It was a nail biting game from the start with the USA and Venezuela going for the WBC title. Great pitching from both sides. A 2-0 lead for Venezuela suddenly erased by a Bryce Harper 2 run homer to tie it in the 7th. Then 9^th inning fireworks with Venezuela getting a double from Eugenio Suarez to score the go ahead run. Then a quick 1,2,3 shutdown of the USA in the bottom of the 9^th to end it. Without question one of the most exciting games in WBC history. Congrats to the Venezuelan team for believing in themselves when most of the baseball world didn’t. The so called “baseball experts” all felt they wouldn’t get past the first round.

I don’t know about you, but for me this just concluded WBC tournament was the best in its history. It had everything you could want in a professional baseball environment. It had drama, fun, excitement, stars from everywhere, surprises, heart pounding moments, disappointments, incredible back stories, teams making a statement, teams doing the impossible and fans worldwide loving every minute. The ballparks were jam packed, the TV ratings the best ever and streaming was through the roof. It was a series of games the die hard fan got totally wrapped up in and the casual fan became a lot more interested because of the play of all the teams.

For me, as a baseball junkie, I always like to see the teams that represent countries you don’t expect much from on the field like Isreal, Netherlands, Australia, Great Britain, Czechia and Italy. For the most part we are familiar with teams and players from the Latin countries, Japan and Canada because of their major league experience. All of these “no name” teams were filled with a lot of major and minor league players, but also had players from their home countries as well.

Teams no one felt had a shot became cult like heroes. There was the Czechia team, made up of regular working guys who also play baseball. Their star pitcher Ondrej Satoria became an instant legend. With his “blazing” 80 mph fast ball the full time electrician struck out the great Ohtani not once, but twice! Then there was team Italy who made it all the way to the semi finals and became the darlings of the fans for their play against the odds. There were the disappointments of t5he exits of Team Japan and Team Australia, both expected to make the finals, but didn’t. Then of course the failure of a loaded USA team losing in the championship game.

This year’s WBC was a perfect lead in to the 2026 MLB season with a lot of new names to watch throughout the season. The next WBC will be held in 2030, mainly because of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. So we’ll have to wait a few years to see what teams will become the stories of the WBC.

For now, let’s get this last week of spring training over and get the 2026 season under way……………..PLAY BALL!

Art Koch, National Features & DVD Editor, NightMoves magazine and AAN