The World Baseball Classic comes to an end tonight, as Venezuela ended Italy’s magical run to join the United States in the Championship Game. Despite an impressive pedigree of players from the past 20 years — Miguel Cabrera, Bobby Abreu, Magglio Ordóñez, Miguel Cabrera, Jose Altuve, Johan Santana, Félix Hernández, Francisco Rodriguez, etc. — this is Venezuela first time appearing in the WBC title game. Will they win it all? Or will Team USA win its second after 2017, avenging their 2023 WBC Championship Game loss to Shohei Ohtani and Japan?
We’ll know soon enough. We want you to make the call for our Question of the Day. Here’s a little more on the matchup, from Peter’s recap last night:
Just like that, we have our WBC Championship Game set, and what a matchup it’s shaping up to be. Both lineups for Team USA and Venezuela are packed with All-Stars, both teams possessing bona fide game-winners. Team USA has the distinct advantage of a day’s rest after downing the Dominican Republic, 2-1, on Sunday, while Venezuela’s bullpen is taxed after two heavy usage elimination games in three days.
USA manager Mark DeRosa selected Mets sophomore pitcher Nolan McLean to start the game despite the hard-throwing 24-year-old having given up three runs in three innings on a pair of home runs in his team’s 8-6 loss to Italy in the final game of pool play. Venezuela will turn to former Red Sox/current Diamondbacks southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez, who could be in for a stern test against Aaron Judge and the rest of the Team USA offense.
I think I probably lean Team USA because the Venezuela pitching staff is just about gassed, as Peter noted. The lineups are pretty comparable, so it comes down to the men on the mound, and USA should have an advantage.
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Of course, the USA offense has also somehow never really into the kind of groove that one might expect from a starting nine of this caliber, at least not since the opening contests against the inferior Brazil and Great Britain pitching staffs. If they’re only OK, then that opens up the door for Venezuela. It may just be like Sunday night’s game against the Dominican Republic, which was a taut 2-1 affair decided entirely on solo shots.
So who ya got? And who wins MVP? Let us know!
Today on the site, we have some double-decker prospect preview action, as Jeremy’s on shortstop George Lombard Jr. and Kevin will handle Elmer Rodríguez. Jonathan will celebrate the birthday of former Yankees/Padres southpaw Tim Lollar, who had a fascinating follow-up to his MLB career, and Peter will see what’s up next for said Padres in this topsy-turvy 2020s decade of San Diego baseball.
Today’s Matchup
New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays
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Time: 1:05 p.m. EST
Video: N/A (sigh)
Venue: Charlotte Sports Park, Port Charlotte, FL
WBC Final: United States vs. Venezuela
Time: 8:00 p.m. EST
Video: Fox
Venue: loanDepot park, Miami, FL
