Day: March 4, 2026

Team Australia infielder Travis Bazzana has yet to make his Major League Baseball debut, but he has already made MLB history. Bazzana became the first Australian-born player to be drafted in the first round when the Cleveland Guardians made him the first overall pick in 2024. Two years later, the top prospect is knocking at MLB’s door. After finishing last year at Triple-A, where he had an .858 OPS in 26 games before his season was cut short by an oblique injury, Bazzana was a non-roster invite at big-league camp this spring. He’s far from a lock to make the Opening Day roster, but he’s on track to be patrolling second base in Cleveland at some point this year. Before that happens, though, Bazzana has another debut to make. He’ll lead his home country in the World Baseball Classic for the first time when the tournament kicks off with Australia facing Chinese Taipei at the Tokyo Dome. Two weeks before Bazzana left for Japan, I caught up with the 23-year-old infielder to talk about growing up playing baseball in the suburbs of Sydney, why and how he was drawn to the sport, the food he misses most from back home, the allure of representing Australia in the WBC, his 2026 goals and more. I know you played cricket and other more popular Australian sports growing up. What drew you to baseball? My dad played a lot of sports. He played rugby, cricket, baseball primarily, and he was solid at all three. I’m the youngest of three boys, and they were around the field, Dad was around the baseball club, and I just took a lot of attention to it. I would ask my parents to hit tee-ball. I would be the bat boy for my older brothers and run around the field. I loved every second of just being at the baseball field and watching and taking it all in. It never got pushed on me, neither my brothers, but it became my identity early on. As early as I can remember writing about what I wanted to do, it was like I wanted to be a baseball player, and everyone knew I played baseball. That was just like my thing. I played all the other sports, but baseball is what I took a passion to. If I had a chance to sit down with free time when I was little, I was watching MLB.com highlights. How hard was it to find people to play baseball with in Australia? There are lots of baseball clubs and lots of Little League systems and things in place for grassroots baseball in Australia that made playing consistently fairly easy, but in terms of finding friends that aren’t at the baseball club to play with, like I didn’t play any backyard baseball with friends growing up, really. Maybe when we had, like, my team meet up and do that. [TOP 10 WBC MOMENTS: What makes the all-time list?] But if I was with my school friends, it was rugby or cricket at the park on the weekend when we had free time. At school, recess or whatever, it was cricket, touch rugby, sometimes basketball, sometimes soccer, never baseball. At my high school, there were only a couple kids that played baseball and not at a high level, really. In terms of finding people to play with, it was like I would be going to the baseball field to do that. I wasn’t playing wiffle ball, I was playing backyard cricket. Can you describe growing up in Turramurra for those who aren’t familiar? It’s a very nice northern suburb of Sydney. Lots of good parks. Lots of good clubs for all kinds of sports. Good schools. It’s a great spot. Let’s just say the house prices in Turramurra are probably booming right now and have been. They’re insanely high, so it’s a good spot, and I was lucky to grow up there. But yeah, if you walked around Turramurra, you’d probably find some kids playing rugby and cricket. When did playing pro start to feel like a real possibility for you? I think when I was like 14 was when it really started to kick in that I was going to get a chance to pursue what I had always worked for. I was 14 when I was playing in the 15U national tournament in Australia, and I felt like I could hold my own with some of the older kids, and there was some pro scouting interest starting to arise. So that was when I was like, OK, I think I’ll be capable to at least take some kind of path toward pro baseball, whether that was go pro or go to college. I really started to kick in the planning for that. Is there a place or type of food you miss the most when you’re not home? One thing that’s really cool about Australia is we have really good sushi for not a premium. You can find great sushi spots all around where you get, like, really quality rolls for $3-5. So you have lunch, get three good sushi rolls for $12, and the quality’s great, and there’s no issues, and it’s consistent. Here, you go to a sushi place, and they charge you $18 for a roll, and you’re like, from my perspective, that’s like five times too much. It’s rice with a little bit of fish. The upcharge here is big. They make sushi the very boujee thing in America, and it doesn’t have to be. Considering this will be your first time competing for Australia at the WBC, how well do you know the other guys on the team? There are only a couple of guys on the roster that I grew up sort of playing with or against. The majority of those guys, it was sort of academies, Australian Academy or