The World Baseball Classic has been an enormous success in its role as a part of the revitalization of America’s pastime and its cultural relevance after it fell behind sports such as basketball and football in terms of popularity.
Unfortunately for the United States, Team USA is entering Wednesday evening facing a reality where it may be eliminated from competition before the knockout stage, following a shocking loss to Italy.
At one point, the United States was down 8-0. However, the team was able to get things turned around in time to salvage a real opportunity and give themselves a better chance to advance thanks to the WBC’s tiebreaker rules, which hinge on run allowed.
The U.S. went on to only lose by a final score of 8-6, paving the following paths for the U.S. to advance to the knockout round, which all depend on Wednesday night’s game between Italy and Mexico:
USA advances in World Baseball Classic with:
🇮🇹 Italy defeating Mexico
🇲🇽 Mexico defeating Italy and scoring 5+ runsDo the Americans advance? 👀 pic.twitter.com/TXXbZRVdAD
— DraftKings (@DraftKings) March 11, 2026
Fans reacted to the U.S.’s paths on social media.
“Sooo Mexico and Italy can just whiff at every pitch for the first 8 innings then Italy punt a walk off HR to Mexico to eliminate one of the best teams in the tourney,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“I never thought I’d see Team USA on the ropes, but that’s the beauty of baseball. Italy didn’t just get lucky; they executed a masterstroke of a game plan. Now, the world is holding its breath for the Italy vs. Mexico showdown. The gap has officially closed, and the Azzurri are the ones holding the keys to the quarterfinals!” one fan added.
“Team USA doesn’t deserve to advance No after that motivational speech by Aaron Judge. The entire team should’ve defected to another country after hearing it,” someone else wrote.
It’ll be interesting to see how things play out on Wednesday evening.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.