"I understand that with Opening Day a few days away, I don't want it to be a distraction. Cal and I have talked and I apologized for what I said after the game. Nothing in the WBC takes away from the fact that we are brothers and teammates."
Venezuela's 3-2 win over the United States in the World Baseball Classic championship game was seen by 10,784,000 viewers on Fox and Fox Deportes, nearly double the 5.4 million who watched Japan defeat the Americans in the 2023 final on FS1, Fox Deportes and the network's streaming service.
With Opening Day just around the corner, Brett and I talk about the starting rotation and how each pitcher has looked this last week of camp (heavy focus on Jameson Taillon, as you can imagine).
Roman Anthony looked as good as any hitter on Team USA until he struck out in the final at-bat of the tournament. This included a .920 OPS, a .400 OBP, and a game winning home run against the Dominican Republic.
With all due respect to Comrade Ratto, the nationalistic pride on display by the Americans carried a different tenor than the WBC's other contenders. Of course it would. This game featured a nation that had recently bombed and invaded its opponents'. Rather than making an effort to keep that association at arm's length, Team USA embraced it.
It's America's pastime, but that's the greatest thing about our game. We can share it with all these different countries as well and bring it all together and be part of this. And it's awesome. It's really awesome.
Venezuela played with heart and national pride (the players even had a drum in the dugout, each base hit a party), the Dominicans with the verve characteristic of the Serie del Caribe, and in a surprising semi-final run, the Italians adopted the underdog spirit of a soccer nation intent on proving they can swing the lumber, too all while sipping espresso in the dugout.
I was pretty meh on the pool play format given two teams of five advancing in each pool, which felt like it was going to water down the proceedings a bit... but I ended up really enjoying the days of wall-to-wall pool play.
Trailing for most of the game, the Team USA looked to have hauled themselves back into the contest when Bryce Harper blasted a game-tying two-run homer in the eighth inning. But Harper's salvo proved to be in vain as Venezuela regained the lead in the ninth inning, punishing a shaky performance from USA reliever Garrett Whitlock to clinch victory.
With no decision on whether Suzuki will head to the injured list, it's tough to know a timetable for his return. If the injury isn't severe, he may only miss a few weeks. However, we'll need to wait for more information before diving into the roster fallout of his potential absence.
If you know someone in Venezuela, call them. Tell them that Venezuela is in the Olympics and in the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic. In front of a favorable sold-out crowd, in the U.S. city with the highest concentration of native Venezuelans, López's players had knocked off defending champion Samurai Japan and accomplished two firsts for the nation's baseball team.
On a 3-2 pitch, Miller threw a slider that was several inches below the strike zone. Perdomo laid off the pitch, but the home plate umpire called it a strike for the third and final out. A stunned Perdomo dropped his bat and raised his arms above his head as the Americans began celebrating.
