PTI - Venezuela Defeats USA in WBC Championship Thriller

Episode Date: March 18, 2026

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss how the USA team lost steam in WBC Championship game, what a possible Miami OH loss would mean, and who you got in the Final Four! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon. It's our last show until Tuesday, Tony. How are you going to spend that five-day weekend?

I'm Tony Cornheiser. Golfing, napping, looks maxing. Golfing, napping. What? What? What is that? I've had it explained to me. We are much too old for this, but it is what young men do now to maximize their looks,

including things like take those hammers and bang in their cheeks with those hammers and stuff like that. What? What? What? That is a pluck stuff off their head. I see, plucking I get. Yeah. It was metrosexual behavior at one point is what it was called.

Right. Looks maxing. Yeah. Making this up. I'm not making it up. Well, I'm reading it, but I'm not making it up. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, Max Crosby, speaking of maxing, was living.

Miami of Ohio is an underdog, and Wilbon and I talk brackets. But we begin today with Venezuela winning the world baseball classic last night by beating the United States on a go-ahead run in the ninth inning three to two. Bryce Harper had tied the game in the bottom of the eighth with a two-run homer. But U.S. reliever Garrett Whitlock walked the first batter, Louisa Rice, who was then removed for pinch runner Javier Sanoa, who promptly stole second and scored on Gino Suarez's double. The U.S. went out one, two, three, and a ninth. Wilbon, was this about Venezuela winning it or the U.S. losing it?

Venezuela winning. They manufactured a run when all the pressure was on. They manufactured a run after they could have been crushed by Bryce Harper's home run a half inning earlier. They manufacture, walk, stolen base, score on a double to the gap. No, that's classic National League baseball. They won it. They took it. Yeah.

And so, I mean, you know, both teams came through in the clutch to a degree. Both teams played hard, my man. They did. The U.S. could reproduce it in the ninth. But wow. Okay. This was appointment viewing for me. as it was the entire tournament.

I really enjoyed watching it. I don't think, honestly, Mike, that anybody can be shocked that Venezuela won this game. Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, the United States, they're all very, very good. Star-driven. Right, and this was a one-game situation.

Now, Venezuela is really good. They're loaded with major leaguers, and they had the home crowd in Miami last night. Now, it is possible. I don't know that. It's possible they wanted it more than the U.S. players, but I will say this, having watched it, in this tournament, Venezuela beat the United States. The United States beat the Dominican Republic, and the Dominican Republic beat Venezuela,

so I don't exactly know how you separate them. I am confident of what I'm going to say now. The United States did not hit. They had 15 runs in the first game against Brazil. They had nine runs in the second game against Great Britain, and they played harder teams. They had five against Mexico. They had six in a loss to Italy. Nobody did a bull against Canada.

Then they had two against the DR and two last night. October baseball. In March? They hit, well, I don't know. They hit a lot of home runs, but they didn't have rallies. I don't remember an inning where the United States had, say, four hits. I don't remember an inning like that. And last night, Aaron George, who you love, struck out thrice.

And Kyle Swarbrough, who you love, struck out thrice. They didn't hit. It's called pitching. I know you've forgotten what it looks like. Because not only does your local team have none, but the whole damn league has none. Because we get to October and they throw out this thing called a bullpen day. But it's not like last night. Somebody went seven or eight.

That's not what happened. There were bullpen pictures. Okay, but they did that because basically contractually and in terms of health, their teams don't want to. That is good. Yes. I don't want to see arms thrown out before. And by the way, Cubs Closer, Daniel Palencia came in and said, get out of here. get out of here, get out of here.

I'm hoping that works for him all season and my Cubs. Here's what you're completely right about. That, you know, that ending is what baseball is about. You go ahead early, you get tied, you score late. That's the way you win baseball. And if you need the manufacturer because you're not going to wait on an Earl Weaver inning to run Homer, you do it.

