Shortly after Team USA and Mark DeRosa beat Canada to clinch their spot in Sunday’s semifinal at the World Baseball Classic, the U.S. skipper was asked what to expect in their matchup with the Dominican Republic.
“I expect it to be, like, one of the best games of all time.”
There was no overstating the magnitude of this clash between baseball superpowers, as the stakes were set right from the moment they both were placed on the same side of the WBC bracket.
It was a dream matchup, stocked with some of baseball’s brightest stars.
The two starting lineups entered the game with a combined 52 all-star appearances, five MVP awards, 36 Silver Sluggers, nine Gold Gloves and three batting titles. And that’s to say nothing of the pitching matchup, which saw reigning NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes square off against two-time all-star Luis Severino.
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For all the hype leading into Sunday’s first pitch at loanDepot Park, the game delivered.
It may not have been the offensive explosion many expected, but the U.S. eked out a 2-1 victory packed with tension and late drama.
So, as the Americans celebrate their return to a third-straight WBC final, here are some takeaways from a game that will surely have the baseball world talking.
U.S. bullpen walks the tightrope
For 4.1 innings Sunday, Team USA rode its ace, as Paul Skenes worked around six hits and limited the Dominican Republic to one run, stranding the bases loaded in the fourth.
But once Skenes handed the ball to DeRosa in the fifth with runners on first and second, it looked like the floodgates were about to open with the heart of the Dominican order coming to the plate.
Instead, submarining right-hander Tyler Rogers needed just two pitches to coax a double-play ball from Juan Soto to end the threat.
It was the first of multiple impressive escapes for U.S. relievers in the win.
David Bednar also thwarted the top of the Dominican lineup in the seventh inning. With runners on second and third with just one out, Bednar got Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ketel Marte to chase pitches out of the zone to preserve USA’s lead.
The most pressure-packed Houdini act may just have come from Mason Miller in the ninth, however.
After Julio Rodríguez walked and moved to second on a wild pitch, the American closer bore down. Miller forced Oneil Cruz to ground out to short, then struck out Geraldo Perdomo on a friendly strike call — more on that below — to give his country the win.
When all was said and done, the U.S. bullpen had navigated one of the best collections of offensive talent ever assembled for 4.2 scoreless innings while racking up six strikeouts.
Not only does the WBC provide a great opportunity to showcase baseball on the international stage, but it also frequently serves as a launching point for some of the sport’s most exciting young players.
There’s no doubt that pitching ruled the day in Miami, but it was a trio of early-20s hitters who made their mark on the scoreboard.
For the Dominican Republic, it was 22-year-old Junior Caminero who put it on the board early. Caminero’s solo blast off Paul Skenes marked his third homer of the tournament and seventh run batted in.
Pretty good for a guy who told manager Albert Pujols he would be the team’s water boy if it meant he got to rep the D.R. at this year’s Classic.
On the other side, the Americans got a pair of solo homers of their own that proved to be the difference in the game. Gunnar Henderson, 24, and Roman Anthony, 21, both went deep in the fourth inning, further cementing their status as future faces of the game.
It continues a successful tournament for the AL East foes, as both now have multiple home runs in the WBC. And for as deep as the American lineup is, it’s Henderson (1.358) leading the team in OPS, with Anthony (1.014) third.
The U.S. will hope it’s a stretch that continues in Tuesday’s final.
ABS Challenge System records a win
If MLB needed an example of why the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge system is coming to regular-season games this year, Sunday provided a pretty good one.
While there’s no way of knowing what would have happened had those pitches been called balls, the key calls in the Dominican half of the eighth and ninth innings would have been overturned by an ABS challenge.
First, it was Juan Soto who was rung up by Garrett Whitlock on a pitch low to open the eighth — a pretty dangerous bat for the U.S. to sit down. Then, in the ninth, Geraldo Perdomo was sent down looking on a 3-2 slider below his knees to end the game.
Now, even if ABS were available in this game, perhaps the Dominican Republic wouldn’t have had its challenges remaining in the later innings. Maybe Soto strikes out anyway, and Fernando Tatis Jr. doesn’t find a way to bring home the tying run against Mason Miller.
Still, it’s unfortunate for a baseball game of this stature to end with a pair of “what ifs.”
When looking up and down the U.S. and Dominican rosters, it’s hard not to be in awe of the offensive prowess on both sides.
But as we saw in this game, these players are all-stars and MVPs because they do it on both sides of the ball.
There was no better example than Julio Rodríguez scaling the wall in centre field to pull back an Aaron Judge homer — reminiscent of the epic Adam Jones robbery in the 2017 second-round battle between these two countries.
It goes down in the scorebook as a flyout, but Judge’s drive was projected to travel 407 feet and would have been a homer in 14 of 30 MLB parks, according to Baseball Savant.
Judge got in on the action himself, tossing a 95.7 m.p.h. seed to catch Tatis Jr. trying to go first to third to end the third inning. He also took away a base hit from Juan Soto with a diving snag in the fourth.
Beyond the two standout outfielders, defensive wizardry was on display all over the field from both teams, offering a reminder that the best in the game don’t need a bat in their hands to make an impact.
With his country on his chest, Luis Severino was living proof of just what this tournament means to players over his 3.1 innings of work.
Coming off an uneven campaign with the nomadic Athletics, Severino looked like he took a swig from the fountain of youth before the WBC semi. His fastball averaged 98.1 m.p.h. — up two ticks from his heater’s 2025 season average — and he threw six pitches 99 m.p.h. or harder after reaching that mark just five times in 29 starts last summer for the A’s.
His increase in velo allowed him to rack up six punchouts against the loaded U.S. lineup, none bigger than his consecutive strikeouts of Judge and Kyle Schwarber to strand runners at second and third.
What followed was a display of emotion rarely found on a baseball field in March, as Severino roared into the United States’ dugout with the thundering crowd at his back.
And while Severino served up a homer to Gunnar Henderson in the next inning before his outing came to an end, his passion and ability to rise to the moment were a perfect example of what makes the WBC so special.
