Historic defeat for the United States: they are not guaranteed a place in the quarterfinals

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Historic defeat for the United States: they are not guaranteed a place in the quarterfinals
Credit: Olympics

What a huge surprise. And I'm not talking about Bam Adebayo's 83 points with the Miami Heat…

Last night, the Americans faced off against the Italians (a team made up of players born in Italy, but also plenty of Americans who aren't good enough to play with the Americans and therefore represent another country) on the sidelines of the World Classic. The Classic can be magical at times.

A win would have allowed the US team to easily advance to the quarterfinals. But the Italians quickly took the lead… 8-0.

The Americans staged a comeback, but when Aaron Judge had a chance to tie the game late in the contest (there was a man on base with the score at 8-6), he was struck out, ending the game.

The result? The Italians pulled off one of the biggest upsets in baseball history, even though their top five hitters didn't get a single hit in the game. Nothing less!

Italy's manager also spoke of one of the best days of his life. And we understand why, since the Italian players will remember this day for the rest of their lives.

Before the game, US manager Mark DeRosa thought his guys had already qualified for the quarterfinals. But now, this morning, the US team is still not guaranteed a place in the sun. It would be a shame if the States didn't make it through, wouldn't you agree?

There is only one game left in Group B (at 7 p.m. tonight) between Italy and Mexico. All three teams can still hope to advance to the next round, and one of the three countries will be eliminated.

What you need to understand is that if Italy beats Mexico, both Italy and the US will advance. The US would finish second in their group.

But if Mexico wins, there would be a three-way tie… and tiebreakers are complex. The number of points in tonight's game will be important since it's a tiebreaker.

If Mexico wins by scoring at least six points, the Mexicans and Americans will advance. If Mexico wins by scoring four points or less, the Mexicans and Italians will advance.

And what if Mexico were to win by scoring five points in the match against Italy? Mexico would advance, and other tiebreakers would come into play depending on the points earned by Italy and the United States. And since the Italians have one game left, it's not immediately clear who would advance.

The United States got themselves into trouble by losing to Italy. They still have a good chance of advancing, but nothing is certain. And above all, the American guys are no longer in control of their own destiny.

Unbelievable, right?

Note that there are three games left in the group stage, including the match between Italy and Mexico. Otherwise, at 8 p.m., the Dominican Republic and Venezuela will face off.

It will be quite a duel.

Both teams are guaranteed to advance to the quarterfinals, but the winner of the game will not have to face Japan in their next game. The winner will face Korea and the loser will face Japan.

If the United States fails to qualify and the Dominican Republic has to face Japan in the quarterfinals, it won't be much of a final.

Finally, Canada and Cuba will face off at 3 p.m. this afternoon. The loser will be eliminated and the winner will advance to the quarterfinals.

If Canada wins, it will finish at the top of its group thanks to yesterday's victory over Puerto Rico. It would then face the team that finishes second in the group consisting of the United States, Italy, and Mexico.

So there is a realistic scenario where the US would not make it past the group stage, but Canada would manage to win theirs. That would be truly ironic, clearly.

It would be a bit of revenge for the Olympic hockey losses.

PMLB
  • Jose Berrios is ultimately not guaranteed to play in the World Baseball Classic. However, the opposite had been announced yesterday.
  • Kyle Teel was injured yesterday.

Created by humans, assisted by AI.

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