The World Series (WS) is something that most people in the United States will have heard of. It consists of the best two teams from the MLB (major league baseball) battling it out for the Commissioner’s Trophy. The World Series has been going on for a long time. The first World Series was played in 1903. This was the first time a modern World Series was played. Throughout history, baseball has played for the trophy every year. The playoffs begin in October and then the final game is played in a series of seven games. The first team to win four out of the seven games is declared the World Series Champion. Yet baseball originated in the United States, other countries have adopted the sport. Other countries do have their own versions of the World Series, but there is not another level to the competition between the countries. Baseball is not one of the sports in the olympics. It has tried, but the best players do not really participate. Recently in 2006, the inaugural edition of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) was held. This is not similar to the World Series. These are two completely different championships. The WBC is a battle of 20 teams from different countries that compete in a bracket to win 1 million dollars along with the trophy. You get 300 thousand dollars if you get in the WBC. The WBC is on a four year cycle. Every four years the teams compete in this bracket. The top four teams in each pool are given automatic berths into the next WBC. The first team to win the WBC was Japan. The WBC is interesting because everyone knows the players in the MLB, but there are players who have never been seen or heard of that play in the WBC. There are very young players from these countries that don’t have players in the MLB. There are a lot of young players that have earned contracts with MLB teams due to the exposure they get from the WBC. The players on the teams don’t have to play, but most do. It is a fun time and a chance to play for their country. The players mainly just have to have been born in that country or be a citizen. In my opinion, the WBC is a great series. It is fun to watch something different in baseball. I am able to cheer for my country and watch baseball that I haven’t gotten to see before. The games are very intense and enthusiastic. The teams are fighting very hard because it is only a short time they get to play in the WBC. It is cool to see the different players that have never played together before. USA is still in the WBC and I am rooting for them. They have not won a WBC yet, so I would like to see them get a WBC title.