The Athletic has live coverage of USA vs. Dominican Republic in the 2026 World Baseball Classic quarterfinals.
MIAMI — Wilyer Abreu can’t recall what happened after the ball left his bat or what he felt as he sprinted around the bases. All he knows is how he’ll remember it.
“One of the best moments that I have had in my career,” he beamed.
Down by a run in the top of the sixth, Abreu came to the plate with nobody out and runners on the corners, knowing a base hit, or even a deep fly ball, would be enough to turn Saturday’s quarterfinal against Japan into a new ballgame.
That was his approach: Get the ball in the air and tie the score.
Turns out Abreu would do a lot better than that. Reliever Hiromo Itoh left a 2-1 fastball at the top of the zone and Abreu turned on it, delivering one of the most meaningful home runs in Venezuela’s baseball history.
WILYER ABREU
THREE-RUN HOME RUN
TEAM VENEZUELA TAKES THE LEAD 🇻🇪 pic.twitter.com/9ovv3fluF6
— World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) March 15, 2026
His three-run shot was a no-doubter. It left the bat at 108 mph and landed in the upper deck in right field, sending the Venezuelan dugout and the crowd into bedlam. Abreu launched his bat so high that it disappeared from the television broadcast. He knew, on contact, the impact he’d just made on his country.
Now, Team Venezuela, which has never won the WBC, has a chance at history.
In a tournament that has had no shortage of dynamic moments, jaw-dropping home runs and epic comebacks, Saturday’s quarterfinal between Venezuela and Japan might have topped it all. Venezuela upset Japan 8-5, knocking out the defending champions to advance to the World Baseball Classic semifinals for the first time since 2009.
The victory also secured the final berth for American teams in the 2028 Olympics — USA, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela will be the three teams representing the Americas in the eight-team format.
“It’s one of the most exciting games that I have had,” Abreu said. “The vibes that we felt on the field were incredible from the fans, both the Japanese and the Venezuelan fans.”
It’s the biggest win for Venezuela since the WBC was introduced in 2006. It’s also one of the most devastating losses for Japan, which suffered its earliest elimination in tournament history. It’s a shocking result for a team that dominated the Classic three years ago — and a far cry from how its last tournament ended.
In 2023, Shohei Ohtani’s emphatic strikeout of Mike Trout to cap the tournament became the marquee moment of the WBC. Ohtani again made the last out for Team Japan this year, though certainly not in the way he envisioned. His popout to shallow center served as the final out of the game.
Japan has won the WBC a record three times in five editions, and arrived this year as the only team to reach the semifinals in each tournament. Now, it will miss the semifinal round for the first time.
Venezuela advances to Monday’s semifinal against Italy, setting up a showdown of the underdogs. Italy reached the semifinals for the first time after beating Puerto Rico 8-6 on Saturday. The winner of Monday’s game will advance to the championship against the winner of the United States and the Dominican Republic, who will face off in a highly anticipated matchup on Sunday.
