Commentary: Venezuela wins historic 2026 World Baseball Classic

Team Venezuela celebrates after their championship win over Team USA. (Credit: Getty Images)

With the World Baseball Classic (WBC) coming to a close, there was a lot to talk about this year. 

Venezuela took home its first WBC championship, Italy emerged as a contender and drama surrounded the United States. This year really had it all.

The Venezuelan team started off its historic run picking up three convincing wins against Israel, the Netherlands and Nicaragua.

The last game of the group stages for Venezuela did not go as smoothly as they suffered their only loss of the tournament against a ferocious Dominican Republic team. 

Their 3-1 record set them up with a difficult first round matchup against the defending champs in Team Japan. Despite the tough draw, Venezuela would pull out the win thanks in large part to a three-run shot from Wilyer Abreu in the top of the sixth. In the semifinals, Venezuela faced the red-hot Team Italy.

Against an Italian team that looked dominant up to that point, Venezuela's bullpen would dominate going seven and two thirds without giving up a run, securing another victory to send them to the finals. 

In those finals Venezuela would play the odds-on favorites to take home the championship in the United States but thanks to a top of the ninth double by Eugenio Suárez, Venezuela would dig out a dramatic win to secure their first championship. 

Maikel Garcia won the WBC MVP award, boasting a .385 batting average along with one homerun and seven RBIs.

If you told most baseball fans that Team Italy would come out on top of a division that featured the United States as well as a scary Team Mexico, they might look at you funny. Italy started off by steamrolling Brazil and Great Britain, but their real test would come against the United States. 

They were able to win an intense ball game thanks in large part to two errors committed by the U.S. and this win, along with a blowout against Mexico in their favor, netted them a playoff spot. In the first round they would come up against a formidable team in Puerto Rico, but Italy would bear down and win 8-6. In the semifinals though, they would run into the aforementioned Venezuelan team where they would fall short.

Team Italy came out of nowhere for a lot of fans and their success had a profound impact on Italians all around the world. With more and more great players coming out of Italy, like Vinnie Pasquiantino and Dominic Canzone, expect this team to be even tougher in the future.

Coming into this tournament the team to beat was definitely the United States. Front to back their team is filled with MLB-caliber talent. The lofty expectations looked to be rightfully placed early on as they breezed past Brazil, Great Britain and Mexico in the group stage.

In the fourth and final group stage game against Italy however, manager Mark Rerosa would make a mistake that could have cost the United States (USA) a playoff berth. 

Thankfully for him, this never came to be, but you could sense a seed of worry being planted in the team. The Americans would then pick up a win in the first round against Canada on the back of four and two thirds' innings of no run ball from Logan Webb. 

Their reward in the semifinals would be the star-studded Dominican Republic team headlined by Juan Soto as well as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. USA would win a hotly contested one with a final score of 2-1. This win sat mostly on the shoulders of Roman Anthony who hit a huge one run shot to win the ball game. 

Their finals matchup would of course, be the eventual champions in Venezuela. 

American fans were not happy with the outcome and you have to wonder if the pressure got to the team.

This was a stellar World Baseball Classic. Something fans look forward to and it delivered: elite teams, countries to cheer for and high-level baseball.