Venezuela Ends Italy’s Cinderella WBC Run, Sets Up Clash With U.S.

MIAMI — The Italian party in the World Baseball Classic is over, as Venezuela defeated the upstart Azzurri on Monday night to reach the title game of the international tournament. 

Powered in part by espresso and displaying a series of endearing quirks, the underdog Italians had been the WBC’s feel-good story. But Venezuela, featuring a vastly superior collection of star MLB talent including the Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. and Brewers phenom Jackson Chourio, used a series of timely late hits and more than seven innings of scoreless bullpen work to secure a 4–2 win in the second WBC semifinal game. 

Venezuela, after also knocking off defending champion Japan in the quarterfinals, will now face the U.S. in Tuesday’s title game at loanDepot park. The Americans edged past the Dominican Republic on Sunday in the first WBC semifinal.

There will undoubtedly be some political overtones to the U.S.–Venezuela matchup following the American military action there in January. The Venezuela team, however, is attempting to keep its focus strictly on the field.

“I’m not going to answer anything about the political situation, because I work in baseball,” said Venezuela manager Omar López. “I think it’s more important to win, to keep our country happy, celebrating, and keep making noise that for the first time we’re going to be in a [WBC] final.”

The Mood Has Changed

Monday night’s game, meanwhile, initially featured a somewhat more sedate atmosphere compared to the raucous environment Sunday for the first semifinal game involving the U.S. and the Dominican Republic. That contest drew a sellout crowd of 36,337, and the crowd immediately created an electric atmosphere that stayed for the entire night. 

The second semifinal, conversely, drew a later-arriving crowd of 35,382, and the vibe at first resembled an ordinary home game for the Marlins, one of MLB’s least-attended teams. The figure was announced as a sellout, but no-shows extended well into the hundreds.

As Venezuela rallied from an early 2–0 deficit to take the lead and ultimately win, though, the heavily partisan fans roared with delight, exceeding 110 decibels on multiple occasions. 

The tournament continues to stir deep national pride and strong emotions among many of the competitors. After the U.S.–Dominican Republic game, Yankees superstar and American team captain Aaron Judge said he considers the WBC “bigger and better than the World Series.”