OPINION:
I believe the score on the world stage is now United States 1, Venezuela 1.
The Venezuelan World Baseball Classic squad pulled off their version of William Wallace by declaring to America, “You may have my country, but you’ll never have our hearts” with their dramatic 3-2 win over the USA squad in front of a frenzied WBC crowd — is there any other type of WBC crowd? — at LoanDepot Park in Miami.
Eugenio Suárez used his bat to deliver this win over America with his ninth-inning double after Bryce Harper tied the game in the bottom of the eighth with a two-run home run — a fleeting moment for Harper, because few will remember the home run that tied the game.
A whole country will remember Eugenio Suárez’s double.
“They were with us here in our hearts,” Venezuela captain Salvador Perez said of his countrymen. “The World Series, as you all know, is one of the most important championships in the major leagues, but when you fight for your country, that goes beyond. That feeling, the country where you were born and raised, the sacrifices made by our parents, those people that helped us, that’s why this means a lot to me and to Venezuela.”
The victory was a fitting ending to what turned out to be perhaps the most dramatic and passionate exhibition event we have seen in decades. And lest we forget, that’s what the World Baseball Classic is: an exhibition.
You wouldn’t know it from the emotion displayed on the field — particularly by the Latin players — and in the stands filled with flag-waving fans.
In March, let me remind you. Baseball in March. Front page news. Leading highlight shows. Setting viewership records. The top “did you watch” topic at the water cooler and in chats.
Oh, March Madness is about to start on the basketball court? Caught me by surprise. I thought I was watching March Madness.
Then again, next March we may really see the madness in baseball — a possible work stoppage as the owners and players head toward a seemingly suicidal showdown over escalating salaries and payroll disparities.
The thought, in the afterglow of this magnificent just-completed tournament, seems insane.
New York Yankees star Aaron Judge declared that the WBC was “bigger and better than the World Series,” which, of course, is an exaggeration but is also an indication of how ramped up the players were for an exhibition tournament that meant little to their pocketbooks. It should be noted that Judge said this before he went 0 for 4 in the championship game loss Tuesday night.
He also may have a short attention span.
The 2025 seven-game World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays was another record-setting, dramatic event, with the Dodgers capturing the series in an 11-inning 5-4 win.
Maybe he was speaking from experience. The Yankees lost 4-1 to the Dodgers in Judge’s only World Series appearance in 2024. He batted .222 in five games — the same batting average he had in the WBC.
Judge was part of a United States team filled with stars, but there were stars on the rosters of other squads, from Shohei Ohtani playing for Japan to Juan Soto for the Dominican Republic. Soto, like Judge, got caught up in the heat of the event when he declared, after losing 2-1 to the American team, “We showed the world who’s the best team in baseball. That’s all I got to say.”
Passion.
This was an international showcase for baseball, the likes of which their rival leagues — the NFL, NBA and NHL — would love to have in their sports.
The buzzword in sports business these days is globalization. The NFL is pushing to host games in other countries; the NBA is looking to start a league in Europe; the NHL’s World Cup will continue in 2028.
But none of these endeavors has had a stage like baseball created with the WBC at a time when the game is typically centered around sleepy spring training games in Florida and Arizona. They grabbed international headlines when their business is typically buried in the news cycle.
They may grab headlines again next March. Just not the kind anyone would envy.
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