Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Venezuela Crowned World Baseball Classic Champions!

Episode Date: March 18, 2026

Save on essentials. Save the everyday with Amazon. URL: https://www.amazon.com   Coach Trev and Talkin' Jake recap everything from the World Baseball Classic Live from Loan Depot Park! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to talking baseball. We are live. Venezuela is the best baseball country in the world. Let's talk ball. Oh, my God. Ranger Suarez. I mean, Eugenio. So, Noah.

Suarez and Suarez. Oh. Folks, hello and welcome to a very special edition of Talking Baseball. in Miami following the world baseball classic final game brought to you by Amazon save on essentials and save the everyday people if you're new to talking baseball this is going to be a funky one we're in the building at a Venezuela national pride party we're hoping to be invited by the end of this if we do a good enough show they're literally on the field behind us

Uncle Rob is giving out trophies. You can hear the crowd. It's one of the most special nights in sporting events I've ever been to. I'm going to give you a quick thank you because this is insane. And then I'm going to kick it to my coach, my QB1. And that's who the crowd is cheering for right now. Trevor Bluff. Trevor Pluth.

How are you? I'm doing great. You hit it, man. This is one of the most special nights of baseball I've ever been a part. of you know look was I rooting for the US yes but when you see all these passionate Venezuelan fans come out and support their team the way they did I mean like I'm so happy for them yeah you just can tell how much it means not only to the players but all the fans here that came out to Lone Depot because the energy

all night was just so good and we talked about the the fans we talked about the Dominican fan base we talked about the Venezuelan famous all the fan bases came out in the WBC and really showed out. Like, I know Venezuela won. I'm happy for them. They're getting their medals right now. But the sport of baseball, like, how cliche am I right now? Nice.

The sport of baseball won. It did. Dude, everybody's talking about this. This is awesome. They deserve it all. Go Venezuela, go. Yeah, and I guess let's aim wide and then we'll get into the game, hardcore probably, because Trevor Plouf kept score the whole game.

He has it in front of him. I just want to say for Venezuela, as again, you hear another roar from the crowd. We were in our media area. You guys know that we're not really media, but we're doing whatever the hell we're doing. We were near some Venezuelan media and broadcasters, and we talked to them yesterday before their semi-final game against Italia, and they were like, hey, we're the only baseball power that hasn't been to a world baseball classic final. And I kind of did a head tilt.

I was like, I'm thinking of the powerhouse as a baseball. We kind of go U.S., Japan, DR. I don't feel that way. I think there was a comma, and then it's like, Venezuela's really good. That's over. And you saw it in the fans, you saw it in the players, like Salvador Perez, you've been saying build a statue for that.

guy we might as well just build it now Miguel Cabrera is getting more he's crying on the field like this is amazing this is amazing can I give you a back in my day yeah back in my day it truly was I mean it's the U.S. it's the Dominican and it's Venezuela like Japan just started their powerhouse reign over major league baseball with Otani Yamamoto and a bunch of guys that have come over So, like, they're kind of new to the game, not the international game. Correct. They've been a powerhouse in that throughout the WBC. But Venezuela, I mean, it's always been a proud baseball culture, obviously.

We've seen so many guys. I mean, one of the first guys that I was starstruck to meet in baseball was Johann Santana. Yeah. He's like, came up a twin, and he's a god there. And he's out there also, like, giving back to his country. it's I'm so happy for Venezuela I really am I'm disappointed for the boys of the USA team but you just you could just feel how much it means to everybody yeah and I we're we're gonna cover a lot and a little in the same episode because we could if you start zooming out

we could talk about baseball for the next four hours like we could we could talk about the different loves and passions of the different countries and everything I saw in the past three days of being here. That's the beauty of this sport and what the WBC has turned into. You can talk about Venezuela and the passion they had as a fan base. How intense yesterday's game was, because they kind of knew if they could get here how much that would mean for Venezuela. And then in today's baseball game alone, what took place on the field that I think

we have to start talking about that? because if we keep doing big picture stuff, I don't know, man. I saw my guy Glaver Torres, who was the prince who was promised with the Yankees, and then he was kind of dislike because he couldn't play shortstop. And then he had highs and lows as a hitter in hustling.

Seeing him get respected by his people like that was awesome. Seeing every player on Team Venezuela, now entering, like, legacies. And I don't know. I think normally we make fun of sports media for that talk because that's like first take the next day, right? What happened to their legacy? And we're like, we don't do that here.

Every Venezuelan player on the field is a hero. They are. I'll tell you who's a hero to me. You can start getting into the game. There's been a lot of talk about managers in this WBC. I'm good, a lot of bad. I'll tell you this right now. Omar Lopez, you manage.

How do you say butt in Spanish off? Kulo. You manage your Kulo off, Boppy. Cabuso. I love every move that he made, man. Whether it was pinch running for a rise with Sanoha, whether it's putting Jimenez there as a defensive replacement for Glaver Torres. I like the way he constructed his lineup where it was like almost,

he went top heavy and bottom heavy. And the middle was like, hey, man, like Zeke Tover obviously went off. I think he did. Do you get named MVP? I don't know. Something just happened behind us. He was going off. But if you look at the lineup, the middle of it with Glaibert Torres and Zeke Tovar, those are probably the worst hitters in the lineup. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. So he just did everything the right way. His bullpen moves. Everything worked out.

Omar Lopez deserves so much credit for how this game ended and this tournament went for Venezuela. So he was the most surprising guy I got emotional about because I didn't know I had feelings for Omar. Lopez, but who he represented as a manager, like the stoic face until the final moment where he couldn't be stoic. And yeah, he goes down as a legend. Let's start talking about the game because on paper, hey, that Venezuela lineup, I don't know if it's underrated anymore. Well, it's not underrated anymore.

