Venezuela stuns USA 3-2 in WBC final for first title
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- Venezuela beat the United States 3-2 in Tuesday night's World Baseball Classic final in Miami, claiming the country's first WBC championship and prompting jubilant celebrations from the roster.
- Bryce Harper's two-run homer in the eighth inning tied the game at 2-2, but Eugenio Suárez delivered a tiebreaking double in the top of the ninth to silence the rally; the U.S. had been held scoreless in 17 of its previous 18 innings before Harper's hit.
- Eduardo Rodríguez started for Venezuela and recorded 13 outs on one hit, after which five relievers — capped by Chicago Cubs closer Daniel Palencia appearing in his second straight game — shut down the U.S. offense; Roman Anthony swung through a 99.7 mph fastball to end it.
- Aaron Judge, Team USA's captain, acknowledged Venezuela executed its game plan while the U.S. "couldn't get anything going offensively," and outside of Harper's homer the Americans did not place a runner in scoring position all night.
- Team USA's roster, widely billed as the greatest ever assembled, stumbled early — dropping a pool-play game to Italian-American pitcher Michael Lorenzen — before sneaking past Canada in the quarterfinals and edging the Dominican Republic in the semis on two solo homers.
- The WBC has historically resonated more deeply in baseball-loving countries like Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Japan and Korea; the U.S. won in 2017 and lost the 2023 final 3-2 to Japan, when Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout to end it.
- Harper said he hopes MLB players will be allowed to participate in the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, telling reporters: "I really hope so."
Why it matters: Despite assembling what manager Mark DeRosa called one of the most talented rosters in tournament history — anchored by Judge, Harper, and Cy Young winner Paul Skenes — the U.S. fell short in the championship round for the second consecutive WBC, losing by the same 3-2 margin as in 2023 and extending a pattern in which baseball's biggest stars cannot convert international dominance into a title.
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