Cardinals, Team South Korea star Tommy Edman doesn't want his Japanese wife to root for Lars Nootbaar's rival 2023 WBC team: "I hope not"

Tommy Edman and Lars Nootbaar are teammates on the St. Louis Cardinals, but they'll be bitter rivals when the 2023 World Baseball Classic rolls around. Edman will represent the South Korean side and Nootbaar is suiting up for Team Japan.

Unfortunately, for Team South Korea, Edman's wife is Japanese. Edman said the following on the matter, according to KDSK:

"My wife has the Japanese side in her, so there is a little rivalry. She'll be going to Japan and her parents will make the trip out as well. Lots of family out there with us."

When asked if he thought she might root for the Japanese team instead of Edman's own South Korea, he was blunt:

"I hope not."

The Japanese team will feature two-way phenom and 2021 AL MVP Shohei Ohtani, so Edman's wife might end up happy after all.

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Tommy Edman is excited to play for South Korea

Tommy Edman is very excited about representing the South Korean team. He even started training much earlier in the offseason and has been practicing his Korean to ensure he can communicate fluently with his new teammates:

"I started hitting a little earlier this offseason, partly because of the World Baseball Classic... I started the Duolingo Korean just to get used to all the consonants and vowels cause it's a little bit different, I don't know how good my Korean will get over the next month."

Tommy Edman will suit up for South Korea

He's not the only Edman who is excited for the WBC, though:

"My family is all very excited. I don't believe my mom has been back to Korea since she was a kid, she'll get to go."

For Edman, this is a tremendous honor:

"I haven't really gotten a chance to represent my Korean heritage before and to be the first Korean-American player to play for that national team is a very special honor."

The WBC begins in early March, a little less than a month away from the start of the MLB regular season.

Edman will battle it out against many of his Cardinal teammates, including Lars Nootbaar, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Miles Mikolas and Adam Wainwright.