Nolan Arenado relishes special chance to wear Team USA's jersey in the World Baseball Classic: "It's just different than a major league uniform"
Nolan Arenado is the latest superstar to confirm he's suiting up for his country in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. Arenado will once again don the red, white and blue for the first time since 2017.
Nolan Arenado is ready to represent Team USA again. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/VU0PMvFMd9
Arenado said:
"There's just something special about representing your country. It's just different than wearing a major league uniform and it's an unbelievable honor."
Arenado and the United States won the last time he was on the field, taking the 2017 trophy over Puerto Rico. With a stacked lineup of talent, Team USA hope to repeat as champions.
The St. Louis Cardinals (Nolan Arenado's MLB team) have quite a few stars joining various WBC teams. Teammate and reining NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt is on Team USA, as are pitchers Miles Mikolas and Adam Wainwright.
Tommy Edman is on the South Korean team and Lars Nootbaar will star for Team Japan. Arenado will see a lot of familiar faces over this WBC.
Arenado is excited for the tournament, per MLB.com:
“Just the intense games and that intense environment the WBC has, it gets you ready quick because you have no other choice but to get ready fast.
"Every game is so important, and you usually don’t play important games in March. When you play for Team USA, it’s very important to try and win this thing again, and that gets you ready."
He added that the World Baseball Classic changes the dynamic of the offseason:
“Opening Day in St. Louis is a special day, but in 2017, [MLB Opening Day] didn’t feel that big because we had just got done playing in the WBC and it was such a great environment.”
The World Baseball Classic begins in early March and ends a little bit before opening day for the MLB regular season.
Are Nolan Arenado and Team USA the WBC favorites?
Despite boasting a team full of superstars like Nolan Arenado, Team USA is not quite the favorite.
Right now, oddsmakers trust the Dominican Republic more. They're +220 to win it all, while the United States is +260. Japan is right behind them at +290.