What if the Roman Empire was in the World Baseball Classic?

The Roman Empire peaked, at least geographically speaking, in the early 2nd century under the Emperor Trajan. If it were still that way today, almost 2,000 years later, there would be a lot of pretty good ballplayers eligible to represent the Roman Empire in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. So, using modern day borders as our guide, if you can claim any sort of heritage to a country that was once conquered by the Romans at their peak, you're in. Now, in terms of World Baseball Classic eligibility, you're generally going to need to be either born there, a citizen, or have a parent that's a citizen, but there are other countries that played a little more fast and loose in terms of eligibility. And two of the teams that play fast and loose with their eligibility like this would indeed be part of our modern day Roman Empire. The first one is Italy, just because they allow connections to grandparents, not just parents. And the other one is Team Israel, which, due to the Law of Return, allows pretty much anyone from a Jewish family to represent the country. If I were doing a true dream team of eligible players, it would mostly be guys on Team Italy or Team Israel. So, in the interest of highlighting the geographical diversity of the Empire at its peak, we will be instituting a two-player limit per modern day country. Alright, let's get started. We're going to be doing a nine-man lineup and a five-man starting rotation. So, our catcher is going to be Harry Ford from Team Great Britain. The Romans conquered most of Great Britain, although they didn't conquer all Scotland, mostly because there just wasn't a whole lot there at the time. Hadrian, who succeeded Trajan's emperor, famously built his wall across what is today Northern England. Ford played for Team Great Britain in 2023 and will do so again in 2026, so no doubt he'll be eligible for our Roman Empire team. He is a Mariners catching prospect who debuted in the big leagues last year. And it just doesn't get more British than being named Harry. Our first baseman is Pete Alonso, who is going to represent Spain via his Spanish grandfather. The Emperor Trajan himself was born in modern-day Spain. And with Alonso, you know exactly what you're going to get. You're going to get a first baseman who absolutely mashes. Some call him the Polar Bear, but for the sake of this tournament, I'm going to call him the Big Iberian. I think if Pete Alonso actually were in the Roman Empire, he would be a great gladiator. He would relish the combat. Our second baseman will be Brendan Donovan. Although he grew up in Alabama and is very much an American, he is eligible for Team Germany because he was born there. His father at the time was serving in the military. The Romans conquered some of, but not all, of modern-day Germany. The Rhine River generally served as a border to the empire. But they did conquer some of it. In fact, the now modern-day city of Cologne was founded as a Roman colony. Also, the year 9 battle of Teutoburg Forest is seen as a foundation of German national identity. It was the first historical appearance of a unified front of Germanic people. As far as what Brendan Donovan brings to the Roman Empire team, I would say first and foremost, versatility. I know we're locking him in at second base, but he can play a lot of positions. And the other skill would be getting on base. He's the type of guy you might want to hit in front of Pete Alonso. Third base is going to be Sir D.D. Gregorius, and this is when we start splitting hairs about colonization. Almost all of the players representing Team Netherlands at the World Baseball Classic aren't from Europe. They're from the Dutch Caribbean, places like Aruba or Curaçao. D.D. is different. D.D. was born in the Netherlands proper. And because those new world colonies didn't exist during the Roman Empire, I feel like D.D. is the best and pretty much only pick here. He's not an active big leaguer, but he did win a European championship in 2025 with Team Netherlands. So I'd say the biggest thing he brings to the table right now is international experience. At shortstop, we will go with the Italy eligible Anthony Volpe. Of course, the capital of present day Italy is Rome, the very basis of the empire. And Anthony Volpe is very Italian-American. I understand that is distinct from an Italian culture, but think about it. He's the Yankee shortstop. He was born in Manhattan. He grew up in New Jersey. Chicken parm. What Volpe brings to the team is a true MLB quality shortstop glove, which is not easy to come by in this tournament. Usually that's kind of reserved for the top teams. Hopefully he has the glove to make it happen. Hopefully. I certainly hope so. Baseball season is just around the corner and you can use Code Foolish on SeatGeek to save $20 on your first ticket purchase. So if you do want to go to the World Baseball Classic, for example, here's a game in Houston, Mexico versus Great Britain. You can include fees with the price. Let's say we want for two tickets, about $50 each. So we filter for that and we sort by the deal score. These are all tens. This could be your front row outfield view for $52 each or more of a behind home plate view for $47 each. And to save $20 on your order, SeatGeek Code Foolish. Back to the video. In left field, we'll have Cody Bellinger representing Greece. His father, Clay, represented Greece in the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. Of course, the