HOUSTON — Team USA is headed to the World Baseball Classic semifinals. But not the way anyone imagined.
The most talented WBC roster ever assembled needed Italy to bail them out of pool play. They needed a throwing error to break open Friday’s quarterfinal. And they needed David Bednar to strand the tying runs in scoring position in the seventh inning against a Canadian team that started a pitcher who had not appeared in the big leagues since 2015.
The United States beat Canada 5-3 on Friday night at Daikin Park in front of 38,054 fans. The result punches their ticket to a semifinal showdown with the undefeated Dominican Republic on Sunday in Miami. But the performance raised more questions than it answered about a WBC team that was supposed to be running through this tournament.
A bumpy WBC ride from the start
Team USA’s WBC path has been anything but smooth. They beat Brazil 15-5, but it was an 8-5 game heading into the ninth. They trailed Great Britain 1-0 through four innings. They needed a late push to beat Mexico 5-3. Then came the stunning loss to Italy that nearly sent the Americans home.
The Italians saved Team USA by beating Mexico in the final pool play game. Without that result, the WBC quarterfinals would have gone on without the Americans. It was the first time the U.S. advanced to a WBC knockout round without controlling its own fate.
Against Canada on Friday, the pattern continued. The top four hitters in manager Mark DeRosa’s lineup, Bobby Witt Jr., Bryce Harper, Yankees captain Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber, combined to go 2-for-15 with two strikeouts. A WBC roster featuring three players who hit at least 50 home runs last season has produced just seven dingers in five games. Meanwhile, the U.S. pitching staff has served up 10 home runs, tied with South Korea for the most allowed in this WBC.
How Team USA built and nearly blew a 5-0 WBC lead
Judge got the Americans rolling early with a first-inning double. The U.S. extended the lead to 3-0 in the third when Alex Bregman hit a grounder that Canadian third baseman Abraham Toro fielded and threw over the first baseman’s head, allowing two runs to score.
“If we’re going to win this tournament like we all believe we’re going to, it’s going to take more than home runs,” Judge said. “If there’s times where we’re not getting home runs, we’ve gotta play small ball, we’ve gotta move runners, we gotta do different things just to create some offense.”
Starter Logan Webb delivered 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out five on 71 pitches. The WBC bullpen relay initially held. Brice Turang and Pete Crow-Armstrong added RBI singles in the sixth to push the lead to 5-0.
Then Canada struck back. Tyler Black singled home a run. Bo Naylor crushed a two-run homer. Suddenly it was 5-3, and the WBC crowd came alive. The U.S. pitching staff had allowed yet another big inning in a tournament where no lead has felt safe.
Bednar’s escape act saves Team USA’s WBC hopes
The seventh inning got ugly. Bednar allowed back-to-back singles to Edouard Julien and Otto Lopez. Then catcher Cal Raleigh, who did not allow a single passed ball in 1,072 innings for the Mariners last season, let one squirt by him. Canada had two runners in scoring position with nobody out. The go-ahead run was at the plate.
Bednar locked in. He got Josh Naylor to pop out. He struck out Tyler O’Neill. He fanned Owen Caissie to end the threat. It was the biggest WBC moment of the tournament for Team USA.
Garrett Whitlock retired Canada in order in the eighth. Mason Miller struck out the side in the ninth to finish it off and send Team USA to the WBC semifinals.
A loaded Dominican Republic awaits in the WBC semifinals
The reward for surviving is a date with the hottest team in the WBC. The Dominican Republic destroyed South Korea 10-0 in seven innings on Friday, with Yankees catcher Austin Wells hitting a three-run homer to enforce the mercy rule. The Dominicans are 5-0 and have outscored opponents 51-10.
Their WBC lineup reads like an All-Star roster: Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Manny Machado, Ketel Marte and Junior Caminero. They lead the WBC tournament in runs, hits, home runs, walks, batting average and OPS. Paul Skenes will start for Team USA on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 after dominating Mexico earlier in the WBC with four scoreless innings and seven strikeouts.
Clayton Kershaw, who was added to the WBC roster in hopes of a farewell appearance after retiring from MLB last fall, is heading home without throwing a single pitch. Every game was too close for DeRosa to give him the ball. Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman will replace him on the roster for the semifinal round.
Team USA has the talent. Nobody disputes that. But five WBC games into this tournament, the Americans have yet to play a complete game. If they cannot figure it out against the Dominican Republic, the 2026 WBC title will slip away from a team that was built to win it.
What do you think?
The US has just as many all stars as the DR but can’t seem to produce. As Judge said in the article, we have to play a little small ball in generate runs, which I haven’t seen to this point. Case in point last night up 5-3 in the eight, Tuenge lead off walk PCA up, instead of sac bunt to move runner in scoring position with top of order coming up, first pitch DP two outs. Witts grounds out two pitches later. Good thing Miller was all heat. Gonna need “A” game with Skenes tomorrow for W. If they win who gets the ball in championship game?