Sports

Team USA Is In A Lot Of Trouble At The World Baseball Classic

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Team USA at the World Baseball Classic

Getty Image / Daniel Shirey


In 2017, Team USA captured their first-ever World Baseball Classic. The team beat powerhouse Japan in the semifinals, 2-1, and then smacked Puerto Rico, 8-0, in the finals at Dodger Stadium.

The World Baseball Classic had its inaugural event in 2006, as baseball’s answer for the World Cup. Baseball is an Olympic sport, but due to the Summer Olympics being during the MLB season, the top players don’t play, and it’s mostly a competition for amateurs or prospects in terms of the American roster makeup.

This year’s USA team is pretty loaded, as it should be, considering the depth of talent of American players in MLB right now. The Stars and Stripes beat Great Britain, 4-0, in their first game, and looked to beat Mexico Sunday to improve to 2-0.

And, how could you lose with a lineup like this?

There’s MVP winners, batting title champions, and All-Stars galore. If that team went on the open market, the starting lineup would be well over $300 million in salary for just those nine hitters.

But, that didn’t matter, because the USA got punked by Mexico last night to fall to 1-1.

The biggest turning point of the game was this three-run bomb by Jesse Meneses to put Mexico up 8-1 in the fourth inning.

The top two teams out of the five-team pool of the USA, Mexico, Canada, Colombia, and Great Britain will advance to the quarterfinals. That means USA will likely need to win its two remaining pool play games against Canada and Colombia if it wants a chance at repeating as World Baseball Classic champions.

The Red, White, and Blue are back in action on Monday against Canada.