{"id":528122,"date":"2026-03-17T04:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T04:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/528122\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T04:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T04:32:08","slug":"criticized-for-their-cool-american-players-head-into-the-wbc-final-appreciating-opponents-flair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/528122\/","title":{"rendered":"Criticized for their cool, American players head into the WBC final appreciating opponents’ flair"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Criticized for their cool, American players head into the World Baseball Classic<\/a> championship also appreciating opponents\u2019 flamboyant flair.<\/p>\n

U.S. captain Aaron Judge\u2019s controlled composure has filtered through the clubhouse ahead of Tuesday night\u2019s final against Venezuela. That\u2019s not to say the Americans don\u2019t appreciate the theatrics of Latin stars such as Juan Soto and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys would all think it\u2019s silly if we shuffled like Soto or did Vladdy\u2019s little wiggle,\u201d American outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said after Sunday night\u2019s 2-1 win over the Dominican Republic<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s them and if I had enough swag to do that I would probably do that, too. … We have fun in our own way, but we definitely have fun out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge\u2019s personality has created the clubhouse character, much like it has with the New York Yankees.<\/p>\n

Players look up to Judge, and not just because he\u2019s 6-foot-7.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been cool to see how he goes about his business,\u201d said star pitcher Paul Skenes, the second-tallest American player at 6-foot-6. \u201cHe\u2019s not faking anything. He\u2019s playing as Aaron Judge, so that\u2019s just his personality in the clubhouse and off the field. Obviously it shows up on the field, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. manager Mark DeRosa said Judge turned down an offer to have a \u201cC\u201d on his uniform as the U.S. captain.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeader of men. Classy in every decision he makes,\u201d DeRosa said. \u201cA lot of decisions that I\u2019ve made throughout the course of the WBC I have made with his recommendations.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. players have been faulted for their occasionally staid approach, including when catcher Cal Raleigh refused to shake hands<\/a> with Seattle teammate Randy Arozarena during a pool play game against Mexico. The team also has embraced military ties amid the Iran war, with player saluting each other after victories. Skenes and Griffin Jax pitched at the Air Force Academy, and the team invited Robert J. O\u2019Neill, an ex-Navy SEAL who claimed he fatally shot Osama bin Laden during a 2011 raid, to speak in the clubhouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never want it to get lost why you\u2019re doing this, whatever that why is,\u201d DeRosa said. \u201cAnd a lot of people — like Paul Skenes said to me when he signed up for this, \u2018I want to do this for every serviceman and woman who protects our freedom,\u2019 and that\u2019s why we wear USA across our chest.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I thought it would just be a time to redirect and get these guys to understand that, although this is an unbelievable event and you get a chance to share the locker room with the game\u2019s greats, there\u2019s a reason why we\u2019re doing it and a reason why people protect our freedom at night. I just wanted to honor that. So that\u2019s why he came in to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeRosa was faulted for saying before the loss to Italy \u201cour ticket\u2019s punched to the quarterfinals.\u201d That wasn\u2019t the case and the U.S. didn\u2019t clinch advancement until Italy\u2019s 9-1 win over Mexico<\/a> on the group\u2019s final day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI misspoke,\u201d DeRosa later admitted. \u201cI completely misread the calculations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. is in its third straight WBC final and is seeking its second title after 2017<\/a>. The Americans lost the 2023 final 3-2 to Japan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Harper, at 33 a 14-year veteran, tried to play with Latin-style flair when he arrived in the major leagues He remembered attracting attention for gray bats, different cleats and emphatic eye black.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of got pounded for it,\u201d he said. \u201cSo there\u2019s an American way of baseball everybody talks about, right? But I think that\u2019s so far from the truth. Obviously, when we grow up, we play a different style. But we learn from other people\u2019s styles, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporters energized the Dominican team.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne hit for them got the crowd out of their seat. A 3-0 count got the crowd out their seat,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said. \u201cYou don\u2019t necessarily see that with fans from the U.S. all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nolan McLean, a 24-year-old rookie right-hander with eight games of major league experience, will start for the U.S. after allowing a pair of home runs over three innings and leaving with a 3-0 deficit in the group stage loss to Italy on March 10<\/a> that nearly led to first-round elimination.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously I got clipped there a couple times … but overall I felt really good,\u201d he said Monday. \u201cIt\u2019s just kind of a dream come true to be able to get the ball in such a big moment, and it\u2019s something I want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/MLB<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Criticized for their cool, American players head into the World Baseball Classic championship also appreciating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[4260,110968,1993,2822,2808,37888,801,6801,7842,178466,2008,369,26686,10000,4261,12943,237507,99,18232,12000],"class_list":["post-528122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-aaron-judge","tag-air-force-falcons","tag-cal-raleigh","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-griffin-jax","tag-iran","tag-italy","tag-juan-soto","tag-mark-derosa","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-osama-bin-laden","tag-paul-skenes","tag-pete-crow-armstrong","tag-randy-arozarena","tag-robert-j-oneill","tag-sports","tag-venezuela","tag-vladimir-guerrero-jr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}