After dining on the feast of Winter Olympics action, sports fans are going to have a delicious second course coming their way thanks to the impending World Baseball Classic.
Beginning March 4, 20 teams from around the globe will compete for international supremacy in the sport. Japan hopes to defend its title after defeating the United States in the 2023 edition of the tournament.
Two of the Atlanta Braves’ biggest stars — Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuña Jr. — will be at the tournament, with the former representing the Netherlands and the latter playing for Venezuela. In fact, the two will face each other in their first games of the tournament on Friday.
And Albies is doing plenty of trash-talking ahead of it.
At Atlanta’s Spring Training facility in North Port, FL, Albies made a wager that Acuña Jr. would wear his jersey if the Netherlands ended up winning.
"When we beat Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, he’s going to wear my jersey when he plays against the other teams," Albies said.
"It’s okay papa, I’ll sign it for you," Albies said as he patted Acuña Jr. (for his part, Acuña Jr. said this would never happen).
That’s some good old-fashioned guy banter right there.
Personally, I think Albies’ confidence in his squad's chances against Venezuela are misguided; the Netherlands likely won’t be able to keep up with its offensive firepower (give me Venezuela to win 8-4). But that’s not going to stop Albies from having some extra fun when he faces his MLB teammate next week.
Nor should it; this is a tournament in which the passion for the game is at an all-time high as players represent their country. The fans and the players are itching to get things started.
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