2017 World Baseball Classic

The 2017 competition was the fourth World Baseball Classic, with 16 national teams divided into four opening pools.[1] It opened on March 6 and was scheduled to last two weeks.[1] Japan had won in 2006 and 2009, while the Dominican Republic entered as defending champion.[1] The competition was described as quadrennial, and countries attempting to qualify for the 2017 edition included Pakistan, South Africa, and Germany.[6]

Opening pools were hosted in South Korea, Japan, the United States, and Mexico. The top two teams in each pool advanced to a second pool stage, and the top two in each second-round pool reached the semifinals.[1] Eligibility extended beyond current citizenship: players could represent a country if they were eligible for its citizenship even without holding it.[7] This provision enabled Israel to recruit Jewish professional players from the United States who did not necessarily already hold Israeli citizenship.[7]

Israel secured its first appearance in the main tournament by defeating the United Kingdom 9–1 in September 2016.[7] The successful qualifying campaign followed an unsuccessful attempt in 2012.[8] Catcher Ryan Lavarnway recalled first hearing about the team in a telephone call that year, when he was told that he qualified through his Jewish mother and that Israel had one baseball field and ranked 64th in the world.[8] He could not participate in the 2012 qualifier because he was playing in the major leagues, but joined the 2016 effort when he was no longer in the majors that September.[8]

Before the 2016 qualifier, pitcher Josh Zeid addressed the players about losing a last-inning lead during the earlier attempt.[8] Lavarnway recalled that the failure still weighed on Zeid and that his account changed the group’s understanding of what qualification could mean.[8] Lavarnway himself had initially regarded participation mainly as a baseball opportunity and a chance to add international experience to his résumé.[8] During the Brooklyn qualifier, seeing teammates wearing “Israel” across their chests and putting on kippot for the national anthems gave representing the country a more personal significance for him.[8]

Israel’s 29-player tournament roster included 11 players with Major League Baseball experience.[9] A pre-tournament profile identified 20 professional players, including Jason Marquis, Ike Davis, Josh Satin, Craig Breslow, and Lavarnway.[7] Some players approached about joining were unavailable because of fatigue after a long season or because their clubs had not granted permission.[7] The team consisted largely of minor-leaguers and former major-leaguers, with none on an MLB club’s 40-man roster at the time.[4] Pitcher Shlomo Lipetz and coach Alon Leichman were among the Israeli members of a playing and coaching group otherwise composed almost entirely of eligible Americans.[4]

Israel entered ranked 41st in the world, the lowest-ranked team in the tournament.[10] Baseball’s domestic infrastructure was small: Israel had one baseball-specific field and about 1,000 active players.[10] Manager Jerry Weinstein identified helping the sport grow in Israel as one of the team’s goals.[10]

Israel opened its tournament debut in Seoul with a 2–1 victory over co-host South Korea in 10 innings.[10][11] South Korea tied the score in the fifth inning, but Scott Burcham’s infield single in the top of the tenth restored Israel’s lead.[11] Josh Zeid completed his third scoreless inning to secure the victory before more than 15,000 spectators.[11] Israel stood 38 places below South Korea in the world rankings.[11]

The second game produced a much larger offensive display: Israel defeated Chinese Taipei 15–7, scoring four runs in the first inning and collecting 20 hits.[10][12] Ryan Lavarnway hit a two-run home run, Nate Freiman added a three-run homer, and Corey Baker earned the victory with 4⅔ scoreless innings.[12] Israel’s advancement was assured when the Netherlands subsequently defeated Chinese Taipei, leaving both Israel and the Netherlands at 2–0 before their meeting.[13] Israel then beat the Netherlands 4–2, completing Pool A undefeated and advancing in first place.[10][12]

The team moved to Tokyo for Pool E, where it extended its winning streak by defeating Cuba 4–1.[14][15] The result gave Israel four consecutive victories to begin its first World Baseball Classic.[3] Earlier that day, Israel Association of Baseball vice president Jordy Alter had read the Scroll of Esther in the Tokyo Dome dugout for Purim.[14] The team also shared an image of its mascot, the Mensch on a Bench.[14]

A rematch against the Netherlands brought Israel’s first defeat.[15] The Dutch won 12–2 in eight innings, with play ending under the tournament’s early-termination rule after they established a 10-run lead.[15] Japan then eliminated Israel with an 8–3 victory in Israel’s final game.[16][5] The teams had remained scoreless through five innings before Japan scored five runs in the sixth.[16] Zeid, an unexpected choice to start the game, had supplied four scoreless innings.[5]

Israel finished third in Pool E with a 1–2 record, ahead of Cuba, while Japan and the Netherlands advanced to the semifinals.[16] Its overall record was four wins and two losses, and it placed sixth in the tournament.[5][4] Pitching and defense were central to the run, with shortstop Scott Burcham, third baseman Ty Kelly, and outfielder Sam Fuld making important defensive contributions.[5] Zeid, Jason Marquis, and Zack Thornton were notable contributors on the mound, while Lavarnway, Ike Davis, and Nate Freiman led much of the offense.[5]

The United States’ roster included major-league stars Adam Jones, Andrew McCutchen, Buster Posey, and Giancarlo Stanton.[6] In the final at Dodger Stadium on March 22, the Americans defeated Puerto Rico 8–0 to win their first World Baseball Classic title.[17][2] Starting pitcher Marcus Stroman, who was named tournament Most Valuable Player, allowed one hit over six-plus innings, striking out three batters and walking one.[17] The United States collected 13 hits in the final and ended the tournament with a 6–2 record.[17]

Puerto Rico reached the championship game by defeating the Netherlands and entered the final unbeaten.[17] The loss was its first in eight tournament games and left it runner-up for the second consecutive edition, following its defeat in the 2013 final.[17] The three games played at Dodger Stadium drew a combined 109,892 spectators.[17]

Israel’s performance drew congratulations from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and expressions of pride among Jewish baseball supporters, some of whom began wearing the team’s Magen David cap.[4] Within Israel, however, much of the wider public paid little attention to the results, even as the country’s small baseball community celebrated and discussed the team’s success.[10] Lavarnway recalled that Israeli media responses became more appreciative after the first-round victories, with praise for the players’ performance and the respect they showed while representing the country.[8]

After elimination, Weinstein expressed the hope that the tournament would increase awareness of baseball in Israel and generate support for more fields and staff.[7][16] He also hoped that the team would inspire both young Israelis and Jewish-American children to take up the sport.[16] Lavarnway similarly said that the players wanted to help build baseball in Israel rather than simply compete and leave.[8]

Team members subsequently held youth clinics during visits to Israel, and much of the team’s prize money went toward building fields or paying for young players to travel to international tournaments.[8] Lavarnway later said that most members of the 2017 team signed up for the Olympics and obtained Israeli citizenship.[8] He also reported that participation in baseball in Israel had doubled since he first wore an Israeli uniform.[8] A 2021 retrospective linked the sixth-place finish, including the victory over Cuba, to greater success in persuading high-quality Jewish-American players to join the team’s project.[18]

Alex Bregman, then 22, played for the championship-winning United States rather than Israel and served as a backup.[2] Looking back on receiving only four at-bats, he said, “I probably should’ve” played for Israel.[2]

Israel’s four opening victories made its debut one of the tournament’s most unexpected runs.[3][4] The team had entered as the lowest-ranked participant yet defeated South Korea, Chinese Taipei, the Netherlands, and Cuba before its elimination.[10][15] Its sixth-place finish became a turning point in efforts to strengthen the Israeli baseball program and recruit Jewish-American talent.[18]

Jewish identity was a visible part of the team’s public presence.[4] Most players were secular, but they wore kippot before games while Hatikvah was played.[4] Their mascot, the Mensch on a Bench, was a smiling, long-bearded Jewish figure wearing a tallit.[4] The Purim reading in the Tokyo Dome dugout placed another Jewish observance within the tournament’s sporting setting.[14]

The players also described a shared cultural connection within the clubhouse.[4] Designated hitter Cody Decker joked: “On this team, I can say the most random Seinfeld reference and everyone laughs and quotes the next line. It’s the only baseball team in the world that can do that.”[4] Lavarnway recalled that seeing Jewish children in the stands who could identify with the players made him want to become a role model.[8]

Lavarnway’s account of the team emphasized a shift from individual professional opportunity toward representing a people, culture, and country.[8] He recalled that a dismissive description of the players as “has-beens, wannabes, never-weres” helped give them a collective chip on their shoulder.[8] Zeid’s recollection of the failed 2012 qualifying attempt likewise gave the successful campaign a connection to an earlier, unfinished effort.[8]

The largely American-born roster prompted public debate over what it meant to represent Israel through citizenship eligibility rather than residence or birthplace.[10] Lavarnway recalled initial criticism from Israeli media that the players were outsiders, as well as criticism from Cuban media describing the team as American.[8] Players responded that they were competing under the tournament’s eligibility rules and wanted their participation to help develop baseball in Israel.[8] The debate distinguished the WBC’s eligibility-based team from a side composed primarily of Israeli citizens or locally developed players, without changing the team’s eligibility to participate in the competition.[7][5]