But coming into the game, Venezuela, the DR, the U.S. on any given day could have the best lineup on the field. Jackson, Juario, batting knife, who's going to go 30-30 this year. Salvador Perez, who's going to have statues made about him, hitting 8th. The Contreras brothers on the bench who might both be all-stars this year. So this Venezuela team can bang with anyone that we come out into this game. But what we do see is starting pitching. And we see Erod, who's kind of been missing off the season.

seen for a little bit. He's signed with the D-backs. He's had a lot of injuries. He hasn't been that kind of like nice game pitcher for Boston that got him his contract. Going against Nolan McLean, who best sweeper in the game, young upstart stud pitcher for the U.S. On paper, the starting pitching matchup looked like it favored the U.S. And we kind of saw this versus Skeen's first Severino. It almost, it didn't play out that way. It didn't play out. that way at all. I mean, you go back to the skeins and Severino. I think Severino was the nastiest pitcher I saw all tournament long. That's not a joke. That's not a joke. It's not a joke. It's not. What Sevee looked like on the mound was filth. Because this tournament

brings out so much adrenaline and just passion. It's crazy. E-Rot, I put this tweet out there because I faced the guy, okay? Oh. A lot. And my numbers aren't good against them because he's a guy that's around the zone so much that he gets you into swing mode. But he's not giving you good pitches to hit. He presents him as good pitches to hit, but it's got this late cut. It's got this late fade. He's on the peripherals of the zone.

He's like, he does not leave things over the middle of the plate. So he just, you know he's going to throw strikes. Tonight, one walk over four and a third, one hit, four Ks. And he just, he makes you. you walk back scratching your head. How am I O for three against this guy? He's one of those pitchers. He did that again tonight.

Just kept everybody, you know, off balance. I'm looking at his line right now. I mean, went one, two, three, one, two, three. He gave up a base hit to Terang. So face 10 batters through three. And just, again, I don't know if they were expecting to get four and a third out of him. But they did. And then that makes Lopez's job so much.

easier to go to the bullpen because now he has a ton of options and less outs to cover. I mean, Erod, I mean, I know there's some other guys that had big moments in this game. We're going to get to that, but I think he might be the MVP of the game when it's all set and done. If you really think about it, the length that he gave and provided for them, I mean, it can't go understated. So I'll overstate. I never know how to use that. I don't know how to use that either. I think chewing through some of the game. I debated writing a burn for the game,

but there's too much going on, people. It's too much. It's preseason. Why don't you just do a little dance right now? We can't be doing it. There was a lot of dancing. I wanted to be Venezuelan tonight. I think, I mean, the Latin culture is so,

the Latin baseball culture is so fun. And I know we talked about that a lot in the U.S. being so boring, which like, I don't, I kind of agree with now. I don't know. I think we need to land the show. So we talked about it. McLean, first pitch single to Ocuna Jr. Here we go, it's happening.

Double play ball. Out of it. Erod, one, two, three. Judge, not happy with a call. Normally when Judge does that, pretty dang good about it. Looked like it was a strike. But it was like a perfect pitch. McLean gets through the second.

Erod gets through the second. In the third. Sal Perez, single. Yep, seen that before. Just, you know, let's talk about the single, a little, doke-doke trying to pull the ball hits off the end of the bat past Harper but I have seen that a lot from

Sal he gets those knocks man he swings the bat pops yes he does it gets by Harper single Trurio do it I can't do it right anymore to Urio Juio that's what was going over the loudspeaker expect that on talking baseball all year yeah Ron Ocunia Jr.

Walks after being down 1-2 and the count battles back and then Michael Garcia No, well, we talked about how funny it would be if Sal stole third base. Yeah. Because it was first and second. I'm like, is Sal going to steal third? Obviously not.

I think what I told you was it's great that you don't have to worry about that. Right. Pass ball. Second and third right like that. Second and third. Mikel Garcia, who's amazing this tournament. We might have showed you on screen if he won MVP. We're still not sure.

Sack Fly. Rob confirms. Mikel Garcia won it. Okay. Yes. Sack Fly gets the first run. on the board. And then with that inning rolling,

a rise comes up who, hey man, I feel like I've spent all offseason and I can give you a Jake. I was going to call it a Chris Rose speech. I'm going to call it a Jake speech. I feel like I'm evolving in front of people. Venezuela, having Luis Arise and Eugenio Suarez, the two guys who

struggled this free agency to get their contract, even though they do the hardest thing in the sport, hit the goddamn ball. Whenever they were up in this, this game that was the biggest threat for the USA I mean Ronald Cuni Jr. whom that's a whole other deal that's kind of what I mean about this lineup of the construction of it it's it's so interesting because you have Louisa Rise who doesn't ever strike out hitting behind a Cooney and Garcia guys that are

have put together excellent careers and seasons last year and then you got Sauras it's a guy that strikes out a ton it's like I don't know like they just the way he stacked this lineup it was just so spread out and like It just felt like there was no, there was never a room to breathe in it. Yeah, and I, not to, not to come at our guy. Like you mentioned, like Tovar being in the middle of the lineup, if you know all these guys resumes, you're like, that doesn't necessarily smell right. But who he was in this tournament, literally won MVP.

Like it's, it's, it's. Sovar didn't win MVP. We just said that. The left side of the infield. Tovar could have. He was great. How many guys on the team could have legitimately won MVP? How many guys on the team could have legitimately won MVP?

guys on the team legitimately could have won MVP for Venezuela. Wheel, yeah. Is it the whole tournament? No clue. We don't know either. They did well. We're new here. Here's what I'll say.

