This year’s World Baseball Classic was one of the most hyped in recent memory. The US, aiming to avenge 2023’s heartbreaking ending (where they narrowly missed out on gold), built a supposed superteam. They got stars like Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Bobby Witt Jr., and the captain, Aaron Judge. Unfortunately, what was supposed to be our year ended in yet another heartbreaker. Here is a full recap of the most exciting tournament in baseball.
Group stage play:
In Pool A, both Canada and Puerto Rico cruised to 3-1 records. Canada, whose team lacked star power but contained MLB talent, won the tiebreaker match over them, 3-2. Still, they both advanced to the next round. Interestingly, this was the first time Canada has made it out of the group stages of this tournament, and their roster this year was, undoubtedly, their finest ever produced.
The results of Pool B sent shockwaves throughout the tournament. Team USA, who was thought to be unbeatable, won their first three games against Great Britain, Brazil, and Mexico in rather dominant fashion. However, in their final game, they were upset by Italy. USA was down 8-0 in the sixth inning, and, despite a valiant comeback effort, they still fell short. At that point, it was unclear if Team USA would even advance to the next round, sparking a controversy after manager Mark DeRosa said (before the game against Italy) that the USA had “punched their ticket”, which resulted in him playing an altered version of their lineup. Luckily for the US, Italy beat Mexico 9-1, ensuring that both them and the US advanced to the quarter finals.
Pool C was dominated by Japan, the reigning champions. Boasting a team of Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Roki Sasaki, they went 4-0. Outside of them, there was a three-way tie for second, with Australia, Chinese Taipei, and South Korea all finishing 2-2. Korea eventually advanced due to tiebreakers, bucking their trend of first-round failure, as they hadn’t advanced out of there in the past three WBC’s.
The stacked Dominican Republic went 4-0, winning Pool D easily. They were arguably the most stacked team in the whole tournament, with stars like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Julio Rodriguez, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Juan Soto, and they went viral not only for their dominance, but their excessive celebrations and apparent joy for playing the game. Venezuela also advanced with a 3-1 record.
Quarterfinals:
The most surprising result occurred in Japan versus Venezuela, where the defending champs were shocked by the underdog, losing 8-5. Early home runs from Shohei and Shota Morishita put Venezuela in a 5-2 hole, but they clawed their way back, as homers from Wilyer Abreu and Maikel Garcia gave them the victory. This broke a 17 year semifinal drought for the country.
Other than that, the games went as expected. The Dominican Republic mercy-ruled Korea 10-0, hitting a WBC record 14th home run during this game. Team USA beat Canada 5-3, with their strong group of relievers, led by Mason Miller, staving off a late Canada comeback attempt. Italy, which became famous for their shots of espresso in the dugout, upset Puerto Rico 8-5, continuing their Cinderella run.
Semi-finals:
The game of USA versus Dominican Republic was expected to be a game filled with offense, but pitching–and bad umpiring–stole the show. Dominican Republic star 3B Junior Caminero kicked off the scoring with a solo home run, but Team USA responded in the fourth inning with back-to-back homers from Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony. Pitching dominated the rest of the game, though the Dominican Republic had a chance to tie it in the ninth inning. With Geraldo Perdomo of the D.R. up to bat and a runner at third, Mason Miller struck him out, ending the game. That pitch somewhat tarnished the result of the game, as it seemed to be very low and nowhere near the strike zone. No one, except for the umpire, felt it was a strike, but that didn’t matter, as the umpire’s call reigned supreme. Unfortunately, there was no ABS to review the call, and the USA advanced to the final.
In the other game, Venezuela knocked off Italy, despite being down early in the game. Italy raced to a 2-0 lead, but Venezuela came back in the seventh with three straight two-out hits to give them a 3-2 advantage. Luis Arraez added an insurance run, and Venezuela triumphed with a score of 4-2.
Final:
The USA met Venezuela in what was expected to be an easy win for our country. However, the USA’s offense went stagnant at the worst possible time, managing only 3 hits and 3 walks the whole game. Aaron Judge, the captain and leader of the offense, was silent at the dish, going 0-4 with 3 strikeouts. Despite all that, the game was tied 2-2 going into the ninth, but an Eugenio Suarez RBI double gave Venezuela a 3-2 lead, and they stifled Team USA in the bottom of the ninth. Venezuela won its first-ever WBC title, and the USA won silver for a second straight year in what was regarded as a major disappointment for them.
This year’s World Baseball Classic was great, and fans are already excitedly anticipating the 2029 tournament. Hopefully, Team USA can finally get over the hump and earn gold, but until then, they are regarded as national failures.
