The baseball community’s collective excitement for the 2026 World Baseball Classic, which begins on March 5.
New York Mets fans will have plenty of their players they can watch, as the list of members of the Mets’ roster who are competing in the WBC includes Huascar Brazobán (Dominican Republic), Clay Holmes (United States), Nolan McLean (United States), Nick Morabito (Italy), Juan Soto (Dominican Republic), Mark Vientos (Nicaragua), and Jared Young (Canada).
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While that’s an impressive list of players, it’s hard not to notice that star shortstop Francisco Lindor is not included. Lindor has been a mainstay on Team Puerto Rico in recent years, and he is one of several high-profile players (along with Carlos Correa, Javier Báez, José BerrÃos, and Victor Caratini) who are not playing for their home country this year.
Puerto Rico second baseman Francisco Lindor (12). | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
It came out on February 6 that Lindor and Correa weren’t competing because of a lack of insurance coverage, given strict rules regarding who is eligible for coverage in international baseball competitions.
Lindor’s wife, Katia, went viral for her comments about this on a recent Instagram post, saying in translated Spanish, “Let’s talk about how much it hurts and how powerless you feel when they don’t let you represent your country even though that’s the greatest pride for any athlete and his family. It’s not a lack of love or commitment, it was strictly due to insurance issues that made him ineligible. The desire to put on that uniform is still burning strong, and so is the pain,” per an X post from Master Flip (@Masterflip_).
Katia Lindor was discussing Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance on Instagram when a fan urged her to speak on why her husband, Francisco Lindor, isn’t representing Puerto Rico in the upcoming World Baseball Classic instead.
Her response;
“Yeah, let’s talk about it.… pic.twitter.com/ji02aMeqvV
— Master Flip 🇩🇴 (@Masterflip_) February 5, 2026Francisco Lindor Addresses Not Playing for Team Puerto Rico in WBC
Lindor also addressed him not playing for the Puerto Rican team with a February 5 post to his Instagram story.
“I feel deeply sorry for the fans of Puerto Rico. This hurts more than many would realize. As an athlete, there is no greater pride than representing your country, and not being able to do so leaves a void in my heart,” the post wrote, as translated to English from an X post by SNY.
“Still, I’ll always be Team Blonde, and I’ll be with it even if it’s from afar. This is the time to support those who will be there, because at the end it’s all about the name that goes on the front of the shirt. Puerto Rico will forever be in my heart.
“I love you so much 🇵🇷🇵🇷,” it continued.
Francisco Lindor’s February 6 Instagram story post. | Instagram/@lindor12bc
According to Jay Fonseca (@jayfonsecapr), a private investor has offered to pay for Lindor and Correa’s full insurance coverage so that they can compete in the World Baseball Classic, which might mean that Lindor will be taking the field for his country after all.
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