{"id":620231,"date":"2026-03-12T14:54:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T14:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/620231\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T14:54:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T14:54:21","slug":"americans-advance-after-italy-beats-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/620231\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans advance after Italy beats Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/sportstalkflorida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/wbc.jpg\" data-caption=\"WBC\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"1237\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/wbc-696x1237.jpg\"   alt=\"\" title=\"wbc\"\/><\/a>WBC<\/p>\n<p>A day later than expected, the United States secured its place in the quarterfinals of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/world-baseball-classic?msockid=28e350c6a8a16b94191c4688a9b36a85\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">World Baseball Classic.<\/a> The Americans advanced after Italy crushed Mexico 9-1, a result that locked in the Azzurri as Group B winners and pushed the U.S. into second place.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sportstalkflorida.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MORE BASEBALL \u2013 SPORTS TALK FLORIDA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Italy\u2019s victory came with a historic performance. Vinnie Pasquantino delivered the tournament\u2019s first three-homer game and offered a playful message to the Americans afterward. He said the Italians were thinking of Team USA and were glad to welcome them to the next round.<\/p>\n<p>Americans Avoid Elimination<\/p>\n<p>Italy had beaten the U.S. 8-6 the night before. That loss left the Americans watching from the sidelines as they waited for the group to settle. Italy\u2019s roster, