"Shortly before the United States was upset by Italy in their Pool B finale on Tuesday night, DeRosa appeared on MLB Network, boasting that we want to win this game, even though our ticket's punched to the quarterfinals. Even went as far as saying that he was going to rest some key hitters in anticipation of the knockout round."
"The problem was that the US had not clinched its place in the quarterfinals, and a lineup that began the night without Byron Buxton, Cal Raleigh, Bryce Harper, and Alex Bregman was shut out for the first while Italy surged to an insurmountable 8-0 lead."
"Following the embarrassing result, DeRosa said he had misspoke during that interview with MLB Network. I was on Hot Stove with a couple of buddies today and completely misread the calculations, DeRosa, who is an MLB Network employee, too, said."
Team USA suffered an embarrassing defeat to Italy in their 2026 World Baseball Classic Pool B finale, with the team shut out early as Italy built an 8-0 lead. Manager Mark DeRosa had publicly stated on MLB Network that the US wanted to win despite having clinched their quarterfinal spot, and indicated he would rest key hitters. However, the US had not actually secured advancement at that point. The lineup was already missing Byron Buxton, Cal Raleigh, Bryce Harper, and Alex Bregman. The US mounted a comeback but fell short, with Aaron Judge striking out to end the game. DeRosa later claimed he had misspeaken during the interview, citing miscalculations about playoff scenarios.
Read at www.amny.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]