Venezuela. And they're as good as the United States line up. Yes, and so is the Dominican Republic. I'm just saying the United States did not hit. Their run total got progressively lower as the tournament went on. But you know what? For the tournament, they averaged seven runs a game while Venezuela was averaging going into the 6. Don't give me averages because there's 15 and 9 in the first two.

Don't get me averages. Because you beat bums. It's the first round of the tournament. Give me averages. You're beating nobody. You're beating the directional school. Don't go there. Great Britain.

Don't go there. I mean great players you know from Great Britain. It's not good Britain, baby. It's great. Let's move to the NCAA tournaments. Where Miami of Ohio takes the court tonight against SMU in a playing game between 11 seeds, Miami wasn't beaten this season before losing the UMass in their first game of the Mac. But while the Red Hawks are 31 and 1, they're listed as underdogs against a 13-loss SMU team.

Turn when the Miami loss tonight affects how you see their season. Mike, I do not expect Miami to win this game. You don't. I think if Miami beat SMU, it would be an enormous. upset. Wow. Yeah, no, Miami. It's a home game. It's in Dayton. Miami did not play team as good as SMU all year. They played a very, very weak non-conference schedule. They're in a league that is a lower-tier league. I understand

lower-tier leagues. The Mid-American is not in the same world as the ACC. They're not. Now, I don't say that it would affect if they lose, it's not going to affect how I view the season. It's really not. Because they were 31 and 0 going into their tournament. Can you list anybody else other than the Yukon women who are 31 and 0 going into their tournament? No, because you can't do that. Let me go to my notes here. It's an insult to put them in a play-in game.

It is small-minded on the part of the committee. They were 31-0. And okay, they didn't play tough teams. But Mike, they don't go into each season looking for the national championship. They're not Duke. They're not Michigan State. They had the schedule that they had, and they were 31-0. And by the way, for people who think that folks are just ringing up these men of America schools to play them among the power of schools, they're not.

No. They're not. Can it be exaggerated, the intention of teams when you can be exaggerated? But no, the big boys don't want to play these schools. And if they do this, okay, you play seven games at our place and we'll give you one in 2003. And that's how that goes. Right. Having said that, it's going to affect the way I see it.

It is. It just is. Really? I think they can win tonight because that game is at Dayton. Tony. Yeah, I don't. Tony, that play, Dayton sold out and that crowd is going to be with the Red Hawks tonight. They got a shot.

Are the people coming up from Ponyland from SMU? Well, they got enough money. They do. They got enough money if they want to. They'll have two or three private jets with eight people apiece. I don't know. No, that's going to be a pro crowd. I think Miami.

of Ohio should be applauded even if they lose by 50. I think that they've had a great season. I think for the next 50 years in Oxford, Ohio, that's going to be celebrated. The next 50 years. 31 and 0. You're not going to be able to reproduce it. I don't think. We'll stay with the NCAAs.

The first group of playing in games saw Howard beat UMBC and Texas get a buzzer-beater to beat NC State. Howard moves on as a 16 to play Michigan. Texas moves on as an 11 to play BYU. Wilburne, you can talk about these first two games if you want. But my real question here is, what is your final four? All right, my final four, and I've only, I filled out two brackets, but I have the same final four. Michigan State, Houston, Arizona, and Michigan.

So you have two big ten and two big 12? I do. Because they were the best two conferences. That's way too chalky for me, historically. But I'm looking at last year, and I'm influenced by what we saw and wondering if that's a trend. We talked to our friend Jay Billis about that year. Well, he didn't think it was a trend. He didn't think it was going to happen this year.

He didn't. But I don't have four number ones. I don't have that. Right. But then I have Arizona winning. And part of that is wishful thinking. I want Arizona to win. But I'm looking at it and also thinking Arizona could lose his second game.

