The World Baseball Classic will begin in roughly a month. Teams representing countries from all over the world are ready to compete. Unfortunately for New York Yankees pitcher Luis Severino, he will not be partaking in the festivities.

Severino will not be participating in the WBC, according to Hector Gomez of Z101 Digita. Gomez reports that the Yankees' 28-year-old starting pitcher “will not be pitching for the Dominican Republic in the 2023 WBC because New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman did not allow him.”

Although Severino losing the chance to represent his country in the tournament is unfortunate, the Yankees' stance here makes sense. He has been injury prone for the past few seasons and New York is eager to make it back to the World Series. Severino will be a big part of that as a starter behind Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes and newly signed Carlos Rodon. He had an impressive 3.18 ERA in 102.0 innings in 2022, the most amount of innings he has pitched since 2018. Keeping him right is extremely important for the Yankees' title hopes.

The Dominican Republic team will miss Severino but still has a great chance to win the tournament thanks to a stacked roster featuring Juan Soto, Julio Rodriguez, Rafael Devers, Vladdy Guerrero Jr., Sandy Alcantara, Manny Machado, Luis Castillo, Jeremy Peña, Framber Valdez and many, many more.

Team USA also has a star-studded roster highlighted by Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, Clayton Kershaw, Trea Turner, Pete Alonso and many more but the Dominican Republic squad will challenge them a lot.