As Team Israel prepares to take on the world in the next World Baseball Classic, scheduled for March, it does so against the background of a worldwide spike in Jew-hatred in the aftermath of Israel’s war against Hamas.
The players are ready for that challenge.
Two veterans of the 2023 team, which did well enough to secure an automatic bid for the 2026 event, told JNS that they are prouder than ever to wear the blue and white.
“That means everything to me, and it gives me even more of a reason to do it and wear the colors and wear the flag with even more pride,” Baltimore Orioles pitcher Dean Kremer told JNS.
Likewise, Spencer Horwitz, an infielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, told JNS that the climate “makes me want to play even more.”
“I’m proud of where I come from,” Horwitz said. “If anything, it’s helping me.”
The first Israeli-American to play Major League Baseball, Kremer said that he feels “more at home with the Israeli people.”
“My parents are from there, and my whole family lives there, and we’ve been going back since I was born,” he told JNS. “That place is home away from home.”
Horwitz said that he enjoyed his time on the 2023 team so much that he wanted a repeat.
“That was an amazing experience, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do it again,” he said.
Israel will play in Miami against the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The top two teams will advance to the next round.
The team first burst onto the national stage at the 2017 World Baseball Classic when, then ranked 41st in the world, Israel upset South Korea (No. 3), Chinese Taipei/Taiwan (No. 4) and the Netherlands (No. 9) to advance to the second round. It then beat Cuba (No. 5) before the magic ran out.
In 2013, Team Israel, then ranked 20th, didn’t fare as well. Its 1-3 record was nonetheless good enough to qualify the squad for the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
JNS talked to Kremer and Horwitz as they appeared at a Chanukah event held at Chizuk Amuno Congregation, a Conservative synagogue in Baltimore, earlier this month. They signed autographs, posed for pictures and participated in a panel discussion.
At a panel discussion, Kremer said that when he visits Israel regularly to see family, there are constant reminders of Oct. 7.
“It’s very much acknowledged,” he said. “There’s yellow ribbons and yellow flags everywhere. You take care of each other.”
“They may not have tomorrow, and so that’s how they live,” he added, “making sure they take care of their own.”