I'm wondering if any part of this tournament goes straight in 1990s and gives us some upsets, right? And you look at Thursday, you're looking at your TV screaming out loud. Yeah. But those are my four. I can see any four of those. I can see any one of about eight teams winning. How about you? Well, first of all, let me say that I watched a lot of UMBC Howard last night.

Because U.N.B.C. represents my conference. The America East where champions rise except for last night. And Howard was in control for almost all of the game. At one point, they were up by 14 points. UMBC was great in the last three minutes. They hung in there, man. Got it to two in the last minute. And then Howard made a shot and they won so good for them.

It's hard for me to give you a final four. I get this wrong all the time, and I'm embarrassed how stupid I am. But let me tell you who I want to be in the final four. I want Duke to be in the final four, and I don't always feel this way. I want them in the final four because they're hurting. They've lost two starters, and they are in an impossibly hard bracket. Here's who's in the bracket with them. Michigan State, who you like.

Yukon who won, hello, two in a row a couple of years ago. Kansas and St. Johns, that's a killer bracket. I'm not sure Duke is going to get out of that. If I had to pick an upset, I'd pick St. John's. I have St. John's beating Duke, but I worry about St. John's in its second game before they can even get to Duke. I like Arizona like you do. Yeah. I like, you know, I'm not going to be surprised if Michigan State or Iowa State or somebody like that got in.

I am influenced this year by having watched all these good teams play each other the last three weeks. It's been great. Right. So that's why I don't see somebody coming from far off the rail. No, dark horse. No, I don't. So you don't see an 80s or 90s. No.

Who do you see? Who's that team for you? Tony, I've been looking for it. You always talk about BYU. I'll tell you what. Yeah, but they got their second best players hurt. Okay. And so if that kid with the headband was in with DeBanza,

then I might want to go with BYU because I saw them when he was playing. I like Gonzaga. I like St. Mary's. I'm going never win. I'm going to give you a team. I got winning three games and I can see going all the way and upsetting somebody and winning. Winning. Winning.

The University of Virginia. Really? Yeah. But that's because your wife right there. No, no, no, that's not because of that. This is your domestic appeal by saying that. No, I watched them all year. Let's take a break. You know it is, Cheryl.

You know it is. Let's take a break. Coming up, Max Crosby reveals how he felt about the trade the Ravens backed out of. Why are you looking against Thomas Jefferson School? The PGA tours miced up in the new series, what's the word? You don't think it's slightly pretentious that the decal says the university? Slightly pretentious? More pretentious that they say my first year as opposed to my freshman year.

Do you think Penn can beat Illinois? No. Illinois is good. Yeah. Illinois is like Virginia. They need a break, but they could go to the final four. They could. It is time to show off our spectacular vernacular.

What's first? Max Crosby's experience during his visit with the Ravens sounds blank. Weird. Like, totally weird. Max Crosby went on his own podcast, asked and he talked about this the other day. Some of the things he said were he didn't see Eric DeCosta,

the Ravens GM, for five hours. He shows up at Ravens' facility. They examine him physically, apparently give him an MRI, and he doesn't see DeCosta for five hours. This makes him nervous. Excuse me. He talks to the head coach,

the new head coach, Jesse Minter, and he says that Jesse Minter that was sort of cold between them, and Jesse Minter was talking about him physically and what they were looking at and what they were finding. He begins to freak out because he thinks, do they want me? What's going on here? He says, I don't want to have another operation.

And finally, he concludes, quote, I am where I'm supposed to be. I wasn't supposed to be in Baltimore, and that's it. I meant to be a raider, unquote. It's weird. It's just weird. It's just weird. It's just weird.

Very clumsy. The Raiders did this in a clumsy manner. Well, I... Not the Raiders, the Ravens. Yeah, see, I got a different view on this. First of all, every word that Max Crosby spoke, I believed it. that it was sincere. He had a sense of humor about it.

Max Crossby seems like the kind of guy. If you're going to pick somebody from a team, you don't even know across the country to go to dinner where they'd be Max Cross. Really? Yeah, he just seems like just a cool guy to sit around and listen to and talk to. But I think this is the rest of his career.