our state academies back home where maybe they’re a couple of years older than me, but all the best youth players would kind of get together. There are times when I was around some of them then. Most of the rest of the players were people I kind of watched on the men’s team in the last 10 years when I was coming up that I hadn’t spent much time around, maybe played a game or two against them in the Australian Baseball League when I was young before I went to college. I definitely knew who all of them were, and then I got to play with most of those guys last year in the Premier12 tournament. So I kind of know everyone on the team now, but from childhood it was mainly watching most of the guys. How much fun was it to watch Australia advance out of the first round for the first time in 2023? How quickly did you decide you wanted to participate in 2026? I was wishing I could have been on that team. I was in college watching, but I was in the middle of a season and hadn’t really earned that right yet, but they did an incredible job that year, and people stepped up in huge situations, and that whole roster really played their role and did a great job. It was something that was on my mind for a long time, and that kind of cemented, ‘This next tournament, I’m going to get the chance,’ and I let everyone know that was what I wanted to do, and now it’s almost here. I know you dealt with a couple of oblique injuries last year. When did you start to feel right again, and what’s your goal for 2026? The last oblique issue happened like the second to last week of the season in Columbus, so I went home right after the season and was doing rehab work but nothing very intense and a lot of just relaxing with family. Once I got back from Australia and I was finished traveling and was able to ramp back up, I would say I was feeling good. By Nov. 10, I was kind of clear of that, so obliques were clear by November, and I had a really strong build-up. Looking ahead, I’m just trying to make the most of camp. Obviously, the big leagues are on the horizon, but it’s just about performing and continuing to get better and showing the big-league staff what I can do. Once it’s there, just enjoy the game, play hard like I have, and everything should take care of itself. Can you see the opportunity ahead? Yeah, 100%. I’m in big-league camp and get to take reps with guys that have been there, done that, every day. I feel like it’s right around the corner. I’ve just got to do what I can, and if opportunity arises, just take it with both hands. Was it a hard choice to leave camp knowing how close you are to the big leagues? It’s something I thought about, but it was never going to shy me away from going and doing [the WBC]. At the end of the day, if I was going somewhere that was a cool event to not play baseball, it would make sense. But I’m going to play on one of the biggest stages in the world. In my opinion, it competes with playoff baseball in MLB. I think if I’m physically prepared, there’s almost not a better way to get good game reps in an important environment to prepare for a season. So there’s obviously a team aspect that I’ll be missing here for like 12 days, maybe 10 days, and hopefully more if we go to Miami. But at the end of the day, if I’m playing against some of the best players in the world, in front of 60,000 or 50,000 in the Tokyo Dome, whatever it is, I think it’s a positive no matter what. Hopefully, I can make the most of that and come back.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

As far as high-pressure moments go, Tuesday night was chock-full of them for March Madness hopefuls living life on the bubble. Three of those teams scored upsets over ranked opponents when UCLA toppled No. 9 Nebraska, TCU upended No. 10 Texas Tech and Georgia dispatched No. 16 Alabama. Several more from outside the power conferences improved their position as well, setting the stage for what should be an excellent final few days of the regular season. Though this year’s collection of bubble teams isn’t as strong as we’ve seen in the past, there’s no shortage of storylines among the schools still jockeying for position. Big brands like Ohio State, Indiana and Auburn are clawing for potential at-large bids. As are several traditional mid-major powers like New Mexico, VCU and San Diego State. So as the madness draws ever closer, here’s a breakdown of 10 teams hovering along the NCAA Tournament cut line with less than two weeks to Selection Sunday: 1. Ohio State Buckeyes Record: 18-11 overall, 10-8 Big Ten WAB Rank: No. 37 NET Rank: No. 34 Breakdown: 2-10 vs. Quad 1; 6-1 vs. Quad 2; 4-0 vs. Quad 3; 6-0 vs. Quad 4 Remaining schedule: at Penn State (March 4); vs. Indiana (March 7) Even though Ohio State hasn’t won consecutive games since defeating UCLA and Minnesota in mid-January, it quickly jumped to the right side of this year’s bubble by defeating then-No. 8 Purdue over the weekend. That victory gave the Buckeyes their second win over a ranked opponent after knocking off then-No. 24 Wisconsin on Feb. 17, assuring head coach Jake Diebler and his team of finishing no worse than .500 in Big Ten play. With only one defeat to teams ranked outside the top 54 in KenPom, the Buckeyes