WBC 2026 winners and losers: USA whiffs but this tourney was best ever
WBC 2026 winners and losers: USA whiffs but this tourney was best ever
Gabe Lacques, USA TODAYWed, March 18, 2026 at 5:10 AM UTC
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It’s pretty standard operating procedure at the conclusion of each Olympic Games that the IOC empty suit du jour presides over the closing ceremonies and decrees it the greatest Games ever.
Well, that might not be a stretch for this sixth World Baseball Classic, an event on an undeniable upswing yet only as good as the action between the lines.
Suffice to say it was pretty great, with Venezuela providing a jolt in all of its knockout games to ensure the event did not peak with a semifinal pitting Team USA against the Dominican Republic.
Nah, it was good to the last out, redefining narratives for players, teams, countries and the event itself. With that, a look at the winners and losers from this WBC:
1 / 0See United States and Venezuela battle for WBC championship
Ronald Acuña Jr. #21 of Team Venezuela reacts after hitting a single in front of Bryce Harper #24 of Team United States during the first inning at loanDepot park on March 17, 2026 in Miami.
WinnersWBC legitimacy
Even the grumpiest ball fan has to acknowledge the event is pretty compelling. At the same time, while the games may be riveting, the stakes can feel a little empty: Players opting not to participate, insurance concerns taking out other stars, and pitchers coming and going from the squad (was that Jeff Hoffman accepting a silver medal?) to remind us that this is, in fact, the middle of spring training.
But Venezuela’s taut 3-2 victory over Team USA in the championship was as legit as they come – because the Venezuelans played it that way.
Their bullpen had to absorb 7 2/3 innings to get by Italy in the semifinals a night before. And yet with no days of rest, relievers Eduard Bazardo, Angel Zerpa, Andres Machado and Danny Palencia handled back-to-back duty, adrenaline in October mode despite it being mid-March.
That’s not great for the body, necessarily, and we wish those young men the best going forward. Yet by working out the details and getting the OK from his relievers’ major league clubs and managing the game of his life, Venezuela manager Omar Lopez added significant heft to the event.
Wilyer Abreu
No shade to WBC MVP Maikel Garcia, but Abreu turned around this WBC with one swing of the bat – a three-run, sixth-inning home run in the quarterfinals against Japan that flipped a 4-2 Venezuela deficit to a 5-4 lead.
It’s not easy taking out the defending champions and three-time titlists, but Abreu’s shot off Japan reliever Hiromi Itoh flipped the entire complexion of this tournament. And Venezuela rode the momentum all the way to the championship game, where Abreu’s homer off Nolan McLean staked them to a 2-0 lead in their eventual 3-2 win.
Abreu is very quietly a fantastic all-around player, a two-time Gold Glove winner for the Boston Red Sox who amassed 3.2 WAR in just 373 plate appearances last year. Entering his age 27 year, it’s not a stretch to say a star was born.
The Kansas City Royals
They were all over this tournament – from Garcia’s heroics and Salvy Perez’s gravitas for Venezuela to Bobby Witt Jr.’s head-turning plays for Team USA and Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone crushing longballs, pouring espressos and doling out pecks on the cheek in the dugout for Italy.
Perhaps there was no greater WBC beneficiary than Caglianone, who had a very nice 4-for-14 showing with a .500 OBP in five games. Few players have more raw power, but Caglianone was bedeviled by too much swing-and-miss a year ago. Perhaps this is a nice springboard for his sophomore season.
Roman Anthony
A good tournament for the Red Sox outfield. Anthony’s homer was the game-winner in the semifinal epic against the Dominican Republic and he earned all-tournament honors with a pair of homers, seven RBIs and a .920 OPS. Perhaps more significantly, the 21-year-old was the designated “rookie” on Team USA, forced to procure and lug around an oversized radio and, we imagine, fetch a few cold beverages.
Yet this was an appropriate environment for Anthony, reunited with Alex Bregman for a couple of weeks while also gaining a dozen or so big brothers from whom he can sponge knowledge.
Anthony is going to be a superstar. Being around such talent – and balling out – should only accelerate that process.
Team Canada
Just stunning that they’d never made it out of pool play in four previous WBCs, especially since Canada typically ranks right behind the Dominican and Venezuela in providing major leaguers.
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Yet the curse was broken by knocking off a WBC blue blood, Cuba, to reach the quarterfinals. They gave Team USA a significant scare before falling 5-3 in the semifinals.
With more young talent on the way – imagine Jonah Tong as staff ace in the next WBC – to join the Naylor brothers and other stalwarts, this should only be the beginning of Canada’s upswing.
ABS challenge system
Perhaps you were on the fence about it as full implementation begins with Opening Day next week. Perhaps you’re a little more willing to appreciate its upside after the WBC semifinals.
LosersTeam USA
There’s no getting around it: When the rest of the world is having the time of their lives and you’re as tight-lipped and taciturn as a drill sergeant, the only acceptable outcome is a championship. It’s simply not worth playing Squidward while every other country is Spongebob unless you win gold.
We’re not going to get too deep in the psychoanalysis, though. It’s baseball, single-elimination baseball, no less, and outcomes may not necessarily reflect a deeper narrative.
But they say that if you feel good, you play good. And just about every time the Fox cameras panned to the USA dugout, it seemed like nobody felt good.
Mark DeRosa
His LinkedIn could be framed one of two ways:
Led Team USA to consecutive championship game appearances.
Or: Lost consecutive gold-medal games by one run.
Hey, it’s tough shepherding the greatest collection of global talent this side of Santo Domingo through a finicky pool-play round and three knockout games when there’s only one acceptable outcome. Also unenviable to juggle egos and expectations while minding the whims and worries of a couple dozen major league teams who care less about the WBC than a mid-May game in Yolo County. And keeping up with tiebreaker scenarios.
Aaron Judge
Judge is not nearly the playoff loser many believe him to be (The left field foul pole at Yankee Stadium is probably still ringing from the ALDS). Yet the man was anointed the captain of this team and while he did crush a pair of longballs, he came up small when it mattered most – a single in eight at-bats and five strikeouts in the semifinals and championship.
Similarly, snippets of his address to the team that hit the socials probably weren’t indicative of his leadership in a macro sense. Still, he was the tone-setter on a team where the vibes simply felt off – even as the squad insisted to a man that they loved being around everybody.
Olympic baseball
Really.
The WBC’s biggest upside is the big-tent atmosphere – from the working-class Czechia squad to the star-studded clubs of the Americas, there’s truly something for everyone in this 20-team bazaar.
And that’s what will make a six-team Olympics feel a little less inclusive.
There will be no Canada and no Puerto Rico, to name two – Venezuela and the Dominican and the USA, as host country, will account for the Americas portion. Feels smaller already, even if big leaguers are more free from pitch counts and other limitations.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: WBC winners and losers: 2026 was best World Baseball Classic ever
Source: “AOL Sports”