I think this is the rest of it. This is foreshadowing. That Max Crosby is going to have to deal with this because that knee ain't right, okay? And so people can't... So you no longer want him for the Bears? I told you I didn't want him for the bears anyway because I told you before I was not trading

two ones or one of the two for Max Crosby and I love him. No. And so we got to the point where they tried to do this. And what we got now, Tony, is a great athlete who's going to be lesser because of an injury. And that's foreshadowed. So we're going to get two

or three teams sadly like this. You want him to go to dinner with but you don't want him to play on your team. Not for two ones. Next. The PGA tour getting the NFL Films treatment is blank. Validation. That's validation, Holmes. Yeah. And this is what happens when you

hire as a PGA tour commissioner somebody who worked with the NFL. Brian Rolap, in charge of media for the NFL. Okay, so then you understand the impact of NFL films, and you understand it right away. And so the first big tournament he's involved with, the players tournament,

he goes out and he gets four guys. He gets Akshay Batia, right? And he gets Siwu Kim, and he gets Chris Goderup, and he gets Ricky Fowler, who everybody loves. He mics them up. He mics up their caddies. He follows them for four days.

I watched the first 10 minutes this. The best thing I've ever seen on golf, because that's what NFL films does. They will make these people human, and they will make them stars, and one week, Mike, they'll get lucky, and they'll get the winner. A little bit behind the curtain.

Ed Sable and Steve Sable, Ed is the father, Steve, the son. We don't have them anymore. But they created NFL films. and they are two of the great storytellers in the history of sports. That's right. The lines that some of those things have,

the autumn wind is a raider. And the cameras that would catch Lawrence Taylor picking up some linemen, he just ran past saying, son, y'all got to do better than this. It just, they stayed out of the way. They let these stories unfold. They're going to do it with this.

Did you see the Batia thing? What Patia said to his caddy, he asked about a particular woman said, she's got a sandwich for me. you see or would you get the sandwich? This is... It's the stuff they let in. The editing, the film, the storytelling.

What is your word? My word is validation. It is confirming. It confirms everything you do, and it makes it grander. It makes it greater. Confirmation homes, too. By the way, can I speak of golf for a second? Did I get it right on bed sheet golf? Did I get both teams?

Yes, I got L.A. and I got Jupiter. Yes. I play bed sheet golf. I won't watch. That has to be the final word. Let's take one last break. Still to come, your boy. Alex Caruso, extends his wingspan with his left shoe. That was funny.

The WNBA season will go on after a reported agreement on the terms of a new CBA. Who do you have in the finals of Bedsheet golf? Who you got it? Who's left. Is Tiger still standing? Tiger's team is still standing. Tiger does not play. You got Tigers team?

Yeah, what the hell. I'm going with L.A. Who's on that team? Which, the L.A. team? Justin Rose, I believe, is on L.A. team? Justin Rose is on L.A. team? I think he's on L. Can't Justin Rose find a team first?

further east, closer to where he's from and live. Happy time, people. Happy 35th birthday, J.T. Real Muto. Jacob Tyler Real Muto declined to leave the Phillies as a free agent this off season and re-signed in Philadelphia for three years and $45 million. Real Muto was drafted by the Marlins in 2010, spent five seasons in Miami before being traded

to Philadelphia in 2019. He's been a three-time All-Star catcher and a 270 hitter. Last year he played 134 games for the Phillies, who once again won the NL East. I said on this show that I believe the Phillies everyday lineup is the best in baseball. But after reaching the World Series in 2022, the Phillies have been successively eliminated by Arizona, the Mets, and the Dodgers in the National League playoffs. And in those cases, the Diamondbacks Mets and Dodgers may have had lineups that were equal to or slightly better than the film. So, yeah, so Philly still hangs up there at the top of great lineups in baseball.

