A Victory for Venezuela

What a game.

Eduardo Rodriguez limited Team USA to just two baserunners over 4.1 innings. Three relievers held the line but Andres Machado allowed a game-tying home run in the eighth. That was Omar López’s only mistake in managing his bullpen. He had a lefty ready to face Bryce Harper after Machado walked Bobby Witt Jr. on four pitches. But López was bailed out by Eugenio Suárez, who doubled home the go-ahead run in the ninth. From there, Daniel Palencia set down Team USA in order in the ninth. The final: 3-2. Ballgame.

Venezuela are World Baseball Classic champions.

It’s funny how you can place a prism in front of a game to have it shape your view. Team USA was held to just three hits in the final—one of which was Harper’s home run. Were they tight, burdened by expectations that they were the heavy favorites once the tournament progressed to the final stages in Miami? Or was Eduardo Rodriguez and the Venezuelan bullpen simply inspired, determined to pitch the game of their lives for teammates and country? Part of that framing comes from the USA adopting a weird militaristic approach to this tournament. While others—particularly the Latin American teams—saw this tournament as not only an opportunity to showcase their country’s talents, but also to have a party celebrating those talents and baseball in general. By contrast Team USA decided on a We Are Very Serious And Shall Act As Though We’ve Been Here Before ethos. Whatever works, man. Or whatever doesn’t work.

Wilyer Abreu throws his bat into the air in an explosion of joy and the Venezuelan team leaps out of the dugout and gathers at home plate. Bryce Harper chucks his as some sort of punctuation mark…a statement of sorts I suppose, but that statement in the context of this tournament feels just kind of angry. Harper’s moment would’ve been unremarkable in the postseason. And it was very much a Bryce Harper moment. But this wasn’t October and he wasn’t playing for the Phillies. Of course Team USA gets a jolt of electricity in that moment. There were four outs to go and Harper just tied the game. It was as clutch as it comes. Yet it felt rather business-like compared to what we saw across the diamond.

There’s no right way to play the game. You can win playing an American brand of Very Serious Baseball. As Venezuela showed, you can also win playing Party Baseball. One team had passion. One team had joy. One team carried a briefcase. As an observer, I know which one I’d rather watch.

This final was an opportunity for four Royals to make their mark on this tournament. Even before that, what a great tournament for the Royals. Let’s start with the WBC MVP Maikel Garcia.

Garcia, continuing his breakout performance from 2025, hit .385/.393/.577 over seven games. He had 10 hits—two doubles and a home run—and scored five runs while collecting 7 RBIs. Oh, he also swiped three bags. And he played trademark exceptional defense at third. His sacrifice fly in the third inning opened the scoring for Venezuela. His single in the seventh inning in Monday’s semifinal against Italy broke a 2-2 deadlock.

While I followed these games closely and knew Garcia had done exceptionally well, I didn’t really give thought to him winning the tournament MVP award. When they called his name, I let out a little whoop of surprise. The stats above underscore what a complete tournament he had. While he may not have provided a “loud” moment like a go-ahead home run, he was steady, consistent and exceptional.

Also, that WBC MVP trophy is insane.

Now for El Capitán, Salvador Perez. What a moment for that guy, who, as we know and have been fortunate enough to watch in Kansas City all these years, always plays with a passion. Whether he’s repping the Royals or Venezuela, the dude is just a prime motivator, an A-plus teammate and all-around fantastic human. It was obvious what this meant to all of the players on Team Venezuela, but Salvy’s reaction stood out for me.

His postgame interview on FOX is something that will stick with me for a long time. He did quip, “Now I can retire!” when he joined the postgame desk, but he’s not going anywhere. He simply won the thing that he felt had been missing from his trophy case.

Nine All-Star Games
Five Gold Gloves
Five Silver Sluggers
Two American League pennants
One World Series championship
One World Series MVP
One World Baseball Classic championship

That’s a helluva trophy case. And a helluva case for Cooperstown.

Watching the game, I made the decision to turn the volume down on the television and stream the radio broadcast on MLB Radio. Mike Ferrin and Ryan Spilborghs were on the call and, judging from some of the comments I saw on social media during the game, I made the correct decision.