I've tried to do this with, I'm a coach, I coach youth baseball. I've tried to do this with my lineup where I'm like, you know what? If we just, if we have like good hitter, bad hitter, good hitter, bad here, it doesn't work out. I'm not saying these guys are bad hitters, but there's just something to the flow of this lineup that I like. I keep looking at him like, he's on to something here. Yeah, you know why you like the flow of that lineup?

It's a fucking All-Star team. That's true. That's why you like the flow of that lineup. You would not stack the lineup like this. No, no, I think it's- You wouldn't start the lineup like this. John Smoltz would not stack the lineup like this. A traditional manager would have Salvador Perez hitting for Tovar or even higher. Like, I know exactly what you're saying.

And hey, man, I've, we've had some weird future baseball conversations where I've talked about Hey, if you have two outs and your nine hole hitter up, does it almost benefit you to have your nine hole hitter to get out so your lead off hitter comes up with a clean inning? Hey, man, I've got theories too, Poppo. Depends your lineup. It depends your lineup. Anyways, fast forward to the fifth inning.

Erod again continues to be nails, strikes out, judge. Can we talk about the Venezuelan two-strike chant? Ponce. Ponche, ponche. We're bringing that. I'll bring it the twins. Hey, we're going to do it. No, you're not taking it.

I'm not doing it. Here's who I'll tell you who should take it, the Chicago Cubs, who their closer is Daniel Palencia, who is a star of this tournament and is Venezuelan. And I can't believe a baseball team hasn't stolen this. It's one of those almost bizarre things that were all on the internet, but a lot of people found out this tournament about the two-strike, Ponce.

It's one of the most daunting things I've seen in sports. Like, that's an advantage. It'll dome you up as a hitter for sure. You're like, oh, I don't want. You know what? It's like in the minor leagues, they would do like Taco Bell K-man of the game or something like that. And you're like, I'm not going to, I am not striking out. You think about it so much, you end up striking out.

You get punched. Yeah. Top fifth. Nolan McLean's still in, which I'm trying to get in our heads like, He was banging sliders, and he was, dude, he was throwing fastballs 98, 99. So I guess he looked good. There's one run on the board, and you're sending him back out for an inning where you don't know how you're going to necessarily get through the game.

But Wheeler-Aryu jumps him. He goes 414 to center field, and he's a guy that we've, I feel like we've talked about a lot, whether it's Red Sox or underrated players or like almost who is this guy? Because you look at the stats every year and you're, is he one of the best, if not, like, the guy on the Red Sox? And yet you think about him as guy number five on the Red Sox. But man, this tournament, he was incredible.

And he shows why, like, this is Venezuelan baseball, dude. This guy's a dog, him screaming around the bases without his helmet. When it became two nothing, I think everyone's eyes got whiner. Yeah, you start counting the outs. Look, this USA offense did not perform well this tournament at, all. I keep saying it. The big games they had were against Great Britain's back end of their bullpen. Brazil's back end of their bullpen. Anybody that had like legit major leaguers coming out of the bullpen, they just, they didn't, they didn't perform. They didn't, man. And so you could look

at this game and you could look at the U.S. tournament and say, hey, the starting pitching actually did their job. The pitching in general did their job, but the offense didn't show up. So when it gets 2-0, it becomes, I kept saying it, like, we need a homer. We're not stringing together three hits. In fact, how many hits do we get? We got three hits all game today. So you're not going to string together these hits. It had to be a walk, had to be a homer.

And I don't know if you want to skip to that, because that's kind of where it gets to. So, yeah, I mean, we should give some players love along the way. Like, Brad Keller comes in, he looks good. Erod gives it to Bizarro, which I'll be. I was surprised to see Bizarro because I didn't fully know the Venezuelan pitching path to victory, but like Bizarro, I think people probably remember him from the postseason. Like that guy, and it's probably a topic we talk about after because a certain level of pitching is really hard to score against.

And like where Bizarro is currently at in his career, that's a guy that's really hard to score against. Budo comes in. Yep. who seemed like one of the connector pieces that maybe USA could get into. Harper gets a single off him in the 6th with already two outs. Judge Grounds out to third. Ain't Zerpa needs to be mentioned because that guy. He was nails all tournament, yeah.

Was the best lefty reliever in the tournament? Watch out for him this season if you know where he's at. I think I'm going to call him Zerpa. Zerpa. Yeah, I'm going to try to do some real nice Spanish enunciations this year. Okay, I think you'll be better at it than me. I'll try to join the party. You just try your hardest, okay?

I just, I dance with the people. That's true. You have better rhythm than I do, I think. Talking isn't really what I'm good at. It's part of the irony in the name. I'd say when we hit the eighth inning, we're at a point where every... It's dire straits, bro. Both fan bases are in fierce.

still like Venezuela has two runs, but they know it's still tight. That in the top of the eighth, a momentum changing moment, Griffin Jacks comes in, Air Force Academy, salute, cheerio. I'm still not doing it right. Chu Rio. Ronald Ocunia Jr., who is the biggest crowd changer, because he's one MVP, he grounds out, Michael Garcia gets out, one, two, three inning from Jacks, Momentum shifts. Machado comes in. Pitch the day before. He's been pitching a lot.

Well, Machado comes in with two outs. So he comes in after Roman Anthony gets out. He gets Will Smith to pop up to second base. So then he goes and sits down, comes back out, gets two quick outs, Terrang and PCA, two outs, then you get the top of the lineup. So you don't love that. You'd rather PCA somehow ground into a double play with one out and nobody on. I'm trying to make fun of you. Didn't work. Didn't land right there. Bobby Wood Jr. comes up. What is this?