But doesn't mean that's single very best. The greatest lineup now is the Dodgers. The Dodgers, no doubt. They win. They actually win. Happy anniversary, Steve Nash. On this day, 33 years ago, the freshman point guard hit six straight clutch free throws to lead 15-seed Santa Clara past two-seat Arizona.

Santa Clara became just the second 15-seed to win a tournament game since the expansion to 64 teams in 1985. The first was Richmond, beating Syracuse in 1991. Since Santa Clara, there have been nine more incidents of a 15 beating a two. Most recently in 2003, when Arizona again went down this time to Princeton. Nash came off the bench in this game, and then as we know, went on to a Hall of Fame career in the NBA that included two MVP's, but no rings. Okay, I'll just refer to earlier. Wasn't the tournament made great by game sequences like this?

Yes. Where you had people who, nobody knew Steve Nash then. And this Canadian appears on your screen dropping shots. It was exciting. It made the tournament. The one for me? What? Danny Aange.

Danny Aange going coast to coast. That's right. For me, it was Danny Aange. Happy trails to a Tristan de Silva shot. The magic forward was driving last night when he was confronted with Alex Caruso swiping at the ball with his left shoe that had fallen off. The shoe deflected the shot attempt, and Caruso was called for both. with goaltending and a technical foul.

Caruso told the Oklahomaan afterwards, quote, I didn't know it was going to be goaltending anatech. If I would have known that, I probably wouldn't have done it because that's three points, unquote. No matter, the Thunder ended up winning the game by five, their ninth straight victory. Doesn't it seem like the Thunder have taken a look or listened to all the noise about San Antonio

and said, I'm sorry, who's wearing rings again already and who's not? Can I ask you a question? How is that goaltending? can see it a technical. Well, because you prevented a basket. Isn't gold tending above the rim? In this case, you, you, you, goal tending? Rule it in.

Swiping at it with a shoe, really? Come on. Happy trails to a WNBA labor stoppage. The league and players have agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement, so the season should move forward is scheduled in May. The new deal gives the players an average revenue share of 20%, increasing the salary cap from $1.5 million to $7 million, and the average salary from $100,000,000, and the average salary From $107,000 to around 600,000.

That's like by five. The deal still needs to be ratified by the players. Your reaction to this news? The players will ratify it. And congrats to leadership on both sides for understanding this needed to get done. Okay? You can't have a missed season. To me, Tony, that would have been catastrophic.

I'm glad to hear it's going from $100,000 to 6006 times. It's deserved. Good. I'm not saying it's not deserved. I'm saying that is a jump of by five. five times. So everybody, that's like two days paying. And the richest people are going to get millions of dollars, I would think.

Let's go to the big thing. Let's do it. Let's do it. We'll both miss at least a week, which is the bigger deal? Anthony Edwards, I mean, Milwaukee, I hate to say it. I mean, they're irrelevant now. Minnesota is relevant. Say a Suzuki's knee injury is minor.

I'm relieved. Aren't you? I don't care. I'm glad you're relieved. You're Mr. Cubb. I mean, I'm glad for him. So starting right field to 100 runs better in? Crosby returns from his lower body injury tonight against a hurricane.

Is that a big deal? The Penguins are just clinging to a narrow margin of playoff entry. So it's a big deal. NFLPA named J.C. Treter, really? It's new executive director, your thoughts? Wasn't he involved last year when it went south? Yes. So I'm a little surprised.

I'm a little surprised. Last one. 16 seed play in tonight, Prairie View A&M versus Lehigh. Who you got? All right. So I'm going to root for Prairie View, but I'm going to give you a nod here. They should not be putting Free review in the plane.

Put those ninth place teams in the SEC and the big team ACC. Don't punish a 16th place. Texas and NC State was the right way. We're out of time. We'll try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Corrin. Nice ending, too.

Mike Wilbon here. We're off until Tuesday knuckleheads.