Mark DeRosa, the manager of Team USA, has had a crash course in the nuances of the World Baseball Classic’s format.
Prior to Tuesday’s unexpected 8-6 loss to Team Italy in Houston, DeRosa downplayed the significance of the game in a conversation with MLB Network.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Italy — it’s a strange situation. We want to win this game even though our path to the quarterfinals seemed secure, because Mexico plays Italy tomorrow,” DeRosa remarked to MLB Network just hours before the game unraveled into a surprising defeat.
DeRosa accurately noted that Mexico and Italy would conclude Pool B play on Wednesday in Houston. However, he was mistaken in assuming that Team USA had already secured a spot in the quarterfinals. Due to the mishaps on Tuesday, including two errors that allowed Italy to score three runs, Team USA now finds itself needing Italy to defeat Mexico on Wednesday in order to advance.
“Absolutely,” DeRosa conceded after the game, “I misspoke. That’s the bottom line.”
‘One hundred percent,’ DeRosa admitted afterwards, ‘I misspoke. Bottom line.’
Team Italy – a group that includes 24 American-born players and just three who hail from the peninsula – will square off with Mexico at 7pm EST to cap off Pool B play after the upset win
Aaron Judge reacts after striking out to end Tuesday’s game, an 8-6 upset win for Team Italy
Speaking before the Americans’ unthinkable 8-6 loss to Team Italy in Houston on Tuesday, Mark DeRosa described the game to MLB Network as something of an afterthought
If Italy does beat Mexico, the Italians, managed by Venezuelan-born former Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli, will win Pool B at 4-0 with Team USA advancing as the runner up.
If Mexico wins, things get far more complicated for Team USA because all three clubs would finish Pool B play at 3-1 with 1-1 records against each other.
The next tiebreaker is number of runs allowed in games between the three teams. And since Team Mexico has already surrendered fewer than Italy heading into Wednesday’s showdown, the Mexicans can advance to the quarterfinals with a win.
But if Mexico does beat Italy, Team USA can only advance if the former scores at least five runs over the latter on Wednesday. And even then, there are some very complicated details that could still derail the Americans’ journey to the quarterfinals.
Those possibilities, while apparently unfamiliar to DeRosa, were understood by Team USA players, captain Aaron Judge told reporters after Tuesday’s loss.
J.J. D’Orazio #28 of Team Italy gestures toward the dugout in the eighth inning of the win
Now the team plans to gather at a hotel to watch Italy face Mexico, with the hope that the former wins or, if not, somehow surrenders five or more runs in defeat.
‘It’s out of our control now,’ Judge said. ‘We just need a little luck and we’ll see what happens.’
DeRosa, a former Major League infielder who now works as an MLB Network co-host, has taken significant criticism online over his mistake. For that matter, his explanation (‘I misspoke’) didn’t do him any favors either.
‘He didn’t misspeak,’ one critic wrote on X. ‘He was wrong.’
‘Look at the lineup,’ another critic wrote after DeRosa initially benched All-Stars Bryce Harper, Cal Raleigh and Alex Bregman. ‘It was 100% made with the idea in mind that USA didn’t need to win this game.’
Others preferred to look on the bright side for DeRosa: ‘Dude will never be a manager again but he’ll make a fantastic politician after this debacle.’
MLB has removed the clip of DeRosa’s misstatement from its website.
Team Italy – a group that includes 24 American-born players and just three who hail from Lo Stivale – will square off with Mexico at 7pm EST to cap off Pool B play.