Ends up walking. Right. And two out walks. How often do you see it, Pop? And, you know, I think a lot of U.S. fans were, and we'll get to U.S. fans and their complaints. Bryce Harper wasn't having the best tournament. And, you know, the off-season quote of his GM saying he's not a lead anymore. Him and Judge were kind of the one, two, I mean, literally the two, three in the lineup,

but kind of the first two guys they got looked at with this U.S. team. And in their biggest moment, two outs, the setup guy for Venezuela, Machado, and Harper goes, big fly, it's 432 to center. And by the way, we talk about the combination of pimping homers and playing it cool. if you want to see someone do it perfectly, Bryce Harper in this moment, an amazing bat flip, but still calm, composed, and cool,

that it's two to two. And now, the U.S. Say something about this. Please. Bryce had some interesting comments about, it's not the Olympics, you know, whatever, whatever.

And then we got people talking about this doesn't mean as much as the World Series. Have you ever seen Bryce Harper do that around the bases, bro? I haven't seen him do that. I've seen him do similar. You got to watch the bat. He threw it 50 feet in the air.

Dude, he never does stuff like this. I know. And he also like stops at third base to salute the crowd. No, you're not wrong. But I want to give, I want to give credit to the Latinos for like allowing Bryce to do this. Wow. Like they've opened it up. Watch this bat flip right here.

They walk so Bryce could run. He's never going to do this. this and look at this he's never going to do that I mean so like I do think that there is a time in a place for big time celebrations guess what that's a place for it right there dude so that was I think I'm a little horse in my voice just from that moment alone I was screaming jumping up and down because we were waiting for something like that. If you're rooting for the U.S., you knew it needed to be a big homer, the guy who, like, you know, was one of the faces of the team,

ends up giving you that big moment. And at that time, it's two outs. You get the tie ball game. You got Aaron Judge up, and I was thinking, right. This game could end an eight and a half. It could end an eight and a half. Judge could go big fly there.

We get three outs. The game will be over before you even knew it. Then, Switzerland, fans would be. absolutely stunned. And it's one of the things I, so all the passion and everything we talked about with Venezuela, and I talk about this with pitchers throughout the year, it's the most impressive things pitchers do, we're both hitters. Machado gives up a two-run homer that might have lost his country, the biggest thing that's

happened in their baseball lifetime. He strikes out Aaron Judge on four pitches. Yes. Yo, you want to, I didn't have a lot as an athlete. Whatever pitchers have to do that, I do not have. If you shake me up in that moment, it's over. And Machado strikes out judge, ends the inning, and it brings us to the top of the ninth.

Garrett Whitlock comes in, which I don't know how much of a conversation is there. They said Mason Miller wasn't available. I mean, that is a, so when you tied the game up and you're the home team, That is a time where you bring your closer in. So Mason Miller has been Team USA's closer. Clearly, like, he's one of, if not the best reliever in all of baseball. The statistics on him are insane. 39 of his last 50 hitters.

He struck out. It's crazy. But they said he wasn't available. Even with the day of rest, he wasn't available. But Whitlock was so nasty against the game against the R. We thought he might just come back out for the ninth thing. Closed that thing down. I had no problem with him being in the game.

Yeah, like if Miller's out, your only argument is Tyler Rogers, who I give a very passionate speech about Tyler Rogers because of how good he is. But Whitlock was as nails and as impressive as him that I think he's the guy. That if Rogers had came in and he loses the game, we'd probably be saying why not Whitelock. So that's kind of like your spell check on that, which now brings us to the Amazon game saving play. powered by Amazon, just like Amazon is ready to save the day when life throws you a curveball. Let's dive into the game-saving moment from tonight's WBC final game. And of course, it starts out. This is insane.

Louisa Rice, who I gave my passionate speech about who guy was hunting for a job, but he's one of the best hitters in baseball. He walks. What? Just spitting on pitches, not flinching, lead off walk, Pinch runner, Sanoha from the Marlins, who up until this point of the game, he had been the biggest cheerleader in the building.

Like, not being rude to my guy, and he doesn't care right now because he's got a gold medal around his neck, and he can do whatever he wants in Venezuela for however long he wants. His job was pumping up the crowd. Who is there outfield? It's Acuna Jr., it's Wheelier, and it's other borderline all-star player.

Acuna. Turio. That's who I miss. Abrayo. Yeah. So he's behind those guys. He's not coming in the game unless he has to run. He steals second.

Throw my beat him, coach. Great slide. I mean, he stole second base. It was almost like a Dave Roberts, Boston Red Sox moment. It went through my head. You knew he was going. Yes. And Terrain does a nice job.

Like with the replay, like I I thought he was out, dude. I really did. I couldn't tell, and people would comment, I don't know. Did it stand or was it confirmed? Because the uppires were trying to talk to us, and of course it didn't. I think it stood. Okay.

So I think you'd have some ground to stand on. I'll be very interested. Man, it's so, it's so close. I'm sure Jimmy's already chopping up the side by side to it. If he was called out, it would have been very interesting to see if he could have been called. I personally think safe. You'd have to see both angles synced up. It's just so close.

It doesn't matter. They get the stolen base. They review it. It stands. And this is where you saw me. I laughed in live time because the hitter at the plate is Eugenio Suarez, who guess what? His approach doesn't change at all. There could be bases loaded.

There could be nobody else on the field. He's going to try to do the same thing every time. A lot of hitters. in this situation now, especially working the counter 3-2 and say, hey, man, I just got to get him over. Eugenio is not one of those guys. That's not an exlexicon. He doesn't know what get him over me.

