The Athletic has live coverage of Italy vs. Puerto Rico and Japan vs. Venezuela in the 2026 World Baseball Classic quarterfinals.
HOUSTON — Picture this World Baseball Classic as a crowded living room on Christmas morning. Most of the kids are delirious with joy, tearing open presents with glee. But one sits there, quietly peeling off the wrapping paper while insisting he’s very happy.
No, really, it’s perfect, it’s just what I wanted. See? I’m smiling. I love it.
The United States is that kid. Team USA advanced to the semifinals Friday with a workmanlike 5-3 victory over Canada that made you wish team photographer Ken Griffey Jr. could have played in a WBC in his backward cap, bubble gum, 1990s prime.
“I don’t think this entire time in Houston has been all that pretty, but we know what we have in this clubhouse,” center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong told The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal on Fox after the game, while praising relief ace David Bednar.
“I think it’s just most important that when it’s not always the easiest or cleanest, we’re still getting the job done — someway, somehow. We’re looking to really wake up one of these days soon.”
“We want the electricity, the energy in the crowd… Whatever [Skenes] is gonna give them, it’s gonna be good.”
More from @Ken_Rosenthal with @USABaseball‘s David Bednar and Pete Crow-Armstrong as they prepare to face the Dominican Republic in the Semifinal. pic.twitter.com/SQKpl5X141
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 14, 2026
They did it on Friday with seven singles (four of which did not leave the infield), a double by Aaron Judge, some well-timed walks and a big throwing error by Canada’s Abraham Toro. They looked mostly helpless against three Canadian pitchers — all minor leaguers — who did not resemble, say, Fergie Jenkins.
Nothing against lefty relievers Micah Ashman, Adam Macko and Matt Wilkinson (nickname: Tugboat), but who expected them to hold the U.S. hitters to three singles in 19 at-bats? Their manager, Ernie Whitt, might have been the only one.
“We knew that the U.S. hadn’t seen them before,” said Whitt, the old Toronto Blue Jays catcher. “They haven’t been able to scout them or get a real good scouting report. So that was kind of in our back pocket, using those guys.”
You had to feel for Whitt, Canada’s coach in every WBC. He guided the True North to a victory over the Americans in the inaugural edition in 2006, but has never taken the team to the semifinals. Team Canada brought the go-ahead run to the plate against Bednar three times in the sixth inning on Friday. The result: pop out, strikeout, strikeout.
For Canadian baseball fans, it must have felt like Game 7 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, or every Stanley Cup ceremony for the last three decades. Too cruel.
“I’ll be reflecting on this for probably a couple of months,” Whitt said. “Looking back and having your time when you’re with yourself, you gather your thoughts and, ‘What if and what if and what if?’ But if you continue to do that, you’ll drive yourself crazy.”
Very easily, U.S. manager Mark DeRosa could have said the same thing — on Friday, yes, but also on Wednesday, had Mexico beaten Italy without scoring five runs. Team Italy’s upset of the Americans on Tuesday — a few hours after DeRosa had stated, unequivocally, that the U.S. had already clinched a berth in the quarterfinals – created an awkward reality and a whole lot of noise.
“People are gonna have their opinion about us, and I don’t think any of them are gonna be sitting on our dinner table or our Thanksgiving dinner, so it doesn’t really matter what anybody says,” first baseman Bryce Harper said after Friday’s win. “That’s always been my call on that kind of stuff. I mean, what are you gonna do? We needed help; everyone knew we needed to help. Italy did their job, and that’s why they’re playing Puerto Rico tomorrow.”
Harper nearly homered in the first inning Friday and should have walked twice late in the game, but plate umpire Bill Miller twice missed a ball four call (the ABS system, on pause for the WBC, cannot come soon enough). Harper struck out in both of those at-bats, but shook it off.
“That’s Bill,” he said.
That’s baseball, he might have added, about the rest of the unfulfilling game. Alex Bregman nearly homered to left. Cal Raleigh nearly homered to right. Both drives landed just foul. Add some homers to the output, and Friday’s win would have felt more convincing.
“If we’re going to win this tournament, like we all believe we’re going to, it’s going to take more than home runs,” Judge, the team captain, said. “If there’s times where we’re not getting home runs, we’ve gotta play small ball, we’ve gotta move runners, we’ve gotta do different things just to create some offense.”
Judge is the epitome of the stoic professional, a Yankee through and through. That works for him, and anything else would be inauthentic. Bregman and Harper play with fiery intensity, and Raleigh is so businesslike that he’s now up to two Seattle Mariners teammates he has snubbed for a greeting at the plate in the WBC.
(Unlike Randy Arozarena, the ever-perceptive Josh Naylor, a master agitator always looking for an edge, was having fun.)
Anyway, it’s just a different vibe than we see from other teams, especially the Americans’ next opponent, the Dominican Republic. Someone asked Bregman if their bat-flipping, high-energy example could inspire Team USA to do the same.
“I don’t know,” Bregman said. “I think our guys are, like I said, just trying to take it one pitch at a time, focus on the next pitch, continue to compete, and get after it and play baseball and have fun.”
You could not have scripted a more American answer: accurate, sure, but bland. Is that approach just another way of having fun?
“I mean, I have fun every single time I take the baseball field,” Bregman said. “I love the game of baseball. We’re super honored to be able to play a kids’ game for a living, and I feel like we try and treat every pitch like it could be our last.”
Fair enough. But at least one former player — Cameron Maybin, an outfielder from 2007 to 2021 — pleaded on X for more life from the U.S.
“Right now, Team USA look dry as hell,” he wrote. “I’m talking like somebody just ate a whole pack of saltine crackers in the desert with no water in sight.”
For what it’s worth, Judge said he noticed a “different level of focus” since the scare against Italy. Starter Logan Webb, who blanked Canada for 4 2/3 innings on Friday, said he sensed “newfound energy” in recent days.
A guest speaker in the clubhouse on Friday, Robert J. O’Neill, was part of the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team Six that killed Osama bin Laden. It doesn’t get much more serious than that.
Knock ‘Em Dead Tonight Boys 👊🇺🇸 @USABaseball pic.twitter.com/8r11tmBEXe
— Robert J. O’Neill (@mchooyah) March 13, 2026
“It was pretty cool,” Harper said. “I mean, obviously, anytime you get anybody to come in — veterans or Olympic people, we had (Michael Phelps) come in at the beginning, and that was awesome. So anytime you’re able to have people come in that love America, it’s a lot of fun.”
It’s a different kind of fun than having Juan Marichal, 88, dancing in the Dominican clubhouse. But the U.S. went out after O’Neill’s speech and did what it needed to do. The game on Sunday — packed with more star power than Betsy Ross could ever sew — should be epic.
But remember: Team USA scored in just one inning while beating Mexico on Monday, fell behind 8-0 to Italy on Tuesday and managed one extra-base hit against Canada on Friday. The Americans look vulnerable.
Maybe the change of venue — and the first opponent that might be better — will bring out their best.
“The boys are excited, that’s for sure,” Judge said. “Definitely getting a taste for playoff atmosphere in March, definitely gets the juices flowing a little bit. We’re excited to hop on a flight to Miami and get this rolling.”
