WBC champs! Takeaways as Venezuela stuns Team USA

Venezuela has won the 2026 World Baseball Classic!

With a thrilling 3-2 victory Tuesday night, Venezuela clinched its first WBC title behind brilliant pitching performances and big hits from Wilyer Abreu and Eugenio Suárez. Despite a clutch two-run homer by Bryce Harper that tied the score in the eighth inning, Team USA couldn’t hold on, failing to bounce back from its loss to Japan in the 2023 finale.

Here are our takeaways — and the key moments — from the conclusion to yet another exciting tournament.

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Takeaways

Venezuela 3, USA 2

Throughout the World Baseball Classic, no American hitter struggled quite like Bryce Harper. So to see his storybook swing in the bottom of the eighth inning — a majestic 432-foot tying home run to dead center field off Venezuela reliever Andres Machado — felt like an indelible moment, not just in his career but in the story of this United States team that was primed to shake off its offensive deficiencies and capture a championship. It would not be. Eugenio Suárez‘s go-ahead RBI double a half-inning later proved the decisive blow and rendered Harper’s homer a stroke of greatness that simply wasn’t surrounded by enough of it from his teammates. The U.S. lost because of an offense that mustered just three hits and, aside from Harper, never got a runner past first base. It was the appropriate ending for a team that never found an offensive rhythm, a disappointment that made Harper’s swing the ultimate could’ve-been. — Jeff Passan

Eduardo Rodriguez was nails when Venezuela needed him badly. Manager Omar López said he woke up Tuesday with texts from three different major league organizations imploring that he not use their relievers on back-to-back days after he needed six to beat Italy on Monday. López didn’t reveal the teams and said he negotiated over the phone with them for clearance, but the anecdote spotlighted the pressure on Rodríguez to give Venezuela some length. The veteran left-hander, after posting a 5.02 ERA last season, delivered 4⅓ scoreless innings, shutting down one of the best lineups ever assembled and making López’s job a little easier than the previous night, when his bullpen recorded 23 outs without allowing a run. — Jorge Castillo

Venezuela has shown an uncommon level of grit and perseverance throughout this tournament, and it showed up again when it mattered most. A bullpen that had to carry the load in Monday’s semifinal stepped up once again 24 hours later, holding Team USA to only a two-run homer over the last 4⅔ innings. And an offense scrapping for most of the night came through late, just like it did against Japan. This time it was Suárez, in the middle of a lineup that doesn’t have the star power of Team USA or the Dominican Republic but is similarly deep. López expressed hope before the game that, regardless of the results, his country could be proud of this team. Its identity, he believes, matched the resolve of his nation. Now his team has won an improbable championship. — Alden Gonzalez

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