Team Italy celebrates after defeating Puerto Rico in the 2026 World Baseball Classic quarterfinals.\u00a0Photo by Houston Astros\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Featuring a lineup with an average age of 23.8, the Italians ambushed a shorthanded Puerto Rican team missing a number of stars because of injuries and insurance issues. Regardless, Italy’s past three victories — against the United States, Mexico and Puerto Rico — came against three countries rich in baseball history, whereas Italy has had only two players born and raised in the country make the major leagues.<\/p>\n
The magical week has landed the team’s games on television in Italy and the results in newspaper pages.<\/p>\n
“And that is what this tournament is about,” said Italy captain Vinnie Pasquantino<\/a>, the Kansas City Royals’ first baseman and a key recruiter in getting young talent to join the team. “Yes, it is about winning the tournament and trying to be the best baseball team, but it’s about getting eyeballs and bringing people together on the sport, which is why I think so many teams are having a blast playing. Because you’re playing for your country and you’re playing for that national attention of, hey, look, it’s the Dominican Republic or it’s Venezuela or Nicaragua. Wherever the country is, they’re represented.<\/p>\n “And, yeah, Italy doesn’t have the greatest development in baseball, and that’s what we’re trying to do right now. And if we continue to be successful with this — I mean, there was baseball being played at bistros and cafes in Italy tonight over there. That doesn’t happen. Without the group that we have, it just doesn’t happen.”<\/p>\n What those in Italy saw was a continuation of the dangerous lineup that has carried the team. The first inning illustrated the Italians’ game. Following a pair of walks, Pasquantino lined an RBI single up the middle. Dominic Canzone<\/a>, the Seattle outfielder, followed with the same. Jac Caglianone<\/a>, the Kansas City outfielder, laced an RBI single to right field. Puerto Rico manager Yadier Molina pulled Lugo, but Italy added one more run on a J.J. D’Orazio sacrifice fly to exit the first with a 4-1 advantage.<\/p>\n More of the same came in the fourth inning — all with two outs. Pasquantino, Canzone and Caglianone walked to load the bases. Andrew Fischer<\/a>, a first-round pick by Milwaukee out of Tennessee last year, smoked a ball toward the wall that a fan reached over to grab, plating two on an interference double. D’Orazio, like Cervelli a Venezuela native with Italian heritage, scored two more on a perfectly placed double down the right-field line. And suddenly a close game was 8-2, the decidedly pro-Puerto Rico crowd silenced.<\/p>\n The relentlessness of the Italian team that stunned the United States — and allowed the Americans to advance to the quarterfinals by beating Mexico in pool play — had shown up again.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n 2 Related<\/p>\n “You win the USA game,” Pasquantino said, “and it’s like, ‘Wait a minute, we’ve got a real shot here, to not just shock the world but to do some things.'”<\/p>\n Said Cervelli: “The key was the victory against USA. Those guys beat one of the best teams in the world, best players in the world. Now they’re going to believe. They’re going to believe. I believe.”<\/p>\n The belief never wavered, even in a hairy eighth inning. After starter Sam Aldegheri<\/a>, one of the two Italian-born-and-raised players to play in the big leagues, lasted just 1\u2153 innings and Cleveland prospect Dylan DeLucia followed with four vital shutout innings, Cervelli turned to veteran Matt Festa<\/a>, who allowed a single and walked two. In came reliever Joe La Sorsa, who induced a run-scoring groundout before reloading the bases with a hit by pitch, allowing a run to score on a wild pitch and yielding two more on a Christian V\u00e1zquez single to make the score 8-6.<\/p>\n Cervelli called on Boston reliever Greg Weissert<\/a>, who escaped the inning with no more damage and returned in the ninth. He allowed a leadoff single, but an Emmanuel Rivera<\/a> strikeout and two flyouts ended the game. Andrea Bocelli’s “Con Te Partir\u00f2” played over the stadium’s speakers, as it does after every Italy victory, and the team celebrated on the field as it readied for a trip to Miami against another powerhouse.<\/p>\n “I built up specifically for this,” Weissert said, “so I’m always ready early, going into spring training. It wasn’t a question of if I can do it … I can handle the pitch load.”<\/p>\n