I don't think he knows what the right side of the field is unless he is late and hits it for a homer. He works a count, and I don't love the 3-2 pitch from Whitlock, change up, because he did get him to chase on a few fastballs up, ends up just hanging a change-up and you got to give credit to Gino because it's not an easy pitch to be on even though it was right over the heart of the plate

still being on time for that and he just absolutely hammers that thing into the gap I wonder if Sanoa scores if he's on first base because Pete did a good job cutting it off I think the stolen base Oh I don't think he's if he's on first I don't think he scores I mean you don't know how the end of it

there's zero outs at this point which again thanks to our partners at Amazon shop Amazon, save on essentials and save the every day like Venezuela did. And Eohenio on second base, pointing to God, pointing to Venezuela. I don't know, but passion that you don't find in a lot of aspects of life. Now talking about the momentum game, there's a runner on second and nobody out. And they get through it. Whitlock gets Jimenez to fly out.

Rogers comes in. Tovar, they intentionally walk a brayu. I didn't love that in the moment because if big Salvi runs into one, the tournament is over for USA. Salvi runs into one. It's a liner to left. It never got too scary, but it was a ball hit decently. But Anthony's under it.

That brings us to the ninth. In comes Daniel Palencia, who has been, I mean, that guy has an MVP argument. He did not give up a hit this tournament. That's insane. So that's good. He strikes out Kyle Schwabber, Anderson pinch hits for Bregman. Schwaber, I don't think he was nursing anything,

but the way he was swinging tonight looked like he was nursing something. He was so quick and out of the zone, it was not his typical swing. It just looked too, too quick. The only other thing, maybe, I don't know, what I would say is you pointed that out to me, and it was like, that swing doesn't look like Schwerber's best swing.

It's also March that like, I don't know, he can be a streaky guy. Like maybe his swing's just not in tune. I guess I'll be interested to see if there's a follow-up on that. He strikes out. Gunner Henderson comes in for Bregman. Kind of one of the decisions that had to be made into this game. He comes in. Welcome to facing the guy who hasn't given up a hit in the tournament.

Pops up on the second pitch. Roman Anthony comes up. The crowd, I don't know. what sporting events you've been to, I don't know what moments of chaos you've had in your life. It's far and few between that they were what the

crowd was at that moment. I don't know if young Roman Anthony really had a chance because he was up against I don't know. If I was Chris Rose I'd say he was up against a country in like 100

years of baseball history. I mean it felt that way and he went down in four pitches. And he still looked relaxed up there, but he gets his doors blown off, essentially. Let's play it. And so did everyone. So like that's not.

I mean, it's a hundred moving this much, armside run. I look at Gino, man. It wasn't, you know what, man? It was incredible. I kind of like put my head down at first because I wanted the U.S. to win. I've been rooting for him. You know, I love my country too.

but just listening to the crowd and seeing how much it meant to these guys it's I ended up smiling oh I ended up smiling of course hey it was it was it was an awesome moment to be a part of for sure they Venezuela let's keep it on Venezuela because one there's something to Salvador Perez and some of the loudest catching gear you could wear without the umpire saying something with Venezuela across it. There's something just badass about that, just who that guy is and what this means for his country,

what this means for him, what that means for him catching the final out. Miguel Cabrera in the dugout for this team as one of the hitting coaches who's an absolute top tier legend of baseball. I guess with the DR and Pooholz, like those guys, we could debate them at a bar for the rest of our life,

who you'd rather have. In a way, them playing at the same time has hurt like each other's legacy a little bit because they're just two of the top five right-handed hitters ever? I'm not good with lists like that, but yes. I know, I mean, look, but they are. Like, that's it. I still say McGee's my favorite right-handed hitter I've ever seen.

I'm not saying he's the best right-handed hitter I've seen because Judge obviously has an argument. The statistics are there with him, Poo-holes, but McGee's swing and his approach. approach and just like the demeanor in the box like there's nobody that I liked watching more than Miguel Cabrera and I've said this before on the show he's the only person well now there's show hey he's the only person before show hey that opposing teams would go out early when they were visitors at Comerica Park to watch him hit BP guys would go out and just watch him hit

BP because he was so methodical with the way he did it I mean we're just kind of trying to wax poetic about Venezuela but man I mean go up and down that coaching set Victor Martinez yeah Johan Santana I love that Robinson Cherino's the bench coach like he wants to be a manager one day we got an door brother because of course we do yeah yeah let's start putting a bow on Venezuela and I think there's you know we can go up and down the board I think something that's going to get overlooked as we We've talked about how great this Venezuela. The pitching won it.

Yeah. Like there's one, quote unquote, bad pitch by Machado, that Bryce Harper, one of the best players to ever play the game, it's for a home run. Otherwise, the pitching was amazing. Bizarardo, Budo, Zerpa, Machado, Palencia, all following Erod. They're pitching throughout the tournament had been incredible.

I think the thing I want to talk about, Trev, and sometimes, you know, I get nervous about this just because I'm nervous about myself. the Italy-Venezuela game last night, A, the loudest I've ever seen a game, because 95% of the stadium was Venezuelan, not a joke. And they were tense. Yes.

Like, I didn't love that I was wearing an Italy hat, A, a little bit stolen valor by myself. Like, I got some grandparents that came off the boat. I mean, that's the entire Italian baseball team. But I was rooting for Italy harder because before the world baseball classic. John Boy Media was like, hey, let's cover this. Who should have Italy? Jakey. Yeah. So you also love pasta. I'm in a crowd. So does Venezuela, the third largest pasta eating population. Venezuela's, what? What's going on there? Where are you eating pasta at? I'm in a

crowd of 32,000 rowdy Venezuelans. I'd say more, coach. You gave you gave 5% to Italy. I don't I don't think my percent was here. That it was anxious. Like when DRU.S. was happening, there was kind of like a pleasantry in the air. Like, if we play this game 10 times, probably both sides win five. So let's enjoy it and let's see what happens. Venezuela against Italy was like, yo, we cannot lose this one. Absolutely.

