Six years ago, when the World Baseball Classic was last held, we discussed the absurdity of Team Israel, which was mostly Team "American Jews". Of course, Israel is not really alone in stretching the definition of nationality as far as the WBC is concerned.

In the 2023 edition, we have Team Great Britain (players born in actual Britain: 5/36), Italy (3/36), Czechia (Wait, what? 32/36? They play baseball in the Czechia? They do have a player from Idaho...), and, of course, our good old friends Israel (1/36 FTW!). Even Mexico, who surprised its way to the semifinals, is at 22/36, had numerous Americans of Mexican descent suiting up for the birth country of their ancestors.

Among those Mexican-Americans was husky first baseman Rowdy Tellez (real name: Ryan; it's a long story), who plays for the Milwaukee Brewers. Tellez was born in California to a Mexican-American father and a Jewish American mother, meaning that he actually had to turn down Israel's overtures to play for Mexico instead.

Oh, the strange world of professional international baseball!