Yeah, I did not see that coming. I tried to do a deep dive into these teams before the WBC started, and while Italy is by no means a pushover, I figured that Mexico would be the United States’s biggest test in pool play. I was very much wrong. Now the United States finds itself hoping that Italy can beat Mexico tomorrow and go undefeated in pool play. If this happens, the United States will have avoided complete disaster. If they fail to make it out of pool play, it’ll go down as one of the biggest disasters in the history of this tournament. That’s not me being hyperbolic either. The United States went all out to assemble the best possible roster for this tournament. You can’t come away from this without at least making it to the quarterfinals.
If this were a 162-game baseball season, I’d be willing to chalk it up to just an off night. Every team has them, and usually that’s understandable, but this is a tournament in which you can’t really afford to have many off nights. Losing a close game that’s well-pitched or losing a heartbreaker in the late innings is one thing. The United States lost a pair of games in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, but it avenged both losses later in the tournament. No disrespect to Italy, who showed strong and played with a ton of heart, but you can’t convince me that even on their best day, Italy is that many runs better than the United States. It seems like the formula for hitting the United States pitching is out. I thought Mark DeRosa made some very questionable managerial moves, but it feels like teams have been very comfortable jumping on United States pitching early in counts. Paul Skeens can’t pitch every single night; you need to be more dynamic with your pitch selection, and, fundamentally, the United States has had some questionable moments in this.
I know I probably should’ve mentioned the comeback that wasn’t already, but I’m not claiming moral victories in this tournament. You shouldn’t fall behind 8-0 to Italy. Again, if this were a regular baseball season, I’d come on here and say that I was encouraged by the late innings at bats and hope that it carries over into tomorrow. Sadly, there’s no guarantee of it tomorrow because the US doesn’t control its own destiny. They’ve got to pray that Italy doesn’t fold tomorrow against Mexico.