The World Baseball Classic (WBC) concluded with Venezuela overcoming the star powered USA team to take the win.[1] The WBC was held in Miami, Houston, Tokyo and San Juan and had record setting numbers with over one million attendees across the entirety of the tournament.[2] It is important to note that the WBC drew these kinds of numbers in a season where the only baseball games being played are spring training games. While the WBC had notable participation from huge baseball stars like Aaron Judge, Michael Arroyo, Jose Caballero, and Bobby Witt, Jr., what was almost as surprising was who did not participate.
Similar to hockey players who participated in the 2026 Olympics, the MLB was worried about the injury risk of allowing players to participate in a tournament like the WBC. MLB contracts are fully guaranteed, meaning that the player gets paid regardless of whether they play or not.[3] The MLB and MLB Players Association (PA) agreed that when players participate in the WBC that the contracts have to be insured. However, NFP, the insurance company which provides this insurance, has strict injury related rules that caused big names in baseball to sit out of the WBC. NFP recently instituted a rule that players over the age of 37 will no longer be insured to participate in the WBC.[4] The insurance denials primarily affected Latin American teams and caused so much controversy that Puerto Rico threatened to withdraw from the WBC.[5]
Mike Trout, Carlos Correa, Jose Altuve and Victor Caratini all wanted to play in the WBC, but were denied because of the insurance requirement.[6] In 2023, the WBC had two major injuries to players that caused NFP to pay the entire year’s salary, or a large chunk of the salary. Edwin Diaz was out for the year following a fluke accident celebrating his team’s quarterfinal win in the 2023 WBC.[7] Similarly, Jose Altuve missed seven weeks at the beginning of the 2023 season with an injury that was sustained during the 2023 WBC.[8] NFP classifies players based on their injury risk as either “low risk,” “moderate,” or “chronic.” [9] A chronic injury designation can result from a number of factors including: 60 days on IR in the last season, two or more surgeries in the course of their career, surgery the previous year, and more.[10]
What is interesting about the insurance issue is that some players who met the criteria for a chronic injury risk under the NFP’s definition were covered and allowed to participate in the WBC. Byron Buxton played for the US in the WBC despite the fact that he had two knee surgeries in the last four years.[11] Players who were denied the insurance coverage had three options. One of the options included finding a different insurance company to insure the contract. Bad Bunny got involved with Correa and Lindor and tried to help them get insurance coverage through a different insurance carrier.[12] Correa was unable to get the insurance, and did not participate in the WBC. Lindor ended up injured before the WBC, and would not have been able to participate.
The WBC ended up being a great success. However, the insurance issues raise a broader set of questions moving forward. Chief among them is whether the PA will choose to search for an additional insurance company that will allow more players to play. The WBC is played every four years, so there is time to solve the insurance issue that dominated the beginning of this year’s WBC. However, an obstacle to that is that both the MLB and the PA have to agree on the insurance provider. As the WBC continues to grow, we will see if this problem continues to persist.
[1] https://www.mlb.com/news/venezuela-wins-world-baseball-classic-2026
[2] https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/venezuelas-win-over-team-usa-becomes-most-watched-world-baseball-classic-game-outdraws-some-past-world-series-games-221100103.html
[3] https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/48112059/mlb-2026-wbc-world-baseball-classic-insurance-faq-trout-puerto-rico-bad-bunny
[4] Id.
[5] https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/world-baseball-classic-insurance-issues-092001165.html
[6] https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/world-baseball-classic-insurance-mike-trout-carlos-correa-jose-altuve/
[7] https://www.si.com/mlb/world-baseball-classic-insurance-major-issue
[8] https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/48112059/mlb-2026-wbc-world-baseball-classic-insurance-faq-trout-puerto-rico-bad-bunny
[9] https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/world-baseball-classic-insurance-issues-092001165.html
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/48112059/mlb-2026-wbc-world-baseball-classic-insurance-faq-trout-puerto-rico-bad-bunny
Julia Hoffmann is a third year law student at the University of Buffalo School of Law. Originally from the West Coast, she has always had an interest in the cross section between the law and sports. Julia is a huge fan of hockey, and watches all things women's sports.
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