Daikin Park (Houston) — One more win on Tuesday night would seal Pool B for the United States and send the team through to the quarterfinals, but it won’t come easy.
And after holding on late Monday night to beat Mexico for the first time since 2006 and remain undefeated, Team USA won’t be taking unbeaten Italy lightly.
“With Mexico playing Italy the day after us, we will approach it like it’s a must-win game,” said USA manager Mark DeRosa following the 5-3 win at Daikin Park, home of the Houston Astros.
USA’s win on Monday avenged its 2023 pool-play loss to Mexico and put the host nation in a strong position to win Pool B. Boston Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony, whose three-run home run turned out to be the difference in the win, described the environment as the loudest game he has ever been a part of.
“Just amazing to get baseball like that this early in the year,” Anthony said. “And always great when you win. So, the vibes are great.”
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But with the U.S. at 3-0, Italy at 2-0, Mexico at 2-1, nothing is determined yet. The two teams in the pool with the highest winning percentage will advance to the quarterfinals.
If two or more teams have the same winning percentage, the first tiebreaker will be head-to-head record. (The team that won the most games between the tied teams will get the higher position.)
After that, it gets a bit more complicated, coming down first to the lowest quotient of fewest runs allowed divided by the number of defensive outs recorded in the games between the tied teams. The next tiebreakers are fewest earned runs allowed between the tied teams, then highest batting average and finally the drawing of lots. (Let’s hope it doesn’t get that far.)
Team USA can avoid any of those scenarios by beating Italy on Tuesday night, when 24-year-old Nolan McLean will make his tournament debut for Team USA against Rockies pitcher Michael Lorenzen for Italy.
Michael Lorenzen takes the mound for Italy against the USA. (Photo by Houston Astros/Getty Images)
If that happens, the winner of the game between Italy and Mexico on Wednesday will determine which team advances as the runner-up in the pool. That game will likely feature MLB pitchers Aaron Nola for Italy starting against Javier Assad for Mexico.
Italy’s lineup features a number of MLB players, including Royals hitters Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone, White Sox catcher Kyle Teel, Marlins outfielder Jakob Marsee and Mariners outfielder Dominic Canzone, who hit a three-run home run in a shutout win against Brazil.
Through two games, Italy’s supporting cast has helped lift the offense. Dante Nori, a 2024 first-round pick of the Phillies, is 5-for-7 with three extra-base hits. MLB veteran Jon Berti is 3-for-5 this tournament, while Andrew Fischer, a 2025 first-round pick of the Brewers, and Angels minor leaguer J.J. D’Orazio have also hit home runs.
“All these teams are good in this tournament,” said Italy infielder Miles Mastrobuoni. “It’s not just [the U.S.]. But it’s going to be fun to go against those boys, and you got some guys that you play on the same team as, so it’s going to be fun to compete against them. We’re going to give them everything we’ve got, for sure.”
Mexico hopes for another crack at USA
Despite Mexico’s loss on Monday, manager Benji Gil was pleased with the way his team battled back from a 5-0 deficit.
“If I had one word to use, I would say admirable, the way they just kept plugging away… facing, as everybody has considered, right, a super team, and yet they battled and battled and battled, and we were one swing away from tying the game,” Gil said.
Mexico came back to put the tying run at the plate with no outs in the ninth inning before falling short.
“If you want to go really in depth, we shut them out for seven innings,” Gil continued. “We shut them out for seven innings. And you change one pitch, right, you change one pitch, we’re going into the ninth inning up 3-2.”
Mexico’s Jarren Duran hits his second homer of game, trimming deficit against United States
Mexico had won the previous three WBC meetings against the U.S. dating back to 2006.
Three years ago, Mexico upset the U.S. in pool play, but both teams advanced to the quarterfinals. They nearly met again in the finals, as Mexico held a 5-4 lead on Japan in the ninth inning of their semifinal game, but a walk-off from Munetaka Murakami sent Japan through.
This time, Gil is hoping his team will get another crack at facing USA and believes the result would be different. He’ll need a win against Italy to dream of that scenario.
“You know what, I want to face them more than I want anything else in the world, how is that?” Gil said. “Unless, I don’t know what the lottery is at right now, but if the lottery is right around $800 million, yeah, I’ll win the lottery and cheer everybody from afar. But outside of that, I desire that more than anything in the world, to face them again in Miami. I think that we’ll end up 1-1 against the U.S. this tournament. And Mexico won’t lose again until three years from now.”
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