The Athletic has live coverage of USA vs. Brazil in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — What could be better than a day at Disney World? A day at Disney World that ends with an invitation to baseball Fantasyland.

That’s how it was for Byron Buxton, anyway. Buxton was home in Georgia this off-season, winding down by the fireplace on his patio after a family visit to the Happiest Place On Earth. Then he took a call from Mark DeRosa — and just like that, he got even happier.

This wasn’t DeRosa, the MLB Network analyst, asking for an interview. It was DeRosa, the Team USA manager for the World Baseball Classic, asking for a center fielder.

“I was like, ‘No way this is Mark DeRosa,’” Buxton said on Wednesday, after the United States thrashed the Colorado Rockies, 14-4, in an exhibition at Salt River Fields. “He’s like, ‘Buck, what’s up? You in?’ And I was just like, ‘Heck yeah!’ There was no hesitation. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now.”

Buxton missed a chance to play for Team USA at the 2015 Pan Am Games because the Minnesota Twins promoted him to the majors. He wasn’t asked for the WBC in 2017, when the U.S. won, or in 2023, when Japan wrested away the title. Those tournaments have helped establish the WBC, for American players, as a can’t-miss event.

Everybody loves a winner, and it took a while for Team USA to be one. In the first three versions — in 2006, 2009 and 2013 — the U.S. lost twice in the quarterfinals and once in the semis. The 2017 team set out to change the results and the perception.

“Honestly, my first year, there were definitely a lot of players, some of the best players, that didn’t want to play,” said New York Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who returns for his third WBC.

“Those of us that were there kind of wanted to prove how great this team could be. We were able to win, and then I think more guys, last time, wanted to do it. The ending there against Japan, even though we came up short, (showed) just how much fun everyone was having, and how great that event is, a lot more media coverage on TV.

“So this time around, definitely, almost everyone wants to be a part of it.”

Some of the old attitudes, from before the 2017 victory, now sound as dated as dial-up Internet.

Here’s Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, to USA Today, in 2006: “I’m worried for baseball and worried for the whole thing. Somebody’s going to get hurt and hurt some team. Baseball didn’t need this. It’s disrupting spring training.”

And here’s then-New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard, in 2017, when asked why he had no regrets about skipping the tournament: “Because I’m a Met. Ain’t nobody made it to the Hall of Fame or the World Series playing in the WBC.”

Now, all the cool kids want to go. Pitcher Griffin Jax said that as soon as he heard about the upcoming tournament, he started angling for an invite, calling Paul Skenes, who was helping to recruit some of the top American pitchers.

“Once I started hearing rumblings of this team being put together last summer, I called my agent, I said, ‘Look, I don’t really know what the process is for this team, how you get recruited, but I need you to start knocking on the door and let them know that I want to do this,’” Jax said. “I also called Skenes and said, ‘Hey man, I saw you’re one of the first names, tell DeRosa, I’m f—ing in’”

At minimum, the WBC breaks up the spring training monotony; exotic locales like Port Charlotte, Fla., and Surprise, Ariz., will still be there when the players return. But it’s really so much more.

“Getting the chance to be surrounded by the greatness we have in this room — MVPs, Cy Young winners, World Series champs, All-Stars, it goes on and on,” Team USA captain Aaron Judge said, explaining his recruiting pitch.

“It’s going to be a cool experience. You’ll get a chance to play for your country and then also learn a thing or two (about) how guys tick. And, hopefully, you can add something to your game and help you out during the season.”

Judge and DeRosa haven’t had to do much convincing. Those who play in the WBC typically return to their teams as true believers.

“Every guy, from Mookie (Betts) and Will Smith and even Barnsie (Austin Barnes) when he played for Mexico, they all told me: ‘It’s something you have to do,’” said pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who could not secure insurance to play in 2023, which is not a problem now that he’s retired.

“And so I think just the environment that’s created with it now, you see some of these teams, I mean, they’re pretty stacked with the D.R. and Japan. It’s going to be a playoff environment. It’s kind of what everybody has told me, and (our) group certainly is motivated to win, which is really fun.”

On the field, Goldschmidt has made first base his pulpit for preaching the good word. Whatever a player’s background, experiencing the WBC is now essential to the baseball brotherhood.

“After ’17, we went back and I was just telling everyone on my team, everyone that got to first base, I would say: ‘Listen, you need to play for your country,’” Goldschmidt said. “And of course the U.S. guys: ‘You need to go play for Team USA,’ because it was great, it was so much fun, the competition was great. You’re basically playing an All-Star Game every night and it definitely prepares you for the season.

“So I think all those things really helped, and same thing in ’23 — I just felt the momentum growing.”

Byron Buxton, Kyle Schwarber, Roman Anthony and Aaron Judge working out ahead of Team USA’s Friday WBC opener. (Chris Coduto / Getty Images)

The breathless ending to the last WBC, when Shohei Ohtani fanned then-Angels teammate Mike Trout for the final out in Miami, raised the profile of the event and the expectations for the silver medalists.

“Absolutely,” said the Philadelphia Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber, who played for the U.S. then and will take the field Friday night when Team USA plays its WBC opener against Brazil.

“New team, new faces, new everything, right? But still the same three letters across our chest where we didn’t get the job done three years ago and we want to fix that. So everyone’s got the right mindset here. Everyone’s looking forward to getting in this tournament and making a deep run and making it all the way to the end and wearing the gold.”

The team has bonded over dinners, flights, text chains and dugout conversations. The effort is intentional, Goldschmidt said, because in smaller countries, especially those with winter leagues, WBC teammates often know each other better.

Yet to varying degrees, all of the U.S. players carry the burden of leadership with their MLB teams — or, at least, the responsibility that comes from knowing that people pay attention to you.

That is part of a shared, likely unspoken connection on the bench and in the clubhouse. When you’ve made it to Team USA, you’ve made it. You are equals in red, white and blue.

“I think it’s just no egos, man, like everybody’s in there being themselves, picking each other up, no matter what it is,” Buxton said. “Obviously, it’s the best of the best, and to be able to immediately come back in the clubhouse or the dugout and have information this quick” — Buxton snapped his fingers — “Everybody can’t get that,” he said.

“(On) every team, it’s hard to get information quick, but we have such good eyes in here — Judge and (Bryce) Harper and Schwarber and Bobby Witt, and I know I’m missing some, but every guy in that clubhouse is phenomenal. We all watch each other.”

More and more, they know they are watching the best.

—With contributions from The Athletic‘s Eno Sarris