Early on, this felt like the game where the United States team we’d been looking forward to watching in this WBC had finally arrived. They got some runs on the board early, Logan Webb was absolutely tremendous on the mound, it felt like everything was coming together, and they still won the game. I don’t want to be overly critical of a team that is one victory away from the finals, but as I said in my video, I just feel like there’s something a little bit off with this Team USA group.
After taking a commanding 5-0 lead, the United States bullpen, which has let them down in the middle innings so far in this tournament, started to come undone again. For a team that claimed to have loaded up on pitching for this WBC, I think some pretty vulnerable pieces are pitching middle relief for this group. The back end has been great, and Mason Miller is one of the most electric relievers in the game.
I was very confused by this bracket for a while. The official WBC playoff bracket is a bit odd, but I can confirm that the United States will play the Dominican Republic in its next game, with Paul Skenes on the mound. That’s what you want. Skenes and Tarik Skubal are probably the only two pitchers on the planet that would have a shot going up against this Dominican Republic lineup, which is not only the best in WBC history, but arguably one of the greatest lineups in the history of baseball, and I’m not over exaggerating when I say that. You have five or six perennial all-stars in the prime of their careers that have been clubbing the ball in this tournament. Paul Skenes has a chance to be an American hero.