This is an excerpt from the latest edition of Michael Clair's International Beat Newsletter, bringing global baseball news to your inbox every month. Sign up for future installments HERE and check out the full newsletter HERE. The World Baseball Classic Qualifiers have wrapped up, with Nicaragua, Chinese Taipei, Colombia and

After Nicaragua and Chinese Taipei booked their trips to the 2026 World Baseball Classic last week, only two spots remained. The first of those was decided when Colombia went 3-0 in the Tucson (Ariz.) Qualifiers and booked its ticket to next year's tournament. China was eliminated after finishing with an

TUCSON, Ariz. – With Colombia having already qualified for the 2026 World Baseball Classic after sweeping its three games at the Tucson leg of this year’s qualifiers this week -- and China having been eliminated after losing all three of its contests – the second team to come out of

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Lou Helmig is tall and lean, long brown locks hanging from beneath his ballcap. He looks the part of the prototypical ballplayer, like he was born to play the game. In a way, he was. Lou's grandfather, Claus, is called "the godfather of German baseball." He --

Monday's World Baseball Classic Qualifiers featured a showdown of superstar baseball legacy vs. superstar tennis legacy -- and baseball won. Lucas Ramirez, the son of Red Sox legend Manny Ramirez, faced Jaden Agassi, the son of tennis Hall of Famers Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, during Brazil's game against Germany

Tennis Hall of Famers Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf made their living going after grand slams -- winning a combined 30 between them. Their son Jaden wants to avoid them at all costs. That's because Jaden, a 23-year-old graduate of USC, didn't follow in the family footsteps, grabbing a glove

Paul Hoff was 15 years old when he left school and flew over 4,000 miles to chase a professional baseball career. It’s rare for a German athlete to grow up playing America’s pastime. It’s even rarer for a player from Germany to sign with a Major League club. Hoff defeated

It was a rainy September day in Hoofddorp, Netherlands during the 2018 Super Six baseball tournament when Sascha Hermann got his big idea. Hermann was cheering for the German National Team from his seat when he looked around and was disappointed by what he saw. Though the city was just