Dodgers News: Mookie Betts to Skip WBC
Mookie Betts will not rejoin Team USA in the 2026 WBC
LOS ANGELES, CA—As the 2026 Major League Baseball offseason continues, we’re now under 100 days from the regular season’s start. Before then, players from around the sport will participate in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, reigning back-to-back World Series champions, already have several players slated to participate in the upcoming international tournament. Leading the team is four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani, who will attempt to defend Team Japan’s title.
However, shortstop Mookie Betts will not be returning, as he confirmed on the Aiden Ross podcast.
“No, man, so I was, but I can’t now,” Betts told host Aiden Ross when asked about playing in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, during a livestream on Wednesday. “My wife, we’re having a kid. So, the baby’s due right in the middle of the WBC… She said she would divorce me if I wasn’t there.”
Betts was a participant for Team USA during the 2023 WBC and was the full-time second baseman, a position that opened to him with former Dodgers shortstop Trea Turner at short and the Dodgers planning to get Betts more time in the infield.
Without Betts, the team probably will assign Bobby Witt Jr. as the starting shortstop, with Pete Crow-Armstrong, Corbin Carroll, and Aaron Judge as the outfield starters.
Although he is no longer on the roster, Team USA remains strong, especially in pitching, with Cy Young Award winners Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes joining the team. This creates their most formidable rotation to date in the tournament, led by team captain Aaron Judge.
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