{"id":548582,"date":"2026-02-01T03:41:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T03:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/548582\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T03:41:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T03:41:17","slug":"miguel-rojas-frustrated-over-world-baseball-classic-rejection-ahead-of-final-dodgers-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/548582\/","title":{"rendered":"Miguel Rojas Frustrated Over World Baseball Classic Rejection Ahead of Final Dodgers Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas expressed frustration over the insurance issues that kept him from participating in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t see that happening with the United States, or happening with Japan. And I\u2019m not trying to attack anybody or attack what\u2019s going on \u2026 But if I can still play in the big-leagues for the Dodgers, why am I not going to play for my team in Venezuela and represent my country?\u201d Rojas said at DodgerFest Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this week, Rojas <a href=\"https:\/\/dodgersnation.com\/dodgers-miguel-rojas-announces-he-will-miss-world-baseball-classic-due-to-insurance-issues\/2026\/01\/29\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:announced he would not play for Team Venezuela;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">announced he would not play for Team Venezuela<\/a> in the WBC because of issues with insurance.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am very sad today,\u201d Rojas wrote in a caption translate from Spanish to English. \u201cIt\u2019s a real shame not to be able to represent my country and wear that flag on my chest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn this occasion, age was not just a number.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It marks the second consecutive time Rojas has missed the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>Why Did Miguel Rojas Miss the 2023 World Baseball Classic?<\/p>\n<p>Rojas did not compete in the last WBC, which was in 2023, because the Dodgers needed him to take over as the team\u2019s primary shortstop.<\/p>\n<p>Gavin Lux tore his ACL in spring training and Rojas opted to withdraw from the tournament in order to focus on his new role with the Dodgers.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Miguel Rojas\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0f14da6d4da0a542c80d70434c4a3694.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jul 30, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Miguel Rojas (72) stands in the dugout before the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Miguel Rojas Plans to Retire After the 2026 Season<\/p>\n<p>The veteran infielder told Dodgers Nation\u2019s Doug McKain in October that he plans on retiring at the conclusion of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been a wild ride,\u201d Rojas said after the Dodgers\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dodgersnation.com\/dodgers-walk-off-phillies-in-11th-inning-in-nlds-game-4-advance-to-nlcs\/2025\/10\/09\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:clinched the National League Division Series;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">clinched the National League Division Series<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve given it everything that I have every single night for the four years that I\u2019ve been here. And hopefully I can finish my career here next year. Because I\u2019m going to retire after next year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 37-year-old debuted with L.A. in 2014 before being traded to the Miami Marlins. He spent eight years in Miami and is now entering his fourth season with the Dodgers. In his first stint with L.A., Rojas had a key memorable moment by saving Clayton Kershaw\u2019s no-hitter.<\/p>\n<p>In his second stint with the Dodgers, Rojas became a World Series hero after hitting the game-tying home run in the ninth inning of Game 7 against the Toronto Blue Jays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas expressed frustration over the insurance issues that kept him from participating in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2395],"tags":[10264,5,50,1147,730,72369,57,1816,778,58,4171,8935,4,70],"class_list":{"0":"post-548582","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-marlins","8":"tag-2026-world-baseball-classic","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-cincinnati-reds","11":"tag-clayton-kershaw","12":"tag-gavin-lux","13":"tag-insurance-issues","14":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","15":"tag-marlins","16":"tag-miami","17":"tag-miami-marlins","18":"tag-miamimarlins","19":"tag-miguel-rojas","20":"tag-mlb","21":"tag-toronto-blue-jays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115993305763565471","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}