That it was tense until they took the lead. drums came out and then the vibes were high that for them for to have it end in this you're I was I was grinning ear to year this did feel more like the DR yes USA game because I do feel like that's a great point I think it was like hey let's just see what happens where you're right like we need to be Italy we cannot lose to Italy and doesn't hurt that they got out to a early lead too right you know that that kind of soothe the crowd a little bit but They were still as loud as ever. And where we're at, we were just surrounded by Venezuela.

What do you think the crowd was tonight percentage-wise? I said 80-20. I think 80-22. Maybe even more. Although the only counter, I would say, after that Harper-Homer. It was loud. Yeah, maybe you're right. You know what I'm saying?

Like, the U.S. fans, and this is also heavy wears the crown, the U.S. is the only successful tournament for the U.S. was winning the whole thing. Yeah. You know? Like, I know that's on, like, the Olympics just happened.

We've talked about the Olympics. But that's not just the U.S. It's true. Like, the D.R. is extremely disappointed. They didn't win. Japan, extremely disappointed they didn't win. So, yes, that doesn't have to be targeted at them. Let's put a bow on Venezuela a little bit.

We talked about their depth a little bit. Contreras brothers, Big Sal, figuring that out. Andres Jimenez became a defensive replacement. That guy's got a contract. That guy's the starting shortstop for the defending AL champs. He was good with what he was doing. I don't know. This team is as good as any team that was at this tournament. Absolutely. I mean, and I think they believed it. And we did, I will say like some of the coverage that we were doing you know actually no we said there's four teams that we like a lot who's like the dark horse after that we said Venezuela we said Japan we said the Dominican we said the US

I do think of those four teams I think we had the Venezuela fourth and when you look at this lineup it's more like a 1A 1B 1C 1D when it goes through it I do think that Japan had the least amount of majorly baseball players. Right. Because every single person on this team is on a majorly baseball team. Every single person on the Dominican is on a majorly baseball team.

Same with the U.S. So, I mean, they deserved respect on our name, and now there's immense respect on the name. I just feel like there always has been. I don't want to say that we didn't do it because we did. We respected what Venezuela can do, and obviously they showed it. So I got some stuff on the U.S. Yeah, we, unfortunately.

I fortunately think we have to end there. I do want Venezuela's bullpen, quarterfinal semi-champions, 18.2 innings to earn runs, that Harper Homer. That was it. What? Say that again? 18.2 innings to earn runs.

And the entire tournament? Since the quarterfinals. Oh, my gosh. And so the elimination games. They had dogs coming out of there. And as we've seen with baseball, and if we want to talk philosophical stuff at the end, how good bullpens can be.

It was interesting. Coming into a lot of these games being like, yo, are we going to get the high scoring one today? I thought we were. When everyone comes out of the bullpen and throws 98, it's really hard to have a high scoring game. And like ticking up too because the adrenaline is so high. Nolan McLean, his seven fastest pitches were tonight.

Okay. Congrats to Venezuela. Let's change the note a little bit. Let's talk about USA and Trev. I'll kick to you because just being real with the people, you do have extra heartstrings in this. You played for Team USA twice. Like that's just different.

Whether whatever aspect of life or involvement or you're on your couch proud to be an American, you wore the jersey. Once you play international competition, you know what it means. It's a selfless brand of baseball. I've said it before on the show. And look, we had the squad, we had the pitching. We just didn't come through offensively.

And look, yeah, a lot of it is tipping your cap to the pitchers who are always ahead of hitters in spring training. We know that. And then in this tournament, it proved to be the same thing, especially when the U.S. was up. I mean, six base runners total tonight, three hits. We had the good swing by Bryce. There was a couple times where I thought we might see Cal Rale.

I know we didn't have a great tournament, but you have some righty-riding matchups with Will Smith, and I hate doing that to Will Smith. But I would have liked to see Cal Raleigh. When was that? That was the seventh. Roman Anthony gets a walk with two outs. We're chasing two runs.

We know we need a homer. Cal Raleigh had 60 of those motherfuckers last year. Excuse me. I was looking for Cal to come up. Look, I understand. He's off the bench. Probably doesn't do that a lot. hasn't had a great tournament.

But like if you need a homer, I think Cal's your guy there. We did not get that. We kind of asked for Gutter Henderson a little bit. We ended up getting that in the ninth. But that was like really the only move where I was kind of questioning it. I wanted Cal in there. But other than that, I think we just got beat, dude.

We just got beat by their pitching. That's it. McClayne did a fine job. Our bullpen came in and did a fine job. You know, Whitlock gave up that, you know, you walk in a lead off hitter. It's never good. How often do we talk about that?

Gives up the 3-2 knock to the Suarez. Other than that, man, it's just a tip-your-cap type of game for the U.S. And I think, what are you supposed to do? You assembled an incredible roster. Like, I don't, we were going through that today when we were at the Key Biscayne Yacht Club with our guy Javier Sanchez. Okay. Okay, kind of.

Shout out. Changing my reputation in the streets. I was a man of the people. Now look at me. You had a couple of Guinness at the Yacht Club. I didn't need those Guinness for lunch, but happy St. Patrick's day to everyone. And we can't forget our guy's name, Cody. Cody.

Cody was asking, who would you rather have on the team than who we have? I don't know. We're like Moogie Betts. We're talking Freddie Freeman. We're talking to Matt Olson. We kind of had guys at those positions. So, like, yeah, you might be able to come up with a few guys, but this is our squad. This is our squad.

