The big hit? The WBC. Still looking for that big hit? Team USA.
MIAMI — The victors burst onto the field and gathered into several dog piles. Some wore national flags around their shoulders. Within minutes, Venezuelans were wearing T-shirts reading “The Best Baseball in the World.”
The American players watched from their dugout. A few minutes later, they trudged back onto the field so they could wrap a silver medal around their necks. Not all players carried the medal to the dugout.
You can say all you want about how the World Baseball Classic has become a must-see event for fans and a must-see event for the game’s elite players. You can salute Venezuela for its spirited, thrilling victory, and the Venezuelan fans for nine innings of joyful delirium.
But you can also say this: A U.S. team touted as having a killer lineup couldn’t hit, and the U.S. couldn’t use its best pitcher because the San Diego Padres said so. The result: For the second consecutive World Baseball Classic, the United States lost the championship by a score of 3-2.
U.S. captain Aaron Judge looks across the field after striking out Velezuela during the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday.
(Lynne Sladky/Associated Press)
“I don’t agree with winning the silver,” Bryce Harper said. “I don’t want to make the money.
“I want to win gold, like everyone else. But, at the end of the night, they did it, they won, congratulations to them. They fought hard. I have nothing but respect for them.”
By the time the eighth inning rolled around, the powerful U.S. offense had failed to put a runner in scoring position Tuesday and had gone scoreless for 18 of its previous 19 innings. With two outs in the eighth and Venezuela leading 2-0, Bobby Witt Jr. walked and Harper followed with a 432-foot home run, so monstrous that Venezuelan pitcher Andres Machado could only watch the flight of the ball and smile.
Harper stood up and looked too, then swung his bat toward the dugout. At third base, he stopped to salute, then spotted the cameraman following him around the bases and pointed to the American flag on his left sleeve.
“I’m just enjoying the moment,” Harper said. “Super grateful for that.”
With the game tied 2-2 entering the ninth, the pitcher coming out of the U.S. bullpen should have been Mason Miller, who hadn’t given up a hit in the WBC and had retired 10 of the 14 batters he faced.
Before the game, U.S. manager Mark DeRosa said Miller would be available. After the game, DeRosa said that he and Miller’s employers, the Padres, agreed that Miller would only be used to protect a lead.
Once the game entered the ninth, Miller would not be able to protect his lead, since the United States was the home team and there could be no save situation for him. DeRosa nevertheless refused to use Miller.
“Honoring the Padres,” DeRosa said.
This doesn’t concern DeRosa, but it’s absurd. If a closer can’t be used three times in five days — with an extra week to jump into the regular season by throwing bullpens or in structured B games, or taking a few days off, or whatever — then he should stay home.
Venezuela scored the winning run in the ninth off Garrett Whitlock, on a walk, a stolen base and an RBI double by Eugenio Suárez.
In its last five WBC matches – after the routs of Brazil and Great Britain – the United States has scored more than five points once, with a two-point win, a two-point loss, a two-point win, a one-point win and a one-point loss. In the semifinals and finals, the United States combined to hit .159 and strike out 25 times, and every run resulted in a home run.
This – not just any small-ball attempt – is what American baseball is. And the United States was beaten by six other teams, including Australia and Italy. For glory, as the American team said.
“A lot of pop-ups, a lot of close misses,” U.S. captain Aaron Judge said. “I wouldn’t say we were tight. We just didn’t execute when we needed to.”
DeRosa said: “I mean, surprised because of the names on the back of the jersey, but not surprised because of their situation in spring training.
“Yeah, that’s my answer. I really don’t have any rhyme or reason as to why. I just think you’re hot or not in a seven-game blowout like this.”
American Bryce Harper celebrates at home plate with his teammates after hitting a two-run home run during the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday in Miami.
(Lynne Sladky/Associated Press)
The WBC was absolutely brilliant. The Venezuelan fans produced concert-worthy noise all night long, without needing an idiot stadium host or a scoreboard to do it. The WBC allowed fans to bring 16 “authorized instruments,” including bongos, bells, maracas and trumpets.
“There are bands playing,” Judge said. “There’s chanting. You don’t hear that often at World Series games. It’s amazing. So much fun.”
More Americans watched the semifinal between the United States and the Dominican Republic than last year’s NBA All-Star Game, according to Fox. The championship game will almost certainly have drawn more viewers than at least one game in last year’s NBA Finals.
In the 10 minutes I spent in the concourse before Tuesday’s game, I counted fans wearing the jerseys of numerous national teams and 17 MLB teams, as well as the late and much-loved Montreal Expos. Japan didn’t qualify for the final four, but I still counted 11 fans wearing Japanese jerseys with Shohei Ohtani’s name on the back. The announcers also believed it: DeRosa spoke in front of a banner displaying the logos of nine sponsor companies, including eight Japanese.
After such a busy event, can these players be motivated to return to spring training and then a 162-game season?
“I’m still excited for the Yankees, but I’m still pissed about it,” Judge said.
“I look forward to the next time we have the opportunity to put on the red, white and blue and take care of business.”
That would be the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, where Dave Roberts has expressed interest in leading Team USA at Dodger Stadium. The major leagues will almost certainly happen, although the details are still being worked out.
See you there, Bryce Harper?
“I hope so,” he said. “I really do.”
