Team USA hasadvanced to the knockout rounds of the 2026 World Baseball Classic, and the two narratives they'll be carrying with them are a)how close they came to a mortifying elimination in pool playand b)their manager quite publicly flubbing on the rules of the tournament.
It was Tuesday whenTeam USA manager Mark DeRosa made his surprisingly fateful appearance on MLB Network's "Hot Stove."At the time, his team was preparing for a game against underdog Italy, but he insisted they were taking it seriously despite having already advanced:
"Ton of respect for Italy. It's weird. We want to win this game even though our ticket is punched to the quarterfinals because Mexico plays Italy actually tomorrow. So the way the schedule lines up, this is an important game."
As many pointed out, that statement was factually incorrect. Team USA had not clinched a spot in the quarterfinals and in fact faced elimination after losing 8-6 to Italy later that day. DeRosa admitted after the loss that he "misspoke" and "completely misread the calculations," whileMLB quietly scrubbed all footage of his error from its official channels.
The heavy tournament favoritebeing bounced in pool play after that kind of mistake would've been a tough look, but the Americans earned a reprieve when Italy defeated Mexico on Wednesday to win Pool B.
One day later,DeRosa spoke to reporters and again addressed his flub, categorizing it as him being overconfident:
"It's just an overly confident statement on 'Hot Stove.' Period. The end. It's my fault. Felt good about where we were after Mexico."
He then provided more detail on his team's mindset going into the Italy game, complaining about false narratives that his team wasn't taking the game seriously. Unfortunately, he then recalled that both teams entered the game 2-0.
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Team USA was in fact 3-0 entering the Italy game after wins over Brazil, Great Britain and Mexico.
"They played a hell of a game. They smacked us in the mouth early. They got up big. We went into that game prepared to win it. I think there's a couple false narratives out there but, no, I was well aware that we had to win that game based on all the scenarios that could take place. They went in 2-0. We went in 2-0. We knew they were playing Mexico the next day. We knew there was tiebreaker rules involved."
There is admittedly an element of "gotcha" here. People can make those kinds of errors easily while speaking extemporaneously, and few would care about this under normal circumstances. However, this "2-0" mistake clearly happened at a time when DeRosa shouldn't be giving his critics more to work with.
Also Thursday, he went on to address questions about his lineups and pitching decisions. In that case, he noted that many decisions aren't just up to him when he's managing a team full of MLB players with their own throwing schedules or who need playing time:
"I can understand the questions about lineups and pitching situations we were up against. A lot of guardrails with regards to teams. The deployment of certain relievers, how many pitches they can use, whether they can go back out, whether they can clean up innings. You're just trying to piece things together in real time."
Team USA will resume playon Friday against Canada in the quarterfinals(8 p.m. ET, Fox).