SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Finally, Canada has a World Baseball Classic victory to complement its memorable upset of the United States at the inaugural tournament in 2006. And this win, at windswept Hiram Bithorn Stadium against a Cuban side more diva than dominant, also, finally, pushed them out of pool play at the event for the first time.
After 20 years and five previous attempts, that long-sought quarterfinal date, in Houston against the Pool B runner-up United States on Friday night (8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+), awaits after a 7-2 triumph Wednesday afternoon secured not only a second-round berth, but also first place in Pool A.
Michael Soroka is expected to start an opportunity that’s been a long time coming for the national team program.
“We’re not here for a participation ribbon,” said Cal Quantrill, a driving force in the decisive win over Cuba. “We’re here to compete and play ball and win against the best countries in the world…
“We were professional the whole time. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy and we showed up to play these last two days. Just really, really proud of the guys. Such a cool moment for Canada baseball, for a lot of guys that have been here for a long time.”
Quantrill shoved for five innings, allowing only an unearned run set up by his own errant pick-off throw, setting the tone while the Canadians matched Cuba’s early-contest gamesmanship to grind out some offence.
Otto Lopez’s two-run single capped a bizarre three-run sixth that gave Canada control of the contest, and they added on from there to ensure a drama-free finish. The toughest call they had to make was pulling James Paxton after 2.2 dominant innings with two outs and two strikes in the ninth to keep him eligible for the quarters because he was at 49 pitches.
Eric Cerantola got Omar Hernandez on a fly ball to left, Owen Caissie pumped his fist as the ball settled in his glove and the celebration was on.
“It’s huge,” said Paxton, who sat 94.4 m.p.h. with his fastball and hit 97.1 with his final offering. “I’ve been a part of Baseball Canada for a long time, junior national team, this, and then this and to be a part of the group that sends us to the quarterfinals is really special. We’re all really proud and really excited to be representing Canada at the next level here and we’re going to keep on competing and fighting for Canada.”
The Canadians gathered in front of the dugout and saluted their fans in the stands, singing O Canada, the demons of Classics past exorcised. In 2006, when they stunned the powerhouse Americans 8-6, they finished in a three-way tie atop their group but were bounced on a tiebreaker. They lost a win-and-in game to Mexico in that one, another to the Americans in 2013 and a third to Mexico again in 2023.
This appearance nearly came off the rails with a 4-3 loss to Panama on Sunday, but the Canadians rallied to beat Puerto Rico, which is also Houston-bound, 3-2 on Tuesday night before throttling a Cuban team that sacrificed defence for offence and got neither.
“After that Panama loss, we knew that we didn’t play our cleanest baseball,” said Abraham Toro, who had a homer and three hits in the win, along with five RBIs in the round. “We just came together and everybody was still so positive. We’re like, hey, even though we didn’t play our best, we’ve still got two games to go, and we cleaned it up and played really good baseball the last two games. Hopefully keep this momentum for the next round.”
The first three World Baseball Classic meetings between Canada and the United States produced great games, with the clashes in 2017 and 2023 resulting in one-sided American wins.
The 2006 win over the U.S. “was huge as a single game,” said pitching coach Paul Quantrill, Cal’s dad who was part of the 2006 club. “But we feel like we’re a good enough baseball nation — we’ve got some great players and (national teams director) Greg Hamilton runs a great program — that we need to move on to the next level. We’ve been burned with the tiebreaker rules. So it’s just a big step. Some of the young guys, they don’t even know how hard it’s been. I just want to slap a few of them — we’ve been working for this for 20 years, boys. We’re all very happy.”
Justin Morneau lived through the first two as a player and the third as a fan before joining this team as hitting coach, and when he left his hotel room Wednesday morning, “I said to my wife, ‘Just please let me win.’”
“I’ve been let down so many times,” he continued. “We believe we’re one of the top-10 baseball countries in the world. Unfortunately, in this tournament, we haven’t advanced. We’ve done well in the Pan Ams, in a lot of different things. But I think we have a lot of guys that are hungry to do that, and a lot of guys are looking forward to doing it.”
They did it in an effort that featured some glamour but more grit, especially in the early going, when there was gamesmanship on both sides of the field in the battle for control.
Josh Naylor, the game’s second batter, twice stared down Livan Moinelo, who took the rubber before the batter had to be set in the box, leading to a pair of pitch-clock violations and the first of several visits to the umpires by manager German Mesa.
A delayed double-steal that ended with Lopez getting caught in a run-down between second and third resulted in an obstruction call that led to both batters being safe. Moinelo, the star NPB lefty, goaded Edouard Julien into a pitch-clock violation in the second and on it went.
Canada opened the scoring in the third on Owen Caissie’s sacrifice fly, set up by singles from Tyler O’Neill and Abraham Toro plus a passed ball, and went up 2-0 in the fifth when Toro sent a splitter from Yariel Rodriguez into the right-field seats.
The Cubans got one back in the bottom half on Cal Quantrill’s error and Yoelkis Guibert’s run-scoring groundout, but then came the decisive sixth, when second baseman Yiddi Cappe dropped Matt Davidson’s infield pop up and the inning unravelled.
A wild pitch allowed Davidson to reach third and after a Bo Naylor foul pop up fell between two defenders, the Cleveland Guardians catcher ripped a double to right that brought him home. Denzel Clarke, flailing at what should have been strike three, reached on catcher’s interference and stole second before Lopez brought both home with a chopper through a drawn-in infield to make it 5-1.
“I had batted against him before,” Lopez said of Rodriguez, whom he singled off earlier this spring, “and I felt pretty comfortable in that at-bat. I was prepared enough to feel comfortable enough to just get a good pitch and swing. Good things happened.”
The Cubans threatened again in the sixth, getting Ariel Martinez’s RBI single and loading the bases. But Adam Macko struck out Cappe to end the inning, and the Canadians added on from there.
Lopez cleverly scored from first in the eighth when Josh Naylor’s flare to left popped out of a sliding Martinez’s glove in left field, while Caissie cashed in another run in the ninth with a base hit.
Paxton and Cerantola then ripped through the frustrated Cubans in the bottom half to lock down one a victory that means so much to so many people in Canadian baseball.
“First one is Greg Hamilton,” manager Ernie Whitt said of the people he was thinking of. “He works his ass off day in and day out, I don’t know how he does it. He is so dedicated to the game of baseball in Canada, working with the younger kids, working with the grassroots. I just get the benefit of having these kids, watching them grow and develop.
“Jason Dickson (Baseball Canada’s CEO) and Greg Hamilton have done a tremendous job. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Jim Baba, God rest his soul. He’s been a big part of Baseball Canada. …
“We’re extremely proud that we’re moving forward. It took us a long time to do it. … There are a lot of people that are watching us here in the WBC and hopefully we can continue to go forward.”