USA finally looked like the WBC favorite when it needed to most

MIAMI — Chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A,” could be heard on the concourses and hallways of loanDepot Park late Sunday night after Team USA finally matched its billing and beat the powerhouse Dominican Republic team to advance to the finals of the World Baseball Classic.

Happily, Team USA is rewriting a script that needed an overhaul.

USA showed no indication it had such a winning performance in it while badly underperforming in three straight games and barely getting past pool play and preliminaries that originally seemed like a setup for success. However, our band of All-Stars and all-timers magically transformed into the special team that were pegged to be once they arrived here and peered into the other dugout to see another all-world unit that mirrored theirs.

“It’s our game,” Team USA superstar shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. declared on MLB’s International feed after Team USA’s thrilling 2-1 victory over the D.R. “We want to go out and show the world.”