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Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau to play in World Baseball Classic

Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are among the early commits to play in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

Hannah Foslien

The Minnesota Twins look like they will be well-represented at the 2013 World Baseball Championships as both Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau have committed to play in the national games, according to a pair of tweets from Major League Baseball's PR feed.

The news might not seem like a huge deal upon first read -- the WBC has struggled to get the traction most believed it would when the competition was originally announced -- but it's certainly welcome news within the circle of Twins fans, as this means that both players will be healthy enough to play competitive baseball in March.

Twins general manager Terry Ryan gave 1500 ESPN a similar statement.

"I don't think there's any doubt that he's ready, and physically ready to take that on," general manager Terry Ryan said Monday. "Certainly he has a lot of interest in playing in the WBC. He takes a lot of pride in the Canadian baseball front."

Mauer will play for Team USA, of course, whereas Morneau will represent Canada when the WBC begins in March.

Photographs by Micah Taylor, clairity, and Fibonacci Blue used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.