Like Nick Kurtz, we said, was one. Like, I would have him on the roster so he gets some experience so he could be the starter in three years. But this is our squad, and like it just didn't happen for us offensively. And that's kind of, that ends up being the reason we got a silver medal. And Kyle Swarber's like, what is this? Disgusting. We just didn't hit.

What do we have the stats on our team? I bet we do. So they did the stats kind of weird because I think they started counting from the quarterfinals as well. Exactly. I mean, that's the important. That's where like, you know, Bryce, well, it goes back to what you said about Cal Raleigh and hunting the Homer. Like Bryce's numbers aren't great in this tournament, but in that at bat, he's still Bryce Harper. Yes. That Cal Raleigh coming up in a big moment is still Cal Raleigh.

Yes. That I think that point is fair and especially with Venezuela wanting to go righty pitchers to finish the game. If you're worried about the next at bat, well, Cal's got you covered. There's one thing, and I don't know how come to. We're also saying, hit Gunner, put Cal behind the plate. Gunner had a great tournament. I don't love that necessarily, but that is another option. There's one thing.

I don't know how comfortable you're going to be talking about this. Because we just talked about Venezuela and how Allen and the crowd and the team and, like, no rules. This was supposed to be schoolable day. You know what I'm saying? Mason Miller doesn't come out for the ninth inning. Venezuela played yesterday. I know. Palencia pitch yesterday.

Machado pitch yesterday. So I think it's a fair point that you can talk about that, yes, were the guys bought in to this tournament? Yes. But for some reason. And look, it seems, we were talking to pitching ninja about this. Like, it seems like we were the, the U.S. was the only ones really beholden to any sort of, like, you got to pull. him you can't play him because you got Sandy Alconstra saying I'll pitch in the bullpen I'll throw whenever they need me I don't I don't care you got guys like

Palencia you said back-to-back days Mason Miller had a day off Terrick Scuble pitched like two days ago in Tigers Camp and was just letting it loose like yeah like it would have been nice to have him like I'm not hating on the decision but it did seem like the US was the only team that really had to abide by these rules and I will say this if scuba was like now I'm gonna pitch what who's gonna tell him no right yeah I'm gonna tell him no I'm sure you have to decide roster stuff at a certain time but I'm just saying like Will Vess pitching this game and he just like welcome to the tournament well this nice to see you you look great I don't I understand

probably more than most people what it means to get to free agency and how hard it is and you were trying to protect yourself. So I understand the decision. As long as it was his, I don't. It's okay. If it's there, if it's Mason Miller, if it's Terrick Scuba, if it's their own decision, I don't care.

If it's the agent or the team, maybe I care a little bit. I don't know. It's tough, man. It is tough to talk about that. But again, I felt like we were the only team that was really dealing with that. if again as Americans maybe we're too close to the situation that we knew that a little better than other teams but at the same time like did I see Imanaga come out of the pen for Japan when they were in dire straits I don't know uh Cacucci came out yeah I was going to say yeah um that I don't know I keep in my head and it's a little because I have a bad brain and one of the only movies I really know is the dark night rises but I keep the

thinking about the Joker being like, you live by a certain set of rules, and you're going to have to break those rules. And like, it goes back to, and hey, the USA a week ago and the egg on their face, and we understand how it happened, even though they're still coming out and saying it didn't happen that way, which, hey, man, that's a whole other issue. But like, for all of the quotes about this being the team and how much they wanted it, and we pointed at the lineup and who Who else are you going to tap in? Well, the one place we did have a certain set of rules that was different was the pitching. And if you look back at the past couple games that were won,

obviously you need more runs, and that's a reflection of the other teams pitching a little bit. I don't know, man. I will say we've Japan, Otoni couldn't pitch. The Dodgers didn't want Otoni to pitch. Right. That's another one. Right. And hey. There's that too.

Maybe that's being discussed. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like that that Japanese team ended up running thin against his Venezuelan team. I would bet that got talked about. I don't know if I want to do this, but I feel like it is going to be discussion. And we're good at nuance. Like, it's fine. I think we were able to talk about this because I do like Mark DeRosa.

I like him on MLB Network. I think he got probably a little bit more than he deserved. Yes, we were part of it. Like, I hand up. Like, when we started going through all... I don't know, man. Again, wouldn't he call somebody out on MWNetwork if they didn't know the rules and didn't act like they knew the rules?

When we started going through the whole coaching staff, like, DeRosa's the head of the snake there. I think a lot of other people should have got mentioned and we tried to and we partially didn't do a good job on it. I said that. I did too, and that's where I'm trying to... But like, I guess where I... We're all bringing the hammer.

way is the constant denial of like we didn't do that is just such I misspoke that's such modern let me just try to move past it by saying something and hope everyone accepts it like that was crazy so but we said what we said was and maybe I was talking to Rose about this but you're the same person so here we go I said younger little younger the only way to salvage this situation is winning the whole damn thing we didn't win the whole thing we didn't win the whole damn thing. My question to you is in three years in 2029 is Martin DeRosa leading the charge? Whoa.

I would lean, hey man, I'll tell you what. I just got you with a good one, didn't I? You did. You kind of Chris Rose me after calling me Chris Rose. I would honestly put my money on yes, but that's a little bit that I am from a Yankees organization that sometimes would like to just make it easier and be like, guess what? We screwed up. We didn't win.

We're going to come at you harder now. That I don't know. I have no inside information. I could see DeRosa being like, hey, hey, I like swinging the sticks and talking some ball. I don't need that anymore. I don't know. I think the money would be on no. I think it's such an honor to coach this team and like a privilege to coach this team

that I think he'd want to do it as long as he could. Like, and there also is the fact that like all the other managers are managing during this time. So it's not like it's in the winter. It's during spring training. They got guys, they're worried about their club. So like there is a smaller pool. And I don't think like bringing in like a bocce or something like that. don't think that's the right answer.