Romans borrowed a lot from ancient Greece, especially culturally speaking. I mean, they just took all their gods and changed the names. From a baseball perspective, the Roman Empire team gets a lot with Bellinger. They get someone who can play the infield and the outfield. They get a former Rookie of the Year and MVP winner and someone who just signed their long-term deal with the New York Yankees. If Cody Bellinger were around during the Roman Empire, I think he would do opium. In centerfield, we have Harrison Bader who will represent Team Israel in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. The Roman Empire stretched all throughout the Holy Land and at times they had their hands full. For example, in the year zero, a Jewish cult leader was born, ended up forming a small following. Thankfully, the Romans were able to quash that before it grew into something bigger. Harrison Bader's two key skills are his defense in the outfield. He is a legitimately very good centerfielder as well as his ability to hit left-handed pitching because as you can see, this lineup is lefty heavy. In right field, we have Roman Anthony who declined the invite from Team Italy this time around, but his name is Roman. This is the Roman Empire. His name is Roman. He has to be on this team. He is a young rising star in today's game. His standout qualities are his plate discipline as well as ability to make consistent hard contact. He legitimately looks like a Roman Empire guy with his curly hair and sharp features. He's the type of guy you would make a bust of. Not that I think he's a bust as a prospect or anything like that. It seems like he's actually really good at baseball. At DH, we're going to play it a little loose in terms of eligibility here, but I have Christian Jelic representing modern day Serbia. His great grandfather was a Serb. In fact, the last name Jelic with a J is indeed a Serbian name. Serbia is also where Constantine was born and Constantine, of course, converted the empire to Christianity and Jelic's first name is Christian and wait, maybe that crucifixion stuff didn't work. With Jelic, you know what you're getting. You're getting a former MVP winner and a guy who is both a home run threat as well as a stolen base threat. That's our lineup. Now it's time for our five man starting rotation. First, I'll go with the Jewish American pitcher, Max Fried, who will not be representing Team USA or Team Israel this time around in the World Baseball Classic. He is a true ace. He would absolutely be one of the best pitchers in the tournament because he's one of the best pitchers in the world. He gets swings and misses as well as soft contact. I think if Max Fried were around during the Roman Empire, he might end up being some sort of philosopher emperor like Marcus Aurelius. He just seems like a thoughtful guy. Our second starter will be Chris Bubic, who is of Croatian descent through both his parents, so hopefully he doesn't mind playing alongside Christian Jelic. The Emperor Diocletian's Palace is indeed in modern-day Croatia. In fact, I've been there. Here's a photo that I took when I was there. In addition to his funny name, Bubic was an all-star last year and one of his best skills is keeping the ball on the ground. I think that's going to be absolutely crucial for the Roman Empire team because the Colosseum, it's a band box. Next up was my favorite discovery of obscure baseball player heritage. It's Shane Boz, whose father was born in Lebanon. At the time in the Roman Empire, it was called Phoenicia, and I would have to guess out of all the modern-day countries and territories represented on this list, Lebanon is the one where they probably play the least amount of baseball. So if we want to kickstart Lebanese baseball, we've got to build around Shane Boz. Boz was traded to the Baltimore Orioles this past offseason and is known for being a great fastballer, which makes me think that if he were in ancient Rome, he would be a great legionnaire. I can just see him out there chucking javelins at people. Also, he has sort of the thousand-yard stare of a man who's been in a Punic war or three. Our fourth starter is Jack Leiter, who is of course from a famous pitching family and is eligible for Team Britain through his Liverpudlian grandmother. Leiter is the former number two overall pick in the draft and is coming off a solid rookie season with room yet still to grow. And we will round out the rotation with Jason Alexander, who is not the actor who played George Costanza on Seinfeld, he is the right-handed pitcher. And thanks to the French baseball website and Google Translate, I'm able to say he appears to be eligible for Team France via his French mother. Of course, back in the days of the Roman Empire, it wasn't called France, it was called Gaul, and it was conquered by Caesar. Alexander pitched 71 innings of 3.66 ERA ball last year for the Houston Astros. Although we're not building a bullpen today, if we were, maybe we'd throw in his brother Scott just to have a second Frenchman. So that's the squad, but I just realized we need a manager, and that is an opportunity to include yet another modern-day country in our Roman Empire team. Our manager is going to be the 44-year-old former Padres third baseman Kevin Kuzminoff, who is currently coaching in the Athletics Minor League system. Kuzminoff is of Macedonian descent. So that's the team, but how would they do if they were actually competing in the upcoming World Baseball Classic? Let me know in the comments down below.