Ferrin is so knowledgeable and so prepared that he makes the listening experience informative and entertaining. He loves this game and you can hear that in his call. I wasn’t all that familiar with Spilborghs work until he joined the Apple TV broadcasts, but since then I’ve tuned into a couple of Rockies games because I think he does a fine job of providing the analysis.

Like most of you, I assume, I do not care for the FOX broadcast team. Joe Davis is milquetoast. Meh. But having John Smoltz on these broadcasts when there’s any number of ex-players who can properly analyze and celebrate the game is simply criminal. I’ve given up on them.

Announcers aside, the overall production that FOX brought to the tournament was lacking. It’s difficult to produce a live sporting event. It’s something that we, as viewers, often take for granted. I’ve worked in those production trucks. It’s high stress, constant focus and a barrage of sights and sounds.

Apart from the random camera angles, nonsensical replays, and odd jumps away from the action taken in the most bizarre moments, there were two things they missed in the postgame that were absolutely unacceptable. One, they failed to show the moment Perez lifted the WBC trophy. How the hell can you not be prepared for that? It’s freaking scripted. Instead, FOX had the high third base camera shooting a wide crowd shot behind the first base dugout. Totally random even if there wasn’t anything going on. Even worse to have that happen when Salvy lifted the trophy.

Second, they cut away from Perez at the desk when David Ortiz asked what this championship meant to the people of Venezuela. We know what’s going on in that country. They’ve suffered for years under the Maduro regime. Now there’s confusion in the country following a US raid. They are simply a pawn in a geopolitical game of chess and those who feel that the most acutely are the everyday working people of Venezuela. They deserve better. Salvy was going to speak to that, but he understandably got emotional. As that was happening, FOX cut to a random shot of a player and his family. My god. Probably the most important part of that interview sequence and the director jumps to something completely unrelated and uninteresting.

Having said that, I thought the group at the FOX postgame desk did a fine job interviewing Perez. His interview and comments will stick with me for a long time.

Ok…some Royals news. Because Spring Training is still going on.

On Tuesday, the Royals made a few roster cuts. they optioned outfielders Kameron Misner and John Rave to Omaha along with pitchers Mason Black and Ryan Bergert. Helcris Olivárez was assigned to the minor league camp. With a week or so before Opening Day, there are 50 players remaining in camp.

While I touted Black as one to watch in this space, his option was not a surprise. The Royals are working him in relief this spring so I would assume he will continue in that role for the Storm Chasers. As long as he performs as he’s capable in Triple-A, he’s probably one of the first guys up when they need to make a bullpen move.

As much as I had hoped for a fifth starter competition, that never really materialized, so Bergert gets optioned as well. Bergert made four starts in the Cactus League, pitching 9.2 innings. In that time he allowed 11 hits and three walks while striking out eight. Between him and Bailey Falter and Steven Kolek who is injured, nobody mounted a challenge to Noah Cameron. Falter does not have an option remaining so for him it’s KC or bust. Meanwhile, Bergert will go to Omaha as part of their rotation. Like Black, I expect him to get some innings with the Royals this summer.

We are entering the homestretch of Cactus League play with just five games remaining in Arizona. Here’s how the pitching plans look for the next four games:

Wed 3/18 at TEX
Kris Bubic, Matt Strahm, Carlos Estévez, Daniel Lynch IV

Thur 3/19 vs LAA
Michael Wacha, Eli Morgan, Hector Neris, Helcris Olivárez

Thur 3/19 at CLE
Noah Cameron, Steven Cruz, Jose Cuas, Shane Panzini

Fri 3/20 at SF
Ryan Bergert, Matt Strahm, Carlos Estévez, Alex Lange, Daniel Lynch IV

Estévez is an add to Wednesday’s plans from yesterday. And you can glean the process of getting these guys work when seeing the mostly the same guys who will work on Wednesday back on the mound in two days. So after a WBC where Estévez was seldom used, we will get a good look at how close he is for regular season action this week.