I'm like kind of racked my brain like who could it be? What's a recent catcher? Like, you know, Kurt Suzuki's the manager of the Angels. He's got a one-year deal. Right. If like him and Manazian are out the door, like is Kurt Suzuki a candidate? I don't know. Is Tori Hunter a candidate?

I don't know. Hey, dude. I think my money is on. He is the coach. We're literally just thrown out names randomly. I know Joe Girardi and Buck Showalter would have signed up for this gig. I have no actual connections to them. I don't think I want that.

And again, I think you're probably yelling your own names or your own broadcast or whatever it is. They, yeah, I, uh... So you say no. I say yes. I think he is. I said yes. Oh, you said yes. I said the money's on no.

I would say yes just because I think it's easier. Okay. And I don't think I agree with that. Because we did a whole song and dance this turn. tournament that if we did a if we did an end of the hey team USA 2026 world baseball classic post-mortem like that it's a little businessy and we were like hey what was good what was bad I think you'd look at the bad and be like holy let's never do that again I'm looking at the coaches back to Venezuela I respect all of

these guys. How could you not? I respect all of them. I don't know where you go. I don't know. I hate that I ended the show like that. Yeah, I know. We don't have to. I think how we can't end it on the high note. This was my first world baseball classic. Was this your first? No, I came here and I want to say it was, Braun was on the team. It must have been 2013 or? Ryan Braun, not LeBron James. Ryan Braun.

Yeah. He was on the team. Eddie Rosario was a young pup out there in left field for Puerto Rico. I actually sat. Venezuela down the front row over there on the left field line. So I came to that for one game. Live was with me.

How about that? I think Anthony Swarzak might have been there as well. Happy birthday. Yeah, happy birthday, Liv. Love you so much. But this was like my first one covering it. The first time I was like really into it. This tournament just got good, I think.

I mean, 2017, there were some big moments, and the U.S. won it all. But I think last year, Japan versus the U.S., that really was the springboard for this tournament to be what it was this year. And my God, the momentum that this thing has given baseball is insane. I can't believe that we just have regular baseball coming up. It's great for the sport. the Olympics are super in play and then that'll be 2028 so we have Olympics and then this again I want as much international baseball as possible this was amazing yeah it was uh the the atmosphere is something I've never seen before again that Venezuela Italy game I think we'll probably

is probably in as the loudest crowd I've ever heard I've got I'm lucky enough that I've been to a lot of sporting events but like it was so Venezuela and they are such a rocket fan base that I just don't know if that can ever be topped. The passion the players we're playing with, Ronald Cunia Jr. crying in the field in ninth inning the other night. I mean, what do you think that is? It's pretty incredible. If you're a nerdy business sportsperson,

there's kind of a rule of 20 years for a league or event to develop. Look at like the MLS, I think, kind of has that. the World Baseball Classic has that. And I'll say that because I think part of it is now the history that comes with it, that one of my daydreams was like, is Big Sal going to be in the 2029 World Baseball Classic? He'll be 39 years old, I believe. Is he going to be the backup catcher?

Is he going to be the third catcher? Is he going to be the manager? Is he going to be batting cleanup because he's Salvador Perez? Like the fact that he was the youngest Venezuelan player ever at 20, 22 years old, or not ever, excuse me, on that first team at 22. He was the oldest player on this team at 35. They're like, now that you have stuff like that, and we had the media stuff where it's like the most hits ever for team Venezuela, the most doubles for Team USA.

Like, at the end of the day, and, you know, as we get older, you start doing more end of the day stuff, that if you say, hey, Roman Anthony has the most homers in Team USA, his. history, that's going to mean a lot more one day. Yeah. That's going to mean a lot more that. Yeah, I don't even know. We don't fully know if this is like, MLB, it made this event. Yes, yes.

And they're like connected to it. I don't know. People wonder if we're shills. Whoever did all of it, this was, this was nuts. It's March. I'm exhausted. Like we, this tournament took so much out of me. Like, like, it's, like, it's, It's like the adrenaline and then the adrenaline dump, dude.

Like I was so high and now like it just has all left me. I just got incredibly tired right now. Like this thing drained me, Pop. I got nothing left and we got 162 to cover in the playoffs. We had a really funny, we stayed at Airbnb this week. Shout out, super producer Rob Chiracco currently right to our right who has been crushing it for us. Kyle on our social team has been, if you don't know a work ethic,

shadow Kyle for a day. Sales, kid bro, Luke has been crushing it with us. We had a funny just ball talk earlier today that we were like, hey, is, what's going on with McGonigal on Detroit? Is he making the team? How about Griffin in Pittsburgh? Spring training has been so in the background.

The normal fodder, we've got about three days to figure out who's making teams. We got to catch up, Pop, because I haven't paid attention to one bit of regular spring training baseball. It's 1224, which means it's Wednesday. We're a week away from a major league baseball game that counts. The Yankees play the Giants on opening night. What time is it?

It's 1224. What time's your flight? My flight's checking in like four hours, so that's great. I think we better put a bow on it. Thank you so much to Amazon. for letting us do this. Thank you so much to you guys for letting us do this. You know, I almost hug Treff today.

Watching Venezuela win, playing our first round of golf together. You almost hug me? Yeah. You hug me a bunch today. I hugged you a lot. Thank you, everyone. This is awesome. You guys are the best.

Baseball season is about to start. Let's take a nap. Subscribe, share, all the good stuff. We're out of here. We love you. You guys are the best. Jake sucks. Yeah, you do.

Cryed a little. There's my Venice. My dance. C. In the Venezuelan manager who I'm not connected to.