Cheers, drama, and fireworks erupted from Miami on Tuesday night when Team Venezuela defeated Team USA 3-2 to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time in the country’s history.
The game remained stagnant until the bottom of the 8th inning. With two outs, Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper, who remained fairly quiet the entire tournament, blasted a no-doubter to center field to tie the championship game at two-a-piece before the ninth inning.
However, the Americans’ momentum would quickly shift over to the Venezuelans with an RBI double from Eugenio Suárez. Similar to Harper, Suárez’s bat was slow to start the tournament, before lighting up in the last two games.
Still, his double proved enough as Venezuela shut the door on the USA in another exciting finale by a score of 3-2.
Both teams’ road to the finals were not easy, but each survived thanks to something thought to be their weakness: pitching.
In the quarterfinals, USA’s starter, Logan Webb, helped defeat Canada by letting up zero runs in 4.2 innings. His dominant start allowed the offense to jump out to an early lead and hold on to it, advancing to the semifinals.
The Dominican Republic faced off against Korea in the quarterfinals and dominated them, 10-0. Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez pitched a gem, and the game ended after seven innings due to the WBC’s mercy rule.
Pitching was not the story in the remaining quarterfinal games, especially in the Puerto Rico-Italy clash. Italy, which was perfect in pool play, continued its dominance at the plate and scored eight runs to defeat Puerto Rico.
Italian catcher J.J. D’Orazio made a name for himself in the tournament, hitting .385 with five RBIs. Three RBIs came in the quarterfinal win to move Italy into the semifinals. Italy would go on to face Venezuela, but not before Venezuela defeated the reigning champions.
Both Japan and Venezuela started hot in their quarterfinal game, with each leadoff hitter, Venezuela’s Ronald Acuña Jr. and Japan’s Shohei Ohtani, blasting a leadoff home run.
At first, it was Japan that built off the momentum, capped off by a three-run home run from Shota Morishita. However, the lead would slowly slip away from Japan thanks to a two-run blast from Maikel Garcia and a three-run blast from Wilyer Abreu.
For the first time since 2017, Japan would not play in the WBC championship game.
The semifinals were another set of pitcher duels for the USA and the Dominican Republic. Both squads threw quality starters against two of the best lineups in the game. However, it was the United States’ Paul Skenes who came out on top and shut down the Dominican offense.
The USA’s bullpen followed in Skenes’s footsteps, allowing just two hits in the final 4.2 innings. Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony delivered a solo home run each to propel the Americans into the finale for the third straight tournament.
In the other semifinal game, Italy looked poised to advance to the championship until Venezuela’s three-run seventh inning, ending all hopes for the Italians. With bases loaded, three Venezuelans hit singles to score the three runs and advance to the finals, where they would face the United States for the first time.
In the exciting championship game, Venezuela’s pitching shut down the American lineup and propelled the Venezuelans to their first-ever WBC championship. Venezuela’s Maikel Garcia won the MVP of the tournament, slashing .385 at the plate and had seven RBIs, including one in the finale.
The championship game drew more than 10.78 million viewers in the United States, making it the most-watched WBC game in history.