Javier Baez breaks his silence on controversial World Baseball Classic suspension

El Mago on the world stage. It's just how things were meant to be. Unfortunately, that's not how they will be when the World Baseball Classic kicks off in a few weeks, as the longtime Chicago Cubs star is serving a suspension for positive test for marijuana in 2023 that curtailed his eligibility for this year's event.

Coming off an uneven All-Star campaign in 2025 with the Detroit Tigers, Javier Baez arrived to camp this week and spoke about the suspension - and the missed opportunity to take the field for Puerto Rico.

Javier Baez was emotional when talking about missing the 2026 WBC

“I don’t want to point fingers (at) anybody because this is all my fault,” Báez said. “I’m the one that failed the test … I don’t know if they didn’t want me in the WBC or whatever. It’s just really frustrating that I won’t be able to be there and be able to be part of this. … To have the chance to be part of that, and now it’s (taken) away from me, it really hurts. It really hurts my family, my reputation.”

After spending the winter preparing for the WBC, Baez will be ready to go when Grapefruit League action kicks off this weekend. The Tigers' utilityman has two years (2026-27) and $48 million left on the six-year, $140 million deal he signed with Detroit prior to the 2022 season - and has a lot to prove.

Despite the All-Star nod a year ago, Baez went into a tailspin for much of the second half, with his OPS falling over 200 points - to .548 - after the break last season. His defensive versatility aside, it's safe to say he's fallen well shy of living up to that contract, and the expectations that came with it.

At this point, with Baez now in his age-33 season, it seems safe to say the Cubs got the best years of his career, which included a runner-up finish in the 2018 NL MVP race. Nearly half of his career 27.4 bWAR came from 2018-19, when the then-Cubs superstar stole the show from the likes of Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant, becoming the face of the franchise in the process.

Now, the bar is simple, but notably lower than back then: stay healthy and find ways to help the Tigers - a preseason favorite in the American League - make a deep October run.