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The United States’ progression to the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic hangs in the balance, with several intricate tiebreaker scenarios potentially coming into play.
HOUSTON — In a turn of events that caught many by surprise, the United States suffered a defeat to Italy in Tuesday night’s World Baseball Classic matchup. This 8-6 loss has placed the American team’s advancement hopes in jeopardy, as they now require assistance to secure a spot in the quarterfinals.
Concluding their pool schedule with a 3-1 record, the U.S. team must now await the outcome of the final Pool B game between Mexico and Italy, scheduled for Wednesday evening. An Italian victory would position the U.S. team in second place, guaranteeing their progression to the next phase of the tournament.
However, should Mexico clinch a win, all three teams—Mexico, Italy, and the United States—would share identical 3-1 records, each having defeated one another. This scenario would trigger a tiebreaker based on specific criteria.
The deciding factor in this tiebreaker is the number of runs allowed in games between the tied teams. Thus, even if Mexico emerges victorious, the U.S. could still advance by scoring a minimum of five runs in their matchups, keeping their quarterfinal dreams alive.
Aaron Judge, who struck out in the ninth to end it Tuesday night, is disappointed that the team failed to take care of business against Italy.
“It’s the toughest thing,” he said. “You always like having your destiny in your own hands and we had it right in front of us and Italy came out swinging.”
The Italians hit three home runs in the first four innings to build a five-run lead and were up 8-0 before the U.S. got on the board.
After the game U.S. manager Mark DeRosa fielded questions about whether he thought his team had already secured a spot in the quarterfinals with Monday night’s win over Mexico because of his comments on a television appearance Tuesday morning.
In that interview he said: “Ton of respect for Italy — it’s weird — we want to win this game even though our ticket’s punched to the quarterfinals because Mexico plays Italy actually tomorrow. So, the way the schedule lines up this is an important game for us.”
In the interview room he said he “misspoke” in that segment and in a later interview outside the clubhouse he reiterated that he did not think they had already clinched a spot.
“One hundred percent… I misspoke,” he said. “Bottom line.”
Judge said the players didn’t think that they had already secured a spot in the quarterfinals and that he didn’t know about DeRosa’s television interview.
Judge added that the team will probably gather at the hotel to watch Wednesday’s game.
“It’s out of our control now,” he said. “We just need a little luck and we’ll see what happens.”
