Ortiz doesn't believe he'll play for Dominican at WBC

David Ortiz's days of playing competitive baseball won't extend into next spring.

While the Boston Red Sox slugger has been adamant that his major league career will come to an end after this season, he did leave the door open to represent the Dominican Republic at the 2017 World Baseball Classic earlier this summer when saying he'd need his wife's permission.

The door, however, appears to have closed.

"I would love to represent my country," Ortiz told reporters Tuesday, "but I'm in a situation where I've got to fight every day to get ready for a game. My body is so happy that this is over. My body is counting the days. It's hard to play baseball when you're 40. I'm not going to lie to you, especially when you're looking around and everyone is 20.

"But (the Dominicans) have a lot of good, young players. I know they're going to do really well. If I can do anything on the other side for the Dominican ballclub at the time, I'll probably do something about it, but I don't think I'm going to be able to play."

Ortiz played for the Dominican team at the WBC in both 2006 and 2009 but did not play on the 2013 club that claimed the tournament. He said the amount of preparation needed to not only compete against the world's best, but to be successful, is one of the main deterrents from allowing him to play.

"What people don't understand is that if you want to be successful in the Baseball Classic and do what we did in the last one, you've got to be playing," Ortiz said. "You can't just come out of the box and ask, 'Can I play just because I have a big name?' It doesn't work that way."

The Dominican Republic will be among the tournament favorites when they open Pool C at Marlins Park next March against the United States, Canada, and Colombia.

Although they'll likely be without Oritz, the Dominicans should be fine offensively. The country boasts sluggers Edwin Encarnacion, Robinson Cano, Gary Sanchez, Jose Bautista, Nelson Cruz, and Starling Marte.