The United States has never finished better than fourth in the brief history of the World Baseball Classic, but with a roster top heavy with major leaguers, including Toronto Blue Jays pitchers Marcus Stroman and J.A. Happ, the Americans lead the way as +200 favourites on the World Baseball Classic odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The Americans turned in a disappointing performance at the 2013 WBC, failing to get past the second round of the competition, where they suffered consecutive losses to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico to drop their all-time record at the event to 10-10.
The United States faces a tough road in the first round of this year’s tournament, seeded in Pool C alongside the Dominican Republic, Canada and Colombia.
Led by Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista, the defending WBC champion Dominicans prepare for the tournament closely trailing the Americans at +250 in WBC betting.
Bautista is joined by a murderer’s row of hitters including Nelson Cruz and Robinson Cano of the Seattle Mariners, Baltimore’s Manny Machado, and Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rangers, who combined to hit 151 home runs during the 2016 MLB season.
Two-time tournament champion Japan will field a team made up almost exclusively of players from the Nippon Professional baseball league, and sits as a strong +300 bet to return to glory at this year’s tournament.
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The Japanese scored an impressive 30 total runs in second-round action four years ago, but their bats fell silent as they failed to earn a third straight berth in the final with a 3-1 semi-final loss to Puerto Rico.
The surprise on the World Baseball Classic odds is Venezuela, which follows the favourites at +900. Pegged at No. 6 on the International Baseball Federation rankings, Venezuela failed to get past the first round in 2013 after finishing in third place in 2009.
Puerto Rico is next, deadlocked with South Korea at +1000, ahead of 2013 finalists Cuba at +1800, while Mexico is knotted with the Netherlands at +2500.
Blue Jays outfielder and Mississauga native Dalton Pompey leads a Canadian squad that is listed well back of the pack at +6600, followed by Chinese Taipei at +8000, and four squads at +15000, including Colombia, Italy, Australia, and China, while Israel is a distant +20000 longshot.
