Team USA WBC: See how Americans have fared in tournament

On an annual basis, the USA supplies more than 60% of Major League Baseball’s talent. Yet Team USA has won just one of five World Baseball Classics.

This time around, it hopes to close the gap through an elite collection of talent.

It took four tries for Team USA to win the WBC, thanks in part to a variety of factors: Stars occasionally hesitant to play, Japan’s abundance of talent and its excellence on the international stage and, of course, the randomness inherent to a tournament contested across just a couple weeks rather than a seven-month season.

A breakdown of when Team USA fell short – and came through – in previous WBCs:

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2006: Team USA loses in second round

The talent: Pretty solid. A smattering of aging legends (Roger Clemens, Ken Griffey Jr.,) future Hall of Famers still in their better years (Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones) and emerging superstars (Chase Utley, Mark Teixeira, Matt Holliday) assembled for the inaugural WBC. At 36, Griffey still mashed, leading the club in hits (11), homers (three) and RBIs (10) while Clemens gave up two runs in 8 2/3 innings of two starts.

Where it went wrong: Team USA’s demise exemplified the depth of global talent as it succumbed to a pair of formidable if not dominant teams – Korea and Mexico. Dontrelle Willis and reliever Dan Wheeler got ambushed for four runs in the third and fourth innings against Korea, while Oliver Pérez led an eight-man contingent of Mexican pitchers that held Team USA to three hits in a 2-1 loss that proved fatal.

The champion: Japan asserted its WBC dominance immediately, surviving two early-round losses to Korea to beat them in the semifinals and top Cuba 10-6 in the championship.

2009: Team USA loses to Japan in semifinals

The talent: Bit of a mish-mash. Griffey, Jake Peavy, Jeter and Jones were back, with rising stars like David Wright – he’d come to be known as Captain America for his WBC exploits – and Dustin Pedroia in the mix. Utley, coming off a World Series run, did not participate; he’d produce 8.2 WAR in ’09, second only to Albert Pujols among NL position players. The game’s swing-and-miss obsession had not yet taken hold. In retrospect, Tim Lincecum might’ve been a nice add.

Where it went wrong: A pair of losses to Venezuela in pool play and the second round made the road tougher. In the semifinals, Japan erased a 2-1 fourth-inning deficit with a five-run eruption against Roy Oswalt, and Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched into the fifth inning to earn the win as Japan pulled away for a 9-4 conquest.

The champion: Japan made it 2-for-2, this time with a dramatic 5-3, 10-inning triumph over rival Korea thanks to Ichiro Suzuki’s two-out, two-run single.

2013: Team USA loses in second round

The talent: Hmm. The lack of a true ace jumps off the page here – while R.A. Dickey was the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, a 36-year-old knuckleballer isn’t exactly the conventional hoss you want leading the boys into battle. Ryan Vogelsong, Gio Gonzalez and Derek Holland rounded out the rotation. Wright and Jimmy Rollins were back for more, while future WBC champions Adam Jones and 23-year-olds Eric Hosmer and Giancarlo Stanton might have been ahead of their time – they went a combined 13-for-64 (.203) with two extra-base hits.

Where it went wrong: Shortcomings on both sides of the ball were exposed in narrow losses to the Dominican (3-1) and Puerto Rico (4-3) in the second round. Team USA could not solve Dominican starter Samuel Deduno and closer Craig Kimbrel gave up tiebreaking RBI singles in the ninth to Erick Aybar and Jose Reyes. They were sent packing after a 4-3 loss to Puerto Rico in which Nelson Figueroa, 38, allowed only a pair of singles across six innings. “It was a great example of what can be done without a plus fastball,” says Figueroa.

The champion: The Dominicans completed an unbeaten run through the tournament as Deduno abided once again in the finals, pitching five shutout innings to beat Puerto Rico 3-0.

2017: Team USA wins championship

The talent: A fearless collection of dudes led by Marcus Stroman, who basically said, “Give me the ball,” and he pitched brilliantly, giving Team USA 15 1/3 innings over three starts. Unheralded Danny Duffy broke serve by beating the Dominicans in the quarterfinals. Brandon Crawford was the glue in the middle of the defense and he and Hosmer led the club with 10 hits apiece.

Where it went right: The turning point for Team USA and, in a sense, the WBC at large came with Adam Jones’ famous home-run robbery of Manny Machado in the quarterfinals at Petco Park. But the road to a title always goes through Japan and Tanner Roark led a seven-pitcher contingent that gave up just four hits in a 2-1 semifinal victory, allowing Crawford to score the go-ahead run on an eighth-inning error.

The champion: Team USA finished the job with an 8-0 defeat of Puerto Rico, behind Stroman’s six shutout innings and Ian Kinsler’s go-ahead two-run homer in the third off Seth Lugo.

2023: Team USA loses to Japan in finals

The talent: A split decision, as the position-player side was loaded with former MVPs and current superstars – Mike Trout made his WBC debut, while Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, Kyles Tucker and Schwarber and Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt gave the team depth and heft. Pitching was another story: While the bullpen was largely lights-out, the rotation of Merrill Kelly, Lance Lynn, Adam Wainwright and Nick Martinez pitched to a 4.50 ERA.

Where it went wrong: Hey, not much to complain about. The squad went 3-1 in pool play, survived Venezuela 9-7 in the quarterfinals and throttled Cuba 14-2 in the semifinals. Yet a familiar foe lurked.

The champion: Shohei Ohtani’s title-clinching strikeout of Trout won’t soon be forgotten, nor will his .435/.606/.739 WBC slash line. Sometimes the greatest player really does prevail.