The United States are through to the World Baseball Classic final after a 2-1 victory against the Dominican Republic.
A sold-out LoanDepot Park crowd witnessed a star-studded semi-final matchup. The game featured prodigious home runs, spectacular defense and dominant pitching. The USA now await Monday’s winner between Italy and Venezuela.
A Contentious Final Pitch
The game ended with a slider called a strike, a decision that proved painful for the Dominican Republic. Dominican shortstop Geraldo Perdomo showed his disgust. Dominican-born Albert Pujols, the manager, tried to focus on the positives.
“I’m not going to focus on that last pitch,” Pujols said. “This has been a tremendous game between two tremendous teams. I feel incredibly grateful for the guys who represented us in this Classic. Once more, we raised our flag high in this Classic and left our mark, and I think our country is very proud.”
With two outs left against Mason Miller, Julio Rodriguez worked a walk and moved to second on a passed ball. He then reached third on a groundout. Perdomo worked the count full and fouled off back-to-back 101 mph fastballs before the final pitch was called a strike.
“One-hundred-percent a ball,” Perdomo said. “It’s all right. It’s baseball.”
Automated Ball-Strike System Debate
The automated ball-strike system (ABS) was unavailable for this World Baseball Classic. A league official said that some of the ballparks hosting pool play do not yet have the technology to incorporate it. ABS will make its way to MLB for the 2026 season via challenge system.
Team USA manager Mark DeRosa said of ABS, “I would assume it comes in next time.”
High Praise for the Standard of Play
The U.S. and D.R. rosters featured 25 players who were ranked within ESPN’s Top 100. The two lineups for the semi-finals had combined for 56 All-Star Games, 31 Silver Sluggers, nine Gold Gloves, five MVPs and, with Team USA starter Paul Skenes, one Cy Young Award.
DeRosa called Sunday’s semi-final matchup “high-level baseball at its finest.”
U.S. first baseman Bryce Harper agreed.
DeRosa will start New York Mets prospect Nolan McLean in Tuesday’s championship game.