama; and New Taipei City, Taiwan.[1] The Jupiter qualifier was originally scheduled for November 2012 but was moved to September.[5] Ausmus viewed the change as logical: major leaguers, he explained, were typically in the middle of their offseason and reluctant to pick up a bat until after the new year, while minor leaguers had just finished their seasons and were in playing condition.[5] He also cautioned that advancement was never guaranteed, noting that a single strong pitching or hitting performance could decide any given game.[6]

The other participating nations, spread across the remaining three sites, included Canada, Germany, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua, Panama, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand, and Chinese Taipei.[5] The 2013 main tournament was scheduled to open in March in Phoenix, Arizona, with a second round in Miami and a championship round at AT&T Park in San Francisco.[1]

WBC rules permitted players eligible for a country's citizenship to represent that nation, allowing Israel to draw on the global Jewish diaspora.[3] The Israel Association of Baseball prioritized players who already had a meaningful connection to Israel or showed interest in a long-term relationship with the country, framing the team as a bridge between the baseball community and the broader Jewish world.[3]

Israel's 28-man Jupiter roster comprised three players born and raised in Israel and 25 Jewish Americans, most of them minor leaguers competing primarily at the Double-A level.[5] Josh Satin was a notable exception, having appeared in a handful of games for the New York Mets in the preceding two seasons.[5] Joc Pederson also featured on the squad and was identified as its youngest player.[7]

Brad Ausmus, a former MLB All-Star catcher, managed the team.[5] Former major leaguers Shawn Green and Gabe Kapler served as player-coaches.[5] Ausmus said that every professional player with Jewish heritage had been contacted during recruitment and that "nobody told us no."[5] Reports in Israeli media indicated that Kevin Youkilis had committed to play, though Ausmus noted at the time that he had not been formally notified of that decision.[5] Other prominent Jewish MLB players — including Ryan Braun, Ian Kinsler, and Ike Davis — were mentioned as potential additions if Israel advanced from its pool.[5]

Ryan Lavarnway, then a catcher in the major leagues, recalled being contacted in 2012 about joining the team and learning he qualified because his mother was Jewish.[4] He agreed in principle but could not participate in the September qualifier because he was on an active MLB roster at the time.[4] He later recalled that Israel had held a lead in the final inning before Josh Zeid surrendered it; Zeid would later become one of his closest friends.[4]

Israel opened the Jupiter qualifier with a 7–3 victory over South Africa.[8] Nate Freiman, a Class AA player in the San Diego Padres organization, delivered a standout performance, hitting home runs in both the first and ninth innings.[8]

Israel also defeated Spain in an earlier round of the double-elimination bracket.[9] However, Spain recovered and met Israel again in the decisive game. The rematch lasted five hours and extended into the tenth inning, with Spain ultimately prevailing 9–7.[9] Israel had taken an early two-run lead before Spain came back; the game ended on Yunesky Sanchez's two-run single.[9] Spain advanced to the March 2013 main tournament, while Israel was eliminated.

Although Israel did not advance, the Jupiter qualifier gave the country's developing baseball program an international platform. A contemporary account reported that about 1,000 players practiced and competed under the Israel Association of Baseball and that Israeli national teams participated in leading European tournaments, while stressing that the domestic player base remained too small for the top tier of European baseball.[3]

The association framed the WBC project as serving goals beyond the scoreboard: raising awareness of Israeli baseball, forging connections between Israel and Jewish communities in North America, and demonstrating that a Jewish state could compete on the international diamond.[1][3] Katz's ambition was captured in his declaration that the initiative would be "the most celebrated Israeli sports event since David faced Goliath."[3]

Josh Zeid and Ryan Lavarnway later became prominent members of Team Israel. Lavarnway's retrospective account placed the 2012 near-miss in the story leading to the team's successful 2016 qualification and its advance to the second round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic.[4]

Contemporary reports emphasized the novelty of Israel's WBC participation, the eligibility rules, and the roster's heavy reliance on Jewish American minor leaguers.[2][5] Israel Association officials framed the project more broadly as a way to develop the sport in Israel and strengthen ties with Jewish communities abroad.[3] In a 2023 retrospective, Lavarnway focused on the final-inning lead lost in 2012 and on the episode's continuing importance to Josh Zeid before the next qualification cycle.[4]