have done an excellent job avoiding bad losses while always showing up against overmatched conference opponents. Barring three straight defeats between now and Selection Sunday — two in the regular season and one in the Big Ten Tournament — it’s fair to say Ohio State should feel comfortable about its chances of earning an at-large bid. [MEN’S NCAA: Top 10, Bubble Team NET Rankings] 2. TCU Horned Frogs Record: 20-10 overall, 10-7 Big 12 WAB Rank: No. 42 NET Rank: No. 45 Breakdown: 4-6 vs. Quad 1; 5-2 vs. Quad 2; 3-1 vs. Quad 3; 7-1 vs. Quad 4 Remaining schedule: vs. Cincinnati (March 7) In some respects, the Horned Frogs have spent the season digging themselves out of a hole that originated during an opening-night defeat to New Orleans, a team that was ranked No. 297 in KenPom when that game was played back on Nov. 3. Though head coach Jamie Dixon and his team eventually reached 11-3 overall, they began conference play with an unsightly 1-4 start that kept them below .500 in the Big 12 until a three-game winning streak at the end of February. But Tuesday’s massive victory over No. 10 Texas Tech means the Horned Frogs will finish no worse than 10-8 in what is largely considered the toughest conference in the country. The result added another marquee victory alongside earlier wins over then-No. 10 Florida and then-No. 5 Iowa State that have aged extremely well. TCU has likely punched its ticket. [AP TOP 25: UNC Surges, Alabama Exits, Fairfield Enters] 3. Auburn Tigers Record: 16-14 overall, 7-10 SEC WAB Rank: No. 48 NET Rank: No. 38 Breakdown: 5-11 vs. Quad 1; 2-2 vs. Quad 2; 2-1 vs. Quad 3; 6-0 vs. Quad 4 Remaining schedule: at No. 16 Alabama (March 7) Unless something drastically changes via a lengthy SEC tournament run, the Tigers will almost certainly be among the most divisive, most scrutinized teams come Selection Sunday. Auburn began the season, its first under head coach Steven Pearl, ranked No. 20 in the AP Poll after reaching the Final Four last year. But things soon unraveled for a team with one of the best offenses in the country — the Tigers are still ranked No. 11 in KenPom for offensive efficiency — that is routinely let down by a defense checking in at No. 119 nationally. Still, noteworthy victories over then-No. 14 St. John’s, then-No. 15 Arkansas and then-No. 16 Florida have been enough to keep Auburn’s postseason hopes afloat despite sinking three games below .500 in conference play. A victory over No. 16 Alabama in the regular season finale on Saturday would make the Tigers’ case even more polarizing. 4. Seton Hall Pirates Record: 20-10 overall, 10-9 Big East WAB Rank: No. 55 NET Rank: No. 56 Breakdown: 2-4 vs. Quad 1; 5-4 vs. Quad 2; 6-2 vs. Quad 3; 6-0 vs. Quad 4 Remaining schedule: vs. No. 18 St. John’s (March 6) Had Seton Hall assembled this kind of résumé amid a more traditional season for the Big East — one that included more than three teams ranked among the top 50 in KenPom — the Pirates would be all but assured of an at-large berth. But this year’s Big East has fallen to fifth in net rating among the power conferences behind the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten and ACC, and that has lessened the impressiveness of what a near-.500 record in league play really means. Head coach Shaheen Holloway and his group secured a decent non-conference victory by knocking off NC State in late November, but that remains the Pirates’ only win over a team projected to make the NCAA Tournament from the power leagues. The regular season finale against St. John’s will give Seton Hall one more chance to add a high-profile ranked win before the conference tournament. 5. San Diego State Aztecs Record: 19-10 overall, 13-6 Mountain West WAB Rank: No. 52 NET Rank: No. 44 Breakdown: 2-5 vs. Quad 1; 5-3 vs. Quad 2; 5-1 vs. Quad 3; 6-0 vs. Quad 4 Remaining schedule: vs. UNLV (March 6) Three years removed from reaching the national championship game, San Diego State finds itself in the precarious position of potentially missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2018-19 campaign. An early season, double-overtime loss to Troy was compounded by lopsided nonconference defeats to then-No. 7 Michigan and then-No. 1 Arizona that suggested the Aztecs were significantly removed from the nation’s elite. And while they reeled off 12 victories in their first 14 games during Mountain West play to amass an 18-6 record, three conference losses across 11 days in late February dragged head coach Brian Dutcher and his team back toward the bubble. At this point, the biggest pluses on San Diego State’s résumé are victories over conference rivals and projected NCAA Tournament teams New Mexico and Utah State, both of which split their respective season series with the Aztecs. 