U.S. coach Mark DeRosa says there wasn’t enough pressure in the loss to Venezuela
Venezuela defeated the United States 3-2 in the WBC Championship, but Mark DeRosa pointed to a lack of offensive pressure as the reason his team fell short.
sports pulse
At the conclusion of each Olympic Games, it is fairly standard operating procedure that an immediate meeting of the IOC presides over the closing ceremony and declares it the greatest Games of all time.
Well, that might be a stretch for this 6th annual World Baseball Classic. This event is definitely on the upswing, but it’s not as great as the action between the lines.
Suffice it to say that this match was pretty great, as Venezuela shocked in all the knockout games and kept events from peaking with Team USA facing the Dominican Republic in the semifinals.
No, it redefined the story of the players, the team, the country, and the event itself, and was good all the way to the end. So let’s take a look at this year’s WBC winners and losers.
winner
WBC legitimacy
Even the pickiest ball fan has to admit that this event is pretty compelling. At the same time, while the matches may be exciting, the stakes can feel a little empty. Players choosing not to participate, insurance concerns about leaving other star players out, and pitchers coming and going from the team (did Jeff Hoffman accept a silver medal?) remind us that this is, in fact, the middle of spring training.
But Venezuela’s tight 3-2 victory over Team USA in the championship was as much as they deserved. Because that’s how Venezuelans played.
Their bullpen had to absorb 7 2/3 innings to beat Italy in the semifinals the night before. Still, there was no rest day, and relief pitchers Eduardo Bazardo, Angel Zerpa, Andres Machado, and Danny Palencia worked consecutive shifts with adrenaline pumping in October mode, even though it was mid-March.
It’s not necessarily good for the body, but we wish these young people the best of luck in the future. Still, Venezuelan manager Omar López added great weight to the event by ironing out the details, getting the OK from his relievers’ major league clubs, and directing them to the game of their lives.
Wylya Abreu
There was no sign of WBC MVP Michael Garcia, but Abreu turned this WBC around with one swing of the bat. In the quarterfinal match against Japan, he hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning, turning Venezuela’s 4-2 deficit into a 5-4 lead.
It’s not easy to beat a defending champion and three-time titlist, but Abreu’s victory over Japanese relief pitcher Hiromi Ito turned the entire atmosphere of the tournament upside down. Venezuela then rode that momentum to the championship game, taking a 2-0 lead on Abreu’s Nolan McLean home run and ultimately winning 3-2.
Abreu is quietly a great all-around player, winning two Gold Gloves with the Boston Red Sox and posting 3.2 WAR in just 373 at-bats last year. Now that he’s 27 years old, it’s no exaggeration to say that a star is born.
kansas city royals
They were everywhere in this tournament, from Garcia’s heroics with Venezuela and Salvy Perez’s dignity to Bobby Witt Jr.’s head-turning play with the United States to Vinny Pasquantino and Jack Calianone smashing long balls, pouring espressos and pecks on the cheeks in the dugout for Italy.
Perhaps no one benefited more from the WBC than Carianone, who went 4-for-14 with a .500 OBP in five games. There are few players with more power, but Carianone struggled with too many swings and misses a year ago. Perhaps this will be a good starting point for his second season.
roman anthony
It was a good tournament for the Red Sox outfield. Anthony’s home run was the winning run in the semifinals against the Dominican Republic, and he earned all-tournament honors with two home runs, seven RBIs, and a .920 OPS. Perhaps more importantly, the 21-year-old was named Team USA’s “rookie,” forcing him to procure an oversized radio and carry it around to grab a few cold drinks.
But this was the right environment for Anthony, reuniting him with Alex Bregman for a few weeks and also giving him a dozen older brothers to absorb knowledge from.
Anthony is going to be a superstar. Being around such talented people and actively participating will only accelerate the process.
team canada
It’s surprising that Canada hasn’t been able to make it out of pool play in the past four WBCs, especially since Canada typically ranks just behind the Dominican Republic and Venezuela in the supply of major leaguers.
However, that curse was broken when he defeated Cuba, a blue-blooded player in the WBC, to advance to the quarterfinals. They gave Team USA a big scare, losing 5-3 in the semifinals.
With more young talent emerging to join the Naylor brothers and other top contenders – imagine Jonah Tong becoming staff ace at the next WBC – this should be just the beginning of Canada’s rise.
ABS challenge system
You may have been anxious about that, perhaps since the full implementation will start from next week’s opening day. Maybe after the WBC semi-finals we’ll understand the turnaround a little more.
loser
team usa
There’s no getting around it. When the rest of the world is having the time of their lives and you’re as tight-lipped as a drill sergeant, the only acceptable outcome is a championship. Unless you win the gold medal, it’s not worth playing Squidward when every other country is SpongeBob.
However, I will not go too deeply into psychoanalysis. It’s baseball, single-elimination baseball, and the results don’t necessarily reflect the deeper story.
However, it is said that if you feel good, you will play well. And every time Fox’s cameras panned to the American dugout, it seemed like no one was in a good mood.
mark de rosa
His LinkedIn can be configured in one of two ways:
He led Team USA to back-to-back championship game appearances.
Or: Lost consecutive gold medal matches by one point.
Hey, it’s hard to lead the finest collection of world-class talent this side of Santo Domingo through grueling rounds of pool and three knockout games when there’s only one acceptable outcome. I also don’t envy juggling egos and expectations while worrying about the whims and concerns of dozens of major league teams who care more about the WBC than about a game being played in Yolo County in mid-May. And we continue to address tie-breaker scenarios.
aaron judge
Judge is far from the playoff loser many believe him to be (Yankee Stadium’s left field foul pole is probably still ringing from the ALDS). However, although this man was named the captain of this team and smashed the long ball twice, in the semifinals and championship, he did not perform well in the most important situations, with one hit in eight at bats and five strikeouts.
Similarly, snippets of his speech to the team posted on social media probably didn’t demonstrate his leadership in a macro sense. Still, he was the tone-setter for a team that felt like the atmosphere was just bad — even though the team insisted one guy “like being with everyone.”
Really.
The biggest advantage of WBC is the big tent atmosphere. From the working-class Czech Republic to star-studded clubs from the Americas, this 20-team bazaar has something for everyone.
And that’s what makes the six-team Olympics feel a little less inclusive.
With Venezuela and the Dominican Republic to name two, there will be no Canada or Puerto Rico, and the United States will occupy the continental portion of the Americas as the host country. Even though major leaguers have more freedom from pitch counts and other restrictions, they already feel small.
