United States’ Fatal Flaw Proves to be Their Undoing, Lose Championship to Venezuela

The United States pitching finally was their undoing in the WBC. Against Venezuela, they gave up 2 runs early on to make it 2-0. Bryce Harper’s heroics in the 8th inning gave the US a shot as the game was tied 2-2 heading into the 9th inning. However, the pitching sealed the game in the 9th inning as Venezuela would score another run to make it 3-2 and win the championship.

The United States underachieved this WBC as the offense struggled to get in a consistent rhythm in all their games with only short bursts of it. The pitching outside their game against the Dominican Republic was dreadful with the US being the team in the WBC that gave up the most home runs. Andrew Whitlock of the Red Sox blew the save for the team and Roman Anthony was the last person at bat for the US.  Finally, the Italy fiasco will be heavily scrutinized in the long run and Mark DeRosa’s tenure should be reexamined in the future as this second championship game his team has lost.

On the bright side, Boston Red Sox fans should be really excited for this season as the players that played in the WBC were really good. On both the United States and Venezuela, players from the Red Sox hit the winning runs for both teams in the semifinals (Roman Anthony for the US and Wilyer Abreu for Venezuela). Abreu hit a home run for Venezuela in the championship. Coming out of the WBC, things are looking up for the Red Sox this year.