Team USA’s ticket to the quarterfinals is punched for real now.
Our dream team of stars and even bigger stars (and their manager who doubles as a TV star) remained alive in the World Baseball Classic derby — whether they deserved it or not. They rejoiced in relief, celebrating as spectators, escaping embarrassment for the baseball ages.
Team USA moves to the next round, perhaps the most dangerous team of the quarterfinals, while certainly the luckiest.
As it turned out, their ascension to the Elite Eight is no thanks to our thought-to-be-dreamy crew, who had a nightmare of a day Tuesday. That’s when they followed a memorable misstatement with a major misplay and embarrassing defeat to Team Italy, a band of seemingly big-game players, featuring fringe guys and a few recognizable big league stars who are killing it.
The thanks go out to that very Team Italy, which followed its self-described greatest victory ever by dominating Team Mexico 9-1 in Houston on Wednesday night to make it two straight upsets to win Pool B. That win, watched nervously by Team USA, allowed our still hopefuls to sneak into the quarterfinals as the second-place finisher.
This is our thought-to-be greatest WBC roster, maybe the greatest WBC roster ever. And it seemed unthinkable they would become a pool-play casualty, right up to the point it became very possible and they needed outside help.
The sigh of relief by all could be felt all the way from Houston, where they’ll play their quarterfinal game Friday against Canada, which, much like Team Italy, is an upstart sensation, playing in its first-ever WBC quarterfinal.
Team USA captain Aaron Judge’s title hopes remain active following his dispiriting strikeout that ended the game and sealed the defeat to Italy and put them in jeopardy.
Mets phenom Nolan McLean is also off the hook after losing that very game in stunning fashion, and he still may have a shot at helping Team USA crown itself champion as the scheduled final-game starter.
So is the manager, Mark DeRosa, after his morning misstatement set the internet aglow and made him a target of dedicated ball fans and great patriots alike.
Team USA’s no good, very bad day started with an unfortunate early morning misstatement by DeRosa, who incorrectly suggested to his colleagues and buddies on MLB Network’s “Hot Stove” show that they were already in.
“It’s weird,” DeRosa said about the game that night versus Team Italy. “We want to win the game even though our ticket is punched to the quarterfinals.”
A lot was made about that faux pas because: 1) Team USA’s ticket was not actually punched, and 2) there isn’t much else going on in sports right now.
I’m not convinced it wasn’t just a momentary slip of the tongue by a TV guy who understands the importance of filling time with interesting comments. It could also have been an overstatement by an extremely confident guy with a lifelong golden touch.
“I completely misspoke. My mistake,” DeRosa told me. “I knew we didn’t qualify yet because of Mexico and Italy playing after us.”
He may not have even realized what he said. But one (and probably more) of Team USA’s 10 analytics staffers did alert DeRosa to his misstatement moments after he was off the air.
Team USA certainly knew. They have a very smart coaching staff and an Ivy League general manager in Mike Hill, a Harvard alum. DeRosa himself is a prepared, studious University of Pennsylvania guy, even if he can double as a likable bro. That surely came in handy recruiting this dream team.
Even if one believes he was in a morning fog, he certainly knew the score by game time.
“Absolutely,” DeRosa said in case there was any doubt he knew.
And absolutely, Team USA played to win.
There’s been a suggestion that because DeRosa didn’t play the guys who started Game 1 that he wasn’t giving it his all, as if Pete Crow-Armstrong, Gunnar Henderson, Will Smith and Ernie Clement were some sort of slackers. Henderson hit a home run, Crow-Armstrong hit two and the new group generally outhit and outplayed the stars they replaced.
“There’s so many variables and moving parts in this thing as far as the lineup and pitching goes, but for people to suggest we threw our ‘B’ lineup is ridiculous,” DeRosa said. “These guys are all phenomenal players and deserving.”
Ultimately, we’ll see how deserving they are.
DeRosa and USA Baseball put together a fantastic roster. But let’s face it: They’ve played like garbage at times relative to the names.
Sure, they dominated Team Brazil and Team Great Britain, two teams that didn’t belong in the tournament. But throughout the two games that truly counted, they didn’t hit consistently. They relied on a lot of walks throughout pool play, and a few big innings. They also didn’t pitch well and made a hellacious fielding error in a game that should have been a must-win.
Team USA didn’t deserve to win a game they had to know was crucial against an overmatched opponent (on paper anyway). But the stars of the Stars and Stripes were handed a chance to redeem themselves by that very opponent, and they need to make that happen now.
