The World Baseball Classic swings into full gear this weekend and three former Border Cats are participating in the 2026 tournament.  Outfielder Jacob Robson, who played in Thunder Bay in 2014, will be in uniform for Canada in its opener against Columbia on Saturday in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 11:00am ET.  In exhibition play leading up to the WBC, Robson homered in a 10-7 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays Wednesday and delivered the go ahead RBI single in a 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday.

Boston Red Sox reliever Greg Weissert, who was an NWL All-Star with the Cats in 2015, is with Team Italy.  The righthander tossed a scoreless inning with one strikeout in Italy’s 9-4 exhibition victory over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday.

Carlos Lequerica, who pitched for Thunder Bay in 2019, is currently with the Detroit Tigers organization.  The righthander will pitch for Team Israel in the WBC, and he threw one shutout inning with a strikeout in a 1-0 win over the Miami Marlins in a pre-tourney tuneup on Tuesday.

Shohei Ohtani and Team Japan are the defending WBC champions, winning the last event in 2023.