6. Santa Clara Broncos Record: 24-7 overall, 15-3 WCC WAB Rank: No. 41 NET Rank: No. 41 Breakdown: 1-5 vs. Quad 1; 6-1 vs. Quad 2; 8-0 vs. Quad 3; 8-1 vs. Quad 4 Remaining schedule: Conference tournament Former NC State and Arizona State head coach Herb Sendek has brought Santa Clara within a whisker of its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1996. Aside from a shocking defeat to Loyola Chicago on Dec. 20 — the Ramblers are now ranked No. 308 in KenPom — Sendek and his team have largely avoided bad losses. Their only other blemishes came against Saint Louis, New Mexico, Gonzaga (twice), Saint Mary’s and Arizona State, with all but the latter expected to make the NCAA Tournament. A respectable nonconference slate includes wins over power-conference foes Xavier and Minnesota, plus a double-digit victory against McNeese, a potential March Madness entrant for the third consecutive season. The Broncos likely need to win at least one game in their conference tournament to feel comfortable about earning an at-large bid from a league that typically only receives two spots, though there’s a path toward three berths for the WCC this season. 7. Cal Golden Bears Record: 20-9 overall, 8-8 ACC WAB Rank: No. 50 NET Rank: No. 63 Breakdown: 4-4 vs. Quad 1; 2-4 vs. Quad 2; 5-1 vs. Quad 3; 8-0 vs. Quad 4 Remaining schedule: at Georgia Tech (March 4); at Wake Forest (March 7) Under the direction of head coach Mark Madsen — who won two NBA championships as a reserve center with the Los Angeles Lakers — the Bears are eager to snap a decade-long NCAA Tournament drought. Now in his third season, Madsen has improved the program from 13 wins in 2023-24 to 14 wins in 2024-25 and now 20 victories so far this year. A sizzling 12-1 start gave way to some early stumbles in conference play, with the Bears dropping four of their first five ACC games. Since then, though, Madsen’s team has vaulted back into postseason contention by winning seven of its last 11 games, including noteworthy victories over likely NCAA Tournament teams North Carolina, Miami and SMU. An ugly loss to Pittsburgh last weekend erased some of the Bears’ positive momentum, but winnable games against Georgia Tech and Wake Forest to end the regular season should still give Cal a chance to solidify its case. 8. VCU Rams Record: 23-7 overall, 14-3 Atlantic 10 WAB Rank: No. 46 NET Rank: No. 47 Breakdown: 1-5 vs. Quad 1; 4-2 vs. Quad 2; 8-0 vs. Quad 3; 9-0 vs. Quad 4 Remaining schedule: at Dayton (March 6) After guiding Bryant to the NCAA Tournament last season, head coach Phil Martelli Jr. left the Bulldogs to take over at VCU, a strong mid-major program with 14 NCAA Tournament appearances already this century, including one Final Four trip in 2011. This year’s Rams had plenty of opportunities to show they are worthy of adding to that postseason pedigree in games against likely March Madness qualifiers Utah State, NC State, Vanderbilt, New Mexico and Saint Louis (twice) — but all of them ended in defeat. VCU’s most notable victory entering the A-10 Tournament is an impressive 18-point clobbering of Virginia Tech, which is squarely on the bubble itself at 19-11 overall and 8-9 in the ACC. Martelli’s group likely needs to win its final regular season contest and at least a game or two in the conference tournament to offset a relatively soft résumé that was inflated by subpar competition. 9. New Mexico Lobos Record: 22-7 overall, 13-5 Mountain West WAB Rank: No. 45 NET Rank: No. 42 Breakdown: 2-5 vs. Quad 1; 6-5 vs. Quad 2; 4-1 vs. Quad 3; 9-0 vs. Quad 4 Remaining schedule: vs. Colorado State (March 4); at Utah State (March 7) When head coach Richard Pitino left for Xavier after guiding New Mexico to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in the last two seasons, the Lobos responded with a shrewd hire of Eric Olen, who’d overseen the transition from Division II to Division I at UC San Diego and then led the Tritons to 30 victories and a March Madness bid last year. Now, Olen has New Mexico on the cusp of reaching the NCAA Tournament for a third consecutive season, something that only happened on two other occasions in program history (1995-99; 2011-14). The Lobos secured impressive nonconference wins over fellow bubble teams Santa Clara and VCU that could prove massively important come Selection Sunday. But they’re also entering Wednesday’s game against Colorado State sitting tied for second in the Mountain West standings, trailing Utah State and level with San Diego State. There’s still work to be done. 10. Indiana Hoosiers Record: 17-12 overall, 8-10 Big Ten WAB Rank: No. 51 NET Rank: No. 40 Breakdown: 2-11 vs. Quad 1; 2-1 vs. Quad 2; 6-0 vs. Quad 3; 7-0 vs. Quad 4 Remaining schedule: vs. Minnesota (March 4); at Ohio State (March 7) The fact that Indiana is still alive — somehow, someway, against all odds — demonstrates just how soft this year’s bubble really is, which should double as a warning for those in favor of NCAA Tournament expansion. Despite wins over then-No. 12 Purdue and UCLA in late January, the Hoosiers have endured two separate four-game losing streaks in Big Ten play and need to win both of their remaining games just to finish .500 in the conference. They did not beat a single non-conference foe currently ranked among the top 100 in KenPom, with blowouts of Marquette (No. 103) and Kansas State (No. 102) — two teams with just eight league wins combined — representing all that first-year head coach Darian DeVries can cling to in that portion of his résumé. Indiana will likely need to win two or three more games between now and Selection Sunday to have a realistic chance at making the field.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports