MIAMI — The chants echoed through the concourse, in the stairwells, off the roof of this ballpark in Little Havana, all of it emanating from the lungs of a throng wearing yellow, blue and red. The noise rattled the elevators of loanDepot Park after Venezuela’s 4-2 victory over Italy in the semifinal of the World Baseball Classic.
“Heeey . . . Venezuela! Woo!”
“Heeey . . . Venezuela! Woo!”
“Heeey . . . Venezuela! Woo!”
For the first time in the WBC’s 20-year history, Venezuela will play for a championship. By taking down the upstart Azzurri on Monday, the team earned a matchup with Team USA in Tuesday’s finale. To hear the players tell it, the scene afterward inside the home clubhouse resembled the boisterous parade of fans streaming toward the exits.
“A lot of dancing,” Kansas City Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia said. “I’ve never been to the championship of the WBC before. We got there, and we’re happy. We’re excited to play tomorrow against the United States. We have to come tomorrow and play the same way we played against Japan, against Italy.
[“We have to show the world who Venezuela is.”
The contest on Tuesday features a foreboding backdrop. The game will take place at a time of heightened tension between the two nations, a little more than two months after United States military forces captured and extradited Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. The Venezuelan players have shown little interest in discussing the current political climate.
“We’re here to [talk about] baseball,” Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. said. “Our country deserves the game tomorrow. As my brother said, we are going to go out with the same energy and excitement. The country deserves that.”
It was Garcia and Acuña who sparked the rally on Monday that pushed Venezuela close enough to see the summit of the baseball world. The team reached this heights despite fielding a roster lessened by injuries and abstentions. Jose Altuve, the nine-time All-Star, opted to skip the tournament at the request of the Houston Astros. Neither World Series hero Miguel Rojas nor hard-throwing reliever Jose Alvarado could secure insurance. The pitching staff rolled forward without Pablo López, who underwent elbow surgery this spring, and Jesús Luzardo, who recently signed a five-year, $135 million extension with the Philadelphia Phillies.
The absences did not deter the Venezuelans. The team shocked Shohei Ohtani and the defending champions of Samurai Japan with a slugging display in the quarterfinals. To knock off Team Italy, the meme-friendly darlings of this tournament, Venezuela relied upon small ball. The team pulled ahead in the seventh inning with a slew of two-out singles against Colorado Rockies pitcher Michael Lorenzen.
Unfortunately for the Azzurri, an endearing collection of players who leaned into the cliches of their nationality, the group heard it when it happened. There was scant support inside the ballpark for Team Italy. The Venezuelan crowd turned gleeful as their club erased a one-run deficit, ushering a swift end to what had been a charmed run for Italy.
The Azzurri strutted into the ballpark on Monday afternoon wearing suits and crisp white shirts, top buttons undone, not a tie in sight. In the dugout awaited the espresso machine the players used to commemorate home runs. “There’s a lot,” Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino said before the game, “of stereotypical Italians on this team.”
Or, well, stereotypical Italian-Americans. The group was assembled by former Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti (born and raised in Chicago), managed by former New York Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli (born and raised in Valencia, Venezuela) and captained by Pasquantino (born and raised in the suburbs of Richmond, Va.). The roster overflowed with players from the hubs of the diaspora: Brooklyn and Bay Shore and Brick, N.J. Only three members of the team actually grew up in Italy.
“We want in 20 years for the World Baseball Classic Italian team to be full of Italians,” Pasquantino said. “Like Italian speakers from Italy.”
Instead, it was a collection of English speakers from the minor leagues who upended the tournament when they defeated Team USA during pool play. The Americans only advanced into the knockout stage after the Azzurri defeated Team Mexico. In a postgame interview, Pasquantino made sure to remind his countrymen: “You’re welcome, USA.”
But Pasquantino and his teammates could not secure a rematch. The lineup patched together a pair of runs off Detroit Tigers swingman Keider Montero on Monday. From there, Lopez handcuffed the Italian lineup with a parade of six different relievers. After Milwaukee Brewers reliever Angel Zerpa struck out Chicago White Sox prospect Sam Antonacci to strand two runners in the sixth, the Italians never again threatened.
Lopez, who is also the Astros bench coach, viewed the night as vindication. His postgame press conference turned into a soliloquy. He revealed that his wife had advised him not to take the job of managing Team Venezuela because the stress was so great and the spotlight so intense. “And I told her, “[Don’t] worry, darling, because I can bear all of this,” he said.
His team helped him bear the weight on Monday. A fourth-inning solo home run from designated hitter Eugenio Suárez cut the deficit to one. That was the lone blemish on the line of Italian starter Aaron Nola. He was replaced by Lorenzen, who had initially been slated to get the baseball. Manager Francisco Cervelli hoped to piggyback the two pitchers to earn a spot in the championship game. But the Venezuelan lineup upended that plan.
A two-out single by Brewers wunderkind Jackson Chourio put runners at the corners for Acuña. He chopped a grounder deep into the hole and beat Antonacci’s throw for a game-tying infield single. Up next was Garcia, Acuña’s cousin and childhood companion. While Acuña has long been a superstar for Atlanta, Garcia broke out for Kansas City last season. He occupied a position of prominence at the top of Venezuela’s lineup, and he rewarded Lopez with a go-ahead single. Another single from San Francisco Giants infielder Luis Arraez cushioned the lead.
The succession of singles felled Lorenzen, foiled Italy’s plans and delighted the Venezuelan fans. They will have a reason to return to this ballpark on Tuesday. Team USA has cast itself as a group of players on a mission. To win the tournament, the Americans will have to defeat an opponent that views the World Baseball Classic as more than just an assignment.
It was the United States that eliminated Venezuela in the last edition of this tournament. The losers on that night have not forgotten.
“I’m very happy to play the United States again,” Acuña said. “They are all superstars, but we have a great team as well. We are going to play our game. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.”