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Aaron Judge, the Yankees superstar right fielder, was named the captain of Team USA in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. He should recruit more of MLB's best to join him, our columnist writes.
Chris Evans. Wyatt Russell. Anthony Mackie.
Aaron Judge.
These are not just random names — far from it. All of these people have, at some point, been Captain America. The first three are actors. Boring. Judge, on the other hand, is the newly-appointed captain of the U.S. team in the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), an international tournament and one of the most viewed sporting events in the world.
Judge has a second job too, captaining the New York Yankees since December 2022.
Simple math indicates that being Captain America should be considered more prestigious than being Yankees captain. The Yankees, after all, surely have a smaller fanbase than the entirety of the United States. Yet any baseball fan would tell you that captain of the Yankees is a greater honor.
As much as I love the Yankees — and that is not to be underestimated — the simple reality is that captaining the WBC should be at least equally prestigious as captaining the Yankees. But it is not, partially because the WBC has failed to draw in Major League Baseball (MLB)’s brightest stars.
This is understandable. MLB players sign a contract to play in MLB in a season running from March to November, with spring training beginning at the end of February. The WBC inconveniently takes place in the middle of March — smack in the middle of spring training. While participating players do not have to miss the official beginning of the season, they lose valuable training time before the season begins. For pitchers in particular, an irregular preseason routine could be catastrophic.
Further, players’ future contracts depend on their health. “Injury-prone” is a label that players will do anything to avoid, so playing in unrequired baseball games can seem unpalatable.
The hesitancy of MLB’s top players to participate in the WBC is at the core of why the Classic has not yet reached its full potential in the U.S. market.
MLB must capitalize on the opportunity to play baseball in front of an international audience. While MLB calls its championship the World Series, that is a misnomer. Twenty-nine of its 30 teams play in the United States, and the last one plays in Canada. While players come from around the world, teams’ fanbases are often concentrated geographically around a team’s city. The WBC audience, on the other hand, is truly global, amassing an average of 32 million viewers worldwide — and MLB should take advantage.
As the WBC grows in popularity, it will lead to the growth of new markets and new stars. If MLB’s best players fail to board the train, the train will almost certainly leave them behind. On the other hand, if MLB stars can attract international attention, it could lead to considerable increases in the league’s viewership.
Convincing MLB’s top players to play in the WBC is easier said than done, but it is certainly not an impossible task for the league.
First, MLB should provide teams with injury insurance for players who participate in the WBC. Typically, if a player becomes injured while under contract, the team is responsible for paying the player’s full salary. Shifting this burden onto the league would make teams more likely to encourage their players to play in the WBC, since any injuries that occur would not financially burden teams.
Also, MLB could consider delaying the season by one week during WBC years and playing 154 games instead of the usual 162. These alterations would mitigate the increased workload of players who choose to participate in the WBC and allow them to partake in most of spring training. The change in schedule would also draw MLB fans’ attention to the WBC, increasing viewership.
Finally, WBC performance should be part of a player’s narrative considered by Hall of Fame voters — just as MLB playoff performance is. While playoff or All-Star statistics are not formally counted in official statistical records, voters traditionally take playoff performance into account when evaluating borderline Hall of Famers. WBC statistics should similarly boost borderline players’ chances at baseball immortality, which would encourage MLB’s top stars to play in the WBC.
Captain America is no one without his Avengers. As superhuman as Judge is — batting over .400 a month since the season began — he cannot play all nine positions. MLB has 11 months to encourage about 24 superstars to join him — the clock starts now.