Blue Jays' Guerrero, Okamoto prepared to face off at WBC...if they meet

For Toronto Blue Jays superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr., he may have kindly helped newcomer Kazuma Okamoto transition to the MLB by taking him under his wing by hanging out a lot with him this spring. But the two Blue Jays teammates will be ready now to butt heads at the upcoming 2026 World Baseball Classic.

In preparation for the much-anticipated confrontation between the two star sluggers, Guerrero had some friendly words for his new buddy Okamoto ahead of the tournament when interviewed during a recent Sportsnet broadcast of their spring training game against the Philadelphia Phillies this past Saturday (Feb 28).

Blue Jays teammates Guerrero and Okamoto ready to butt heads at World Baseball Classic

“I told him (Okamoto) two days ago, after Saturday, me and you, we enemies,” Guerrero teased and reiterated. “Now we’re teammates, but after Saturday, we are enemies.”

But that doesn’t take anything away from their newly-formed friendship, as apparently Okamoto has been learning to speak Spanish with Guerrero, while Vladdy hopes to learn Japanese in return.

“He’s (Okamoto) been trying to teach me a little bit of Japanese, but that’s tough man,” said Guerrero in appreciation of his teammate. “He knows more Spanish than whatever he thinks he knows … Every time he talked to me, it’s in Spanish so I’m glad that he can speak a little Spanish.”

As for this Spring Training to date, Okamoto has been making a great first impression with the Blue Jays, posting a solid .333 batting average, 1.289 OPS, along with two runs scored, two doubles, one home run and four RBIs in four games played. And of course, he has a wonderful successful hit celebration to boot.

For Guerrero, he appears to be pretty much on par with his expectations, compiling a .333/.500/.444/.944 slash line with one run scored, one double, one RBI, one stolen base and three walks to go along with zero strikeouts over five spring training games.

Okamoto will now head off to the WBC to join Shohei Ohtani and represent Japan while Guerrero will be joining a stacked Dominican Republic lineup ready to make some noise as well. Japan will be playing in Pool C with South Korea, Australia, Czechia and Chinese Taipei being their main opponents. Whereas the Dominican Republic will be a part of Pool D that consists also the countries of Venezuela, Netherlands, Israel and Nicaragua. 

The earliest that Okamoto can face Guerrero will be during the quarterfinals of the playoff round. But with both Japan and the Dominican Republic being favourites to win their group outright, they could ultimately meet even later in the playoff round where the stakes are higher.

Nevertheless, expect to see some fireworks and great action as both Blue Jays players will hope to lead their respective country to WBC supremacy when all is said and done.