World Baseball Classic picks: Best bets and top underdog

Baseball’s top international event — the World Baseball Classic — will get started on Tuesday.

The latest: The Dominican Republic just lost one of its biggest stars, but remains a team to be feared. Japan possesses an impressive combination of MLB and NPB talent and Venezuela has a strong core of pitchers in a tournament where many of the best arms stay home.

Check out our World Baseball Classic picks for the tournament beginning on March 7

World Baseball Classic picks

Odds as of 12:22 p.m. on 03/05/2023.

World Baseball Classic picks

Best Bet: Dominican Republic (+220)

The Dominican Republic lost one of its biggest stars when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. opted out of the WBC with a minor knee injury, but this team is still stacked.

Thanks to the presence of superstars like Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Rafael Devers and Julio Rodriguez, there has been some speculation that this is the best lineup ever assembled. Maybe the absence of Guerrero takes away from that accolade, but this group remains unbelievably dangerous.

On the pitching side, they have one of the tournament’s best arms in Sandy Alcantara and a rotation featuring excellent big leaguers like Cristian Javier and Roansy Contreras — plus a bullpen packed with fireballers.

The Dominican Republic is a worthy favourite and should be able to slug itself out of any trouble it encounters, especially in a tournament that is lacking in elite pitching talent.

Next best pick

Japan (+300): North American baseball fans won’t be familiar with everyone Japan rolls out, but the country has plenty of talent to showcase.

That starts with Shohei Ohtani — the most dynamic player in the sport — and includes successful major leagues like Yu Darvish, Seiya Suzuki and Lars Nootbar.

Beyond the familiar names is an incredible talent pool of NPB players that are among the best the sport has to offer. There’s a reason Japan is the most successful country in the history of the World Baseball Classic.

The Japanese have won this tournament two of the four times its taken place (2006 and 2009) with two third-place finishes (2013 and 2017).

Top underdog pick

Venezuela (+1,200): The Venezuelans don’t have as much star power as some of the contenders on the position-player side, but they are not to be underestimated.

A lineup anchored by Jose Altuve, Salvador Perez, Luis Arraez, Eugenio Suarez and Ronald Acuna Jr. is no joke, but it’s this team’s pitching staff that has us impressed.

Most countries have difficulty getting their top arms out — a United States rotation featuring Lance Lynn, Kyle Freeland, Merrill Kelly and Adam Wainwright provides a pertinent example — but Venezuela has some excellent options, particularly when it comes to starters.

This rotation will include Pablo Lopez, Luis Garcia and Martin Perez with Elieser Hernandez, Eduardo Rodriguez and Ranger Suarez as alternative options. Whoever doesn’t start should provide bullpen utility for a relief corps led by Jose Alvarado.

Although this team won’t mash to the level of some of its competitors, it’s likely to stay in every game.

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