Sandy Alcantara will take the mound on Wednesday for the Dominican Republic against Venezuela. Although both the Dominican Republic and Venezuela have already clinched spots in the quarterfinal round of the World Baseball Classic, Wednesday’s matchup will determine the winner of Pool D and who finishes in second place. The runner-up will face Shohei Ohtani and Team Japan on Saturday at 9:00 p.m. ET.

On Monday, Alcantara met with national media ahead of his start. It will mark his second career World Baseball Classic start—both coming against Venezuela. In 2023, the matchup served as the tournament’s opening game, but this time the stakes are higher with seeding implications.

In that 2023 outing, Alcantara pitched 3 ⅔ innings, allowing three runs on five hits—including one home run—while issuing three walks and striking out two.

“I don’t think it’s a revenge game because this is a short tournament,” Alcantara said. “This tournament is about winning or losing. We gave everything we had and things didn’t go the way we wanted, but on Wednesday we’ll have the opportunity to give it our all. I just need to go out there and battle from the first pitch on and upwards.”

Last season marked the 30-year-old’s first year back after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He posted a 5.36 ERA, 4.28 FIP, and 7.32 K/9 across 174 ⅔ innings pitched. However, his second half was much more Sandy-like, as he recorded a 3.33 ERA over his final 13 starts. The Dominican Republic will hope Alcantara can replicate that solid second half on Wednesday. 

Through two spring training starts this year, Alcantara has allowed three runs across four innings, which all came in his first outing. In his most recent tune-up before joining the Dominican squad, he tossed three perfect innings while striking out four.

This will be the biggest pool game of the World Baseball Classic, and it’s already sold out in Miami. In 2023, the Dominican Republic fell to Venezuela by a final score of 5-1. Many fans have called this a rivalry and plenty of storylines are being created, but Alcantara does not see it that way.

“The fans can go fight each other as much as they’d like, and there will always be controversies about how players get along with each other and whether there is good sportsmanship,” Alcantara said. “On our end, we’re good. All this talk about a revenge game—I think there’s a lot of talk on social media, with Venezuelan fans saying things to Dominican fans and vice versa. Let them say what they want. We are here to compete and represent our country, which is what we want to do the most.”

As previously noted, this will mark the second time Alcantara pitches not only in the World Baseball Classic, but against Venezuela in this environment that held 35,890 fans in 2023. Alcantara referred to the saying, “the past is the past” and that they are not interested in that game when it comes to his 2023 outing against Venezuela.

“This year we are focused on one goal, which is to win,” Alcantara said. “We have good vibes, and every guy on this team is helping in a positive way. (Juan) Soto, (Manny) Machado, (Vladimir) Guerrero Jr., and (Junior) Caminero are all extremely excited and emotional. When it comes to the pitching, we’re doing a great job. The focus for us this year is to do better than the last Classic, and I think everything will be possible if we put God ahead of everything.”

Along with Alcantara, his Marlins teammate Agustín Ramírez is also on the Dominican Republic roster, but it will be New York Yankees catcher Austin Wells who will be catching Alcantara on Wednesday. Ramirez’s lone start of the World Baseball Classic may very well have been Monday’s game against Israel where he went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

“Wells will play against Venezuela,” Dominican Republic manager Albert Pujols told reporters on Monday. “They all knew that was going to be the case and that is how it was communicated. The plan for Ramírez was to have him start this game and he knew he was going to start this game. Wells could’ve gone 4-4 with four home runs, and he still would’ve had the day off today.”

Who Alcantara will go toe-to-toe with is still uncertain, but Eduardo Rodriguez has still yet to pitch, so he can be a potential option for manager Omar Lopez‘s club. First pitch is scheduled for 8:00 pm and the game can be streamed on FS1.