The United States got good news Wednesday night with Italy blasting Mexico in the final game of Pool B of the World Baseball Classic. That meant Team USA survived into the quarterfinals, and now manager Mark DeRosa no longer has to think about pesky details like whether his team has already clinched a spot in the next round.
From here on out, it’s win or go home in the WBC, with quarterfinals coming on Friday and Saturday in Miami and Houston.
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WBC quarterfinals schedule
Friday, 3:30 p.m. PT (FS1): Dominican Republic (Pool D winner) vs. Korea (Pool C runner-up)
Friday, 5 p.m. (Fox): Canada (Pool A winner) vs. United States (Pool B runner-up)
Saturday, 12 p.m. (FS1): Italy (Pool B winner) vs. Puerto Rico (Pool A runner-up)
Saturday, 6 p.m. (Fox): Japan (Pool C winner) vs. Venezuela (Pool D runner-up)
Friday’s winners play against each other in Sunday’s semifinal, Saturday’s winners play each other in Monday’s semifinal, with the championship game coming Tuesday night.
The Dominican Republic has the deepest lineup in the tournament, led by Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Junior Caminero, and more. As a team they are hitting .313/.458/.672 with 13 home runs in four games.
Not to be outdone, Italy ran roughshod through Pool B, going undefeated by scoring eight runs a game with a .640 slugging percentage and 12 home runs, including Vinnie Pasquantino on Wednesday becoming the first player ever with three home runs in a World Baseball Classic game.
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Team USA has a deep lineup as well, hitting .293/.430/.514 as a team in pool play, and their pitchers had 57 strikeouts against only six walks in pool play, both best in the tournament. They play on Friday against Canada, playing past pool play for the first time in the WBC.
Puerto Rico allowed only seven runs in four games in pool play, with Japan second at nine runs allowed thus far.
All five Dodgers on the 40-man roster in the tournament are still active. Japan has Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the latter likely starting on the mound on Saturday. Edwin DÃaz and Puerto Rico plays Italy on Saturday. Will Smith is splitting catching duties for Team USA with Cal Raleigh. Hyeseong Kim plays in the first quarterfinal game on Friday for Korea, against the stacked Dominican Republic lineup.
Pitchers in the quarterfinal can through up to 80 pitches in a game in the quarterfinals, after being limited to 65 pitches in pool play. In the semifinals and finals, pitchers can throw up to 95 pitches in a game.
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Today’s question is which of these eight teams will win the World Baseball Classic?