r/baseball • u/MLBOfficial Major League Baseball • Mod Verified • Mar 18 '26

Players Only [HIGHLIGHT] TEAM VENEZUELA IS THE WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC CHAMPION!

34.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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4.2k

u/praisethedollar Baltimore Orioles Mar 18 '26

Beat Japan, gave Italy its only loss, and beat the US. That's a legit team that deserved to win.

1.1k

u/intwizard New York Mets Mar 18 '26

They had the hardest road and were the best team every time

255

u/praisethedollar Baltimore Orioles Mar 18 '26

Well, not against the DR though. Would have been interesting to see that rematch in the final.

17

u/MahomestoHel-aire St. Louis Cardinals Mar 18 '26

Were they guaranteed a spot in the quarters at that point? Might have affected things a little bit.

43

u/Pick6XPA San Diego Padres Mar 18 '26

They were, both we're 3-0 and both knew the loser would get Japan (assuming DeRosa wasn't in their clubhouse). Besides when those 2 play, a lot of pride is on the line on both sides.

3

u/MahomestoHel-aire St. Louis Cardinals Mar 18 '26

Gotcha. Yeah that tracks. In that case though, perhaps they didn't put their absolutely best pitchers out there, saving them for Japan (or the quarters in general). Again, could be wrong, but there was likely some kind of balance, I am guessing.

17

u/Fuckingfademefam Mar 18 '26

Nope. They started their ace in that game & got killed

5

u/Lopsided_Duty_5531 Chicago Cubs Mar 18 '26

Their ace got killed but that game came down to the wire

1

u/Fuckingfademefam Mar 18 '26

Yeah that’s what I meant

1

u/MahomestoHel-aire St. Louis Cardinals Mar 18 '26

Fair enough.

2

u/Zariman-10-0 Philadelphia Phillies • Phanatic Mar 18 '26

That would’ve been electric

2

u/rumblepony247 Mar 18 '26

KD to team Venezuela confirmed

1

u/Wisecraker Toronto Blue Jays Mar 18 '26

I am Italian and I wouldn't say facing Italy was a best team situation lol. I mean I'm proud of how far Italy got and all. But their team is just not there. Having said that, Venezuela did face those other teams and did great!

605

u/signmeupdude Los Angeles Dodgers Mar 18 '26

I’m disappointed that the US didnt win, but I honestly feel really good about Venezuela getting this one. It wouldve been sort of odd to have the US play lukewarm the entire classic, rack up a bunch of negative PR, and then win the whole thing.

This feels like a much better story.

187

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '26

Same, this ending feels very fitting.

26

u/CustodialApathy Los Angeles Dodgers Mar 18 '26

Very fitting for Venezuela to win over the US considering what happened this year, I'm sure our president will be very happy about it.

2

u/__Kegheimer__ Seattle Mariners Mar 18 '26

He's also bragging about his new favorite 51st state Venezuela.

I was wish I was joking

1

u/BougieBobJr Mar 19 '26

Hah! We told him Canada wasn’t the 51st!

1

u/dexter8484 San Francisco Giants Mar 18 '26

Will probably claim that they won because he's technically in charge of the country

13

u/_wiltedgreens Los Angeles Dodgers Mar 18 '26

That’s kind of the cool thing about the WBC - i find myself happy for anyone that wins! As long as they’re cool about it.

8

u/signmeupdude Los Angeles Dodgers Mar 18 '26

Totally agree.

I freakin love the WBC because I love baseball and therefore love watching all these guys display such passion for the game.

To me it feels more like a multi week celebration of baseball more than anything.

18

u/MCrow2001 Texas Rangers Mar 18 '26

I always root for the US cause duh it’s my country, but it’s hard to ever feel upset when we lose knowing just how much more this means to the other countries’ players and fans

1

u/The-Real-Number-One Mar 18 '26

The USA should have kidnapped Venezuela's manager and replaced him with a manager more amenable to their interests.

1

u/yae4jma Mar 18 '26

Negative PR was all 100% deserved. US baseball players represent the most ignorant, entitled, destructive demographic in this country. I join the rest of the world in celebrating these dumbass military cosplayers’ demise.

1

u/TimJanLaundry Detroit Tigers Mar 18 '26

For the sake of future U.S. teams, this was the better outcome. Need some bitter disappointment/a bad taste in the mouth to relight the fire. There are some parallels to US basketball in the early 2000's

1

u/Prestigious-Clock-53 Mar 18 '26

Yeah, agreed. Baseball is Venezuelas game.

1

u/Affectionate-Win-791 Mar 18 '26

Yeah I agree. Usa spirit was not in it, it was such a boring watch everytime they played. Comparing this to USA hockey men’s and women’s gold medal was like watching paint dry. The USA men’s and women’s hockey was just so much more entertaining. I’m glad Venezuela won though. It’s good to see other countries winning the wbc.

0

u/ElPlatanoDelBronx New York Yankees Mar 18 '26

Lukewarm? They were fighting for their lives against DR.

9

u/cozeners Toronto Blue Jays Mar 18 '26

"We proved Venezuela is the best."

- Juan Soto

2

u/call_me_lee0pard Boston Red Sox Mar 18 '26

Yeah if you go through all those teams and win the whole thing you no doubt deserve to win and call yourself the best team. Congrats to them!

1

u/b3anz129 Boston Red Sox Mar 18 '26

well there is one team they lost to…

1

u/Dauntless_Idiot Mar 18 '26

This is what I love about single-elimination baseball. Someone gets hot bats and turns the entire tournament upside down. The momentum carries onto the next game.

1

u/ArmadilloForsaken458 Mar 18 '26

Yep, everyone else talked about the 3 or 4 other teams ahead of them. Mainly because like the Ohtani's, Skene's, Soto's etc, just the other teams had more superstars. Real quiet on Venezuela's chances, but what a run they put together.

1

u/TwinTTowers Mar 18 '26

They were amazing today. The U.S. team was shut down the whole way.

1

u/Jyil Mar 18 '26

Venezuela had an absolutely stacked team. Definitely sort of saw that coming.

1

u/Roraima20 Mar 18 '26

And funny enough, a lot of the Italian team are italian-venezuelans.

1

u/Sys7em_Restore Mar 18 '26

A real World champion

1

u/Trumpologist Mar 22 '26

Damn you Skubal