MIAMI — Team USA is headed to the World Baseball Classic championship game. The Americans knocked off the Dominican Republic 2-1 in a tense WBC semifinal Sunday night at loanDepot Park as sold-out crowd of 36,337 roaring on every pitch.
But that is not what people are talking about today. Remarks by a Yankees icon has changed the narrative.
The game ended on a called strike three from closer Mason Miller to Dominican shortstop Geraldo Perdomo. The count was full. Two outs. The tying run stood at third base. Fernando Tatis Jr. waited on deck. Home plate umpire Cory Blaser punched Perdomo out on a pitch that, by multiple accounts and Statcast data, was well below the strike zone.
The call set off a firestorm across social media. Former players, broadcasters and fans all weighed in. On the Fox postgame show, both David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez said it was not a strike. The controversy now has multiple Yankees figures past and present at the center of the debate.
Yankees great takes aim at the call
Among the loudest voices was former Yankees ace, 2007 AL Cy Young winner and 2009 Yankees World Series champion CC Sabathia.
Sabathia, who spent 11 seasons in pinstripes and won a World Series ring with the Yankees in 2009, celebrated the American victory on social media but did not hold back on the ending. The Yankees are set to retire his No. 52 later this season, a tribute to his legacy as one of the franchise’s most respected modern pitchers.
“And I don’t agree with that call to end it…ABS!” Sabathia wrote in a Facebook post.
The reference to ABS is pointed. It is not the first time the former Yankees lefty has pushed for the technology. Sabathia advocated for an electronic strike zone after blown calls in the 2019 World Series. Major League Baseball is set to introduce its Automated Ball-Strike challenge system during the 2026 regular season, one the Yankees and every other club will use, via Hawk-Eye tracking technology. But the system is not in use at this year’s WBC. The tournament relies on traditional umpiring for ball and strike calls, with replay review limited to non-strike-zone decisions.
Sabathia is not the only former Yankees icon raising the issue. Hall of Famer and Yankees legend Derek Jeter, working as an analyst for Fox Sports, said the controversial finish will likely force a change for future tournaments.
“You can pretty much guarantee they’re going to have the challenge system in place for the next WBC, right?” Jeter said. “You hate to end a game that way, but you give credit to the U.S. They not only pitched well, they hit the two home runs; they played great defense; the U.S. deserved to go to the finals.”
Fans and analysts pile on after final pitch
Sabathia’s call for ABS was far from a lonely voice. The reaction across social media was swift and furious. Yankees fans and MLB followers flooded comment sections and timelines with outrage over the ending.
Fox broadcaster John Smoltz called the final pitch a slider below the zone and noted the stark contrast between the two dugouts. His colleague Joe Davis quipped on the broadcast about whether anyone was sure the ABS challenge system was not available.
Dominican legend David Ortiz, also on the Fox broadcast, was more pointed. He questioned the umpire’s consistency, noting that calling a pitch at the top of the zone a strike against a 100-plus mph fastball and then also ringing up a low slider did not add up.
“You just hate to end a game this big, with these types of consequences, on a pitch that’s not a strike,” Alex Rodriguez said on the postgame show.
On social media, fans echoed Sabathia’s frustration. Many pointed out the irony that MLB is rolling out its ABS challenge system for the 2026 regular season but did not implement it for the WBC, even in semifinal and championship games played at MLB parks with the technology already installed. Several Yankees fans on Sabathia’s Facebook post agreed with the former ace and demanded ABS be mandatory for future international tournaments. Others argued that the Yankees legend was right to speak up even after an American victory.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan called a similar missed strike call on Juan Soto in the eighth inning unacceptable for a game of this significance. Soto reacted angrily after umpire Cory Blaser punched him out on a pitch that appeared below the zone as well. The blown calls have put extra pressure on MLB and the WBC organizers heading into Tuesday’s final.
Dominican manager takes the high road
Dominican Republic manager Albert Pujols declined to dwell on the final call.
“I’m not going to focus on that last pitch,” Pujols told reporters. “I don’t want to criticize any of that. It just wasn’t meant to be for us.”
Team USA manager Mark DeRosa, who had Yankees reliever Ryan Yarbrough on his pitching staff earlier in the WBC tournament, called the Yankees-influenced contest one for the ages.
“That will be a game that we’ll remember forever,” DeRosa said.
The Americans will face the winner of Monday’s semifinal between Venezuela and Italy in Tuesday’s championship game at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Team USA is looking to avenge its loss to Japan in the 2023 WBC final and win the title for the second time. For Yankees fans, the question now shifts to how Judge, Bednar and the rest of the Yankees contingent handle the workload before returning to the Bronx for the regular season.
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