2026 World Baseball Classic

[Dirk41]

It's his great grandparents on his dad's side. As of last May, that no longer qualifies for citizenship. It truly seems as if baseball understands that this is a pretty cool story and are just letting it go.

Until someone contests it.

[zambonir]

The WBC rules are lax. Citizenship is not the criteria, the criteria is whatever MLB and MLBPA (the owner of the WBC) and the participating country say it is. I don't think Stubbs and Bader actually exercised their right to Israeli citizenship either, even though they could.

If they really were following the more strict rules it may still predate the change.

[LoneStarPhan]

Venezuela defeats Italy, 4-2, to reach the final.

Nola started and pitched first four innings. Solo home run in the fourth. Italy scored two in the second and led until the seventh. Venezuela scored 3 in the seventh to take the lead.

Final tomorrow night: USA vs. Venezuela.

[andyb]

Pitching Nola tonight was the right decision for Italy. This game would not have been close without him. Pulling him after 4 was also the right call as he had some stressful pitches and the rest was probably one day less than the Phillies wanted.

[Lucky_Beagle]

Harper ties the game with a 2 out 2 run homer in the 8th.

[LoneStarPhan]

End of 8, final game tied 2-2. Harper with a two run homer with two out in the 8th. Two out walk brought Harper to the plate.

[phillychuck]

VZ with the one-run win.

[owaistabish]

A rod was singing praises for Nori that he is a future star

[VoteForKalas]

U.S. team just not good enough. VZ was the better team and part of me is glad they won. Good to have new champions and it is an inspirational victory for all the people of that country who have struggled under dictatorship and now under the American imperial thumb once more.

[zambonir]

I was quite happy to see Harper deliver a signature moment but also perfectly happy to see Venzezuela win (though I suppose Schwarber could have prevented the latter). Happy for Ranger too.

[phillychuck]

U.S. team just not good enough. VZ was the better team

Let’s not pretend that the result says anything about who the better team was. It says who won last night, period. The variability in a single baseball game is immense, this is just entertainment, not an attempt to suss out the better team. Congrats to Venezuela, especially happy for Ranger!

[zambonir]

Better team, better country, better human beings, more favored by God. Such is the fiction of an international tournament.

[phillychuck]

It's all Schwarber’s fault.

[VoteForKalas]

It says who won last night, period.

Exactly right, VZ was the better team in the game which is what I said.

[phillychuck]

No, I think I’m disagreeing VfK. VZ won the game, it doesn’t show or prove anything about which team was better, it’s the team that got the breaks, calls, and bounces last night. Better doesn’t enter into the equation. The score of a game in any sport, most evidently baseball, doesn’t often show who the better team is or was that night, it shows who got the statistical “bounces” in that game. Maybe this is just semantic, but I think it’s a bit more than that. We get caught up in sports results showing who is better--they do indicate relative quality in one-sided mismatches (Denver or SA vs depleted Sixers, ’62 Giants vs ’62 Mets, etc.), but in the usual situation it’s just the luck on that day. Nothing to do with better. A millimeter here or there on the bat, a rock on the infield, or a few missed calls and the other team wins. Does that make them better?

[bkox]

this is why the WBC can be fun but i dont take it too seriously. We decide payoffs by best of 3 or 5 or 7 games.. but the WBC is just one game. Makes no sense. How many teams that won the first game of the world series won the series? Its probably the majority but i bet its not like 3/4.

[phillychuck]

Even best of 7 is a dice roll for relatively evenly matched teams.

[zambonir]

Seems like a matter of semantics if VFK says he meant they were the better team in the game. Or even in the tournament. Very different than an MLB debate, where you have 162 games (and rosters that play together regularly) but you can still say the better team didn't necessarily win any given series (be it regular season or playoffs).

Three of the four "better teams" (by seeding) after pool play didn't even win their quarterfinal.

It was still more than just a one-game series. Winning three games in a row against three different opponents is no easy task, especially with the extremely limited pitching staffs. If the US had any pitcher they'd wanted at their disposal (including the one they actually had for one game) they probably have a very different tournament.

NHL hockey is all about the grind of a seven-game series, four times, but that doesn't mean the World Cup and World Championships and Olympics are a lesser format. Just different. And of course in pro soccer winning a tournament is not as valued as winning the regular season. But nobody minds the Champions League or World Cup formats either.

[EastFallowfield]

Tuned in the last 4 innings or so, it was kinda strange how the announcers were talking about players like Harper struggling (or others who were doing well) and making it sound like they were months into a season instead of having played 6 or 7 games.

[Jazzhead]

I loved the WBC. I saw a couple of the international teams earlier this month in Arizona, where they trained by playing Cactus League games.

I found myself rooting for most of the Latin teams; their enthusiasm was infectious. And also for Italy, which seemed to be playing for the sheer fun of it. Good going, Aaron!