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The World Baseball Classic ended this week with Team USA besting Team Puerto Rico by virtue of an 8-0 shutout. It was the first ever championship for the U.S. in the fourth playing of the WBC.

With the tournament coming to a close the question surrounding the event remains constant: should Major Leaguers participate in this tournament considering the risk of injury for the season, or should they try and lead their country to glory?

Both sides have a strong claim in this argument.

It is understandable for your team’s best player from your favorite team to opt out of spring workouts and games with the team to join their country in pursuit of a WBC Championship.

These guys are world class athletes, and their bodies can handle playing high intensity baseball experienced in the early-year tournament.

The players have strong pride in their country in the sport they learned growing up and want to represent it proudly, especially since baseball isn’t included in the list of events at the summer Olympics.

On the other side of the coin, it understandable for organizations to frown upon tournament participation and for players to opt out of the event to try and get prepared for the season with their teams.

It makes sense for a player to not play in the tournament because their MLB team is the one that pays them and the players could have a sense of loyalty and commitment to what the organization is doing and the goals they are trying to accomplish so they stay in spring training to get ready for the upcoming season.

Also if any of these players were to get injured in the WBC it would definitely be a letdown to everyone in the organization from front office guys to the fans.

At the end of the day it is reasonable to see why players chose to represent their countries in pursuit of a WBC gold medal, as well as choosing not to participate in the event to remain with their teams in spring training and not wanting to take the chance of getting injured.