He did it! Venezuela established itself as the best baseball team on the planet after beating the United States team 3-2 in Miami and winning its first World Baseball Classic, driven by a double by Eugenio Suárez in the ninth inning, when the score reflected a 2-2 tie.
Suárez’s double, which brought Javier Sanoja on base, sealed a victory that began with the scores of Salvador Pérez, in the third inning and Wilyer Abreu, in the fourth, with a home run.
Although Bryce Harper tied the game at 2 with another home run in the eighth inning, Venezuela immediately recovered in front of a stadium full of Venezuelan fans, and handed the USA its second consecutive defeat in the final, after losing to Japan in 2023 by 2-3.
Harper’s home run was the only blot of a nearly perfect performance by the Venezuelan pitchers, led by starter Eduardo Rodríguez.
The Venezuelan bullpen dried up an American ninth composed of names such as Aaron Judge, Bryce Harper and Bobby Witt Jr., among others, who only managed 3 hits and barely made it past first base on one occasion.
The American pitchers were not far from those figures, conceding only 6 hits to the Venezuelans, although each one of them resounded like a victory in Miami’s LoanDepot Park, which at times seemed to be in Caracas.
Let’s enjoy it guys!
Despite it being their first final of the “World Baseball Classic”, the Venezuelan team did not take long to show the fang shown in previous games, and added a ‘hit’ by Ronald Acuña Jr. on the first pitch of the match.
The threat became reality in the third inning, when Salvador Pérez put Venezuela ahead, pushed by a sacrifice lob from his teammate in the Kansas City Royals, Maikel Pérez, which unleashed the delirium of the local fans.
Previously, Pérez had reached third base thanks to an error in the throw of the American Nolan McLean.
Meanwhile, Rodríguez kept the powerful American hitters at bay, allowing them to reach base only once after the first third of the final.
Wilyer Abreu doubled the lead on the next step up the mound, when he hit a one-run home run.
The United States’ hitting drought continued even with a new tenant defending the Venezuelan bases, after Eduard Bazardo replaced Rodríguez, and he was briefly replaced later by José Buttó.
“Arepa Power”
Driven by the score, the Venezuelan fans made themselves heard more and more, and their cries of ‘punch, punch’, when the count reached two ‘strikes’, rose in decibels as the night darkened.
The fifth, sixth and seventh innings ended with a zero in the box for both teams and with only one hit for each of them, while the parade of pitchers continued through the American and Venezuelan mounds in search of fresh arms.
But the freshness was not enough to prevent Bryce Harper from tying the game against Andrés Machado with a two-run home run in the eighth that turned the game into a sudden death.
That was where Luis Arráez appeared first, achieving a walk, and later Sanoja, who replaced him in search of the winning run. His speed allowed him to steal second base – with a review – and then take advantage of Suárez’s double.
Daniel Palencia, from the mound, struck out Kyle Schwarber, forced a lob from Gunnar Henderson and struck out Roman Anthony to seal the victory and the title for Venezuela.
Six victories and one defeat – against the Dominican Republic in the group stage – is Venezuela’s balance in this 2026 World Classic. Before tonight’s victory they got rid of the current champion Japan (8-5) in the quarterfinals and the surprising Italy in the semifinals (4-2).
MVP with heart and soul
Venezuelan Maikel García was named ‘MVP’ of the 2026 World Baseball Classic, in which Venezuela became champion for the first time after defeating the United States 3-2 in a game in which the shortstop contributed with an RBI.
«Grateful to God for this opportunity to make history with this great group. “We went out to play every day for the 30 million Venezuelans,” García said at the award ceremony.
“I was just thinking about what I was going to do when we won, I knew we were going to win that game, I trusted my closer and thank God the victory came and we were able to give the country the victory,” added the brilliant player from the MLB’s Kansas City Royals.
García was the player with the most hits in the World Classic with 10 in 26 steps per base, and recorded a batting average of .385. In total he recorded 7 RBIs and added a home run and 3 stolen bases.
One of those RBIs led to the first score of the final, when he drove Salvador Pérez to home plate with a sacrifice lob in the third inning. “The next time they make a ranking of the World Classic, Venezuela is number 1, the rest will deal with it,” García stated.
(With additional reporting by Hugo Barcia, from EFE)
