Team USA was dealt an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Italy on Tuesday night to raise the possibility of a shocking group stage exit in the World Baseball Classic.
With a roster stacked with stars such as Aaron Judge, Paul Skenes, Bryce Harper and Cal Raleigh, the Americans were beaten 8-6 by their rivals in Pool B and Wednesday could now see them knocked out of the competition.
That is despite coach Mark DeRosa seemingly going into the game against Italy believing America had already secured its spot in the knockout stages.
Speaking on MLB Network before the game, he opened up about which players would feature in the final Pool game, revealing: ‘I’m going to get some guys off their feet… ton of respect for Italy. It’s funny, we want to win this game even though our ticket is punched to the quarterfinals.’
In reality, the WBC uses a tiebreaker rule to decide which teams progress to the knockout stages, and such was the nature of the loss, the USA faces the very real possibility of being dumped out before the knockout stages in a tournament it was heavily favored to win.
USA held a 3-0 record heading into Tuesday night’s game against Italy in Houston, but early home runs from Kyle Teel and Sam Antonacci allowed the European team into a hefty 5-0 lead early on.
United States pitcher Brad Keller walks to the dugout in the middle of the sixth inning
Italy sealed a huge shock to beat the United States and raise the possibility of an early exit
Much to the shock of the home crowd in Texas, the night got even worse for the Americans as Italy added on three more runs to make it 8-0 in the sixth.
A late rally saw the USA pull back six runs – one courtesy of another Judge home run – but it wasn’t enough, and the damage has been done not only with the loss but also the eight runs allowed.
The WBC’s tiebreaker rule states that should teams not be split in wins and losses, it will come down to runs allowed to decide who goes through to the knockout round.
American fans were left stunned by one of the biggest upsets in WBC history in Houston
Aaron Judge is the captain of a star-studded Team USA, but it was not enough to get the win
As it stands Italy is 3-0, but should they lose to Mexico as expected on Wednesday, it will leave the USA, Mexico and Italy all with a 3-1 record.
Two teams can progress from Pool B… Italy has conceded eight runs, Mexico seven, and the USA a worrying 17.
That would mean that the USA will join Great Britain in exiting the tournament early if Mexico wins and scores at least five runs. Any Italy win would send Mexico home and the US through.
All eyes will be on Houston’s Daikin Park to find out if the USA can sneak through.
