The World Baseball Classic plays it fast and loose with nationality, even by the standards of ordinary sporting events. Despite the urge to romanticize each element of baseball, this works out to be a broadly neutral-value statement. Lineage, the possibility of citizenship, and legacies of colonialism are how teams like the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Italy have filled out their rosters. They are also how the viewer encounters such concepts as Team Great Britain captain Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Team Italy captain Vinnie Pasquantino.
Which is to say that loose nationality rules in a baseball tournament don't really matter, but can ultimately be very funny. The plethora of Italian-Americans on Team Italy made the team's surprise 8-6 victory over Team USA that much more amusing. Here are some familiar guys—Italian ace Aaron Nola! Italian up-and-comer Jeffrey Alan "Jac" Caglianone!—putting the beatdown on some superstars. It arguably would've been even funnier if the Italians lost to Mexico on Thursday to eliminate the U.S. from contention entirely, but it is a sporting event, after all.
"You're welcome, USA," Pasquantino, who hit three homers, said after the game, looking directly into the camera. (He also elaborated on what he hoped to receive from Kansas City Royals teammate and Team USA member Bobby Witt Jr. in thanks: "I'm hoping he's got a room key for me at his hotel.") No one can deny Pasquantino's commitment to the Azzurri: He also played on Team Italy back in 2023 and has reportedly been evangelizing the team to all the Italian Americans he encounters in the league, to evidently great success. Not only are they winning, they are also having fun.
If an Italian player hits a home run, they chug a freshly made dugout espresso shot (reportedly Lavazza, which is better than, say, Nescafé) whilst draped in an Armani suit. Pasquantino bequeaths not only cheek kisses in the dugout but also, in the locker room, a bottle of wine to the MVP of each game. It's a charming scene. Should a group composed predominantly of spunky Italian Americans, who have escaped the "Front Toward Enemy" clutches of Team USA and unlocked the ability to have fun elsewhere, not try to to win everything?
Team Italy continued its success in its quarterfinals match against a generally hamstrung Puerto Rican team on Saturday. Like most WBC games so far, it was defined by offense. Willi Castro led off the game for Puerto Rico with a home run off Sam Aldegheri, the first Italy-born-and-raised pitcher to make it to MLB. But from then on, it was primarily Italy's show. The Italian bats followed Castro up in the bottom of the first by walking and singling Seth Lugo out of the game, scoring four runs total in the inning.
The Azzurri scored four more runs in the fourth, this time via walks and doubles, which turned out to be crucial, as Puerto Rico threatened to walk and hit-by-pitch its way to a comeback in the top of the eighth inning before eventually being stymied by Greg Weissert. Italy would win the game 8-6, cinching a spot against either Japan or Venezuela in the semifinals. (Losing to Italy 8-6 ... Everyone's doing it!)
The ultimate joy of tournament baseball is that anyone can win. Take the truism of baseball variance and tack on the helping fact that the WBC takes place during MLB's spring training, when the vast majority of elite pitchers are not fully stretched out, and it becomes even more true. In his post-quarterfinals interview, Pasquantino erroneously excluded Venezuela, who were facing defending champion Japan, as a possible semifinal match-up, which he later attempted to rectify.
It was good he did so. Fueled by its bullpen, Venezuela would go on to upset Japan 8-5 during a Yoshinobu Yamamoto start, thus securing a spot against Italy in the semifinals. So one side of the bracket has the Dominican Republic vs. the United States, and on the other side, Italy vs. Venezuela. It truly can't get a whole lot more "anyone" than that.
