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Just around the bend is the 2023 World Baseball Classic. The event always occasions a great deal of Baseball Enthusiam, and that's especially the case this time around. That's because, thanks to the pandemic, the 2023 WBC is the first since way back yonder in 2017. Adding to the excitement is that the field of teams competing in the tournament has been expanded to 20. 

In this space, we've been prepping you for the action to come by name-checking intriguing players and making bold predictions and so forth. Now, though, comes the necessary matter of fashion judgments. Specifically we come before you to tell you with awful authority which five competing nations have the best hats of all in the 2023 WBC. On these matters, our opinions are facts, which means than any objections are lies. 

Before we begin, here are the 20 hats of the 2023 World Baseball Classic and, by extension, the 20 contenders for the laurel wreaths about to be handed out: 

Now gird yourselves for the ranking of hats. 

1. The Netherlands

As a general rule, this author is partial to imagery on hats rather than lettering. The Dutch lid for the 2023 WBC justifies this stance in a major way. The Netherlands is a kingdom that includes not only the titular nation in Western Europe but also a number of island nations in the Caribbean, the author says with the manner of authority that flows from having just spent upwards of 90 seconds on Wikipedia. Anyway, that's what the crown on the hat is about – the kingdom stuff. It says here that said crown is the best hat logo in the 2023 WBC. As well, kudos for making the crown orange, which, it says here, is a top-three color and is inexplicably absent from the Kingdom's otherwise fetching jerseys: 

2. China

China barges its way near the top thanks to the arresting red and gold and also thanks to a "C" on the hat that also doubles as a dragon – a dragon with more hit points than your entire party combined. That C dragon is the best use of creative lettering since the days of the Brewers had that ball-in-glove "MB" on their hats. 

3. Mexico

Major League Baseball is too heavy on red-and-blue color schemes, so anything that stands out like Mexico's lid is to be celebrated and exalted. Mexico does the best job of incorporating their flag patch into the hat design, and praise be to that M font. The sweeping archways call to mind a pair of doors from which the adventurer must choose. Behind one lies This, Our Baseball. Behind the other likes the Dragon of Many Hit Points. Choose wisely, level-four Paladin. 

4. Israel

Logo quality obviously drives these rankings, and coming in a strong third is Israel with the Star of David front and center on their hats. Given the general similarity to Israel's flag, this is also may be the most immediately recognizable hat among the field of 20 teams. 

5. Cuba

While this foul-smelling scribe not so long ago sullied the very color combination you see, there's no such thing as a hard-and-fast rule. The flag patch blends quite well with the remainder of Cuba's hat, and the C's handsome font suggests a certain courtly refinement – as though the C has used a hand-printed silk cravat to wash its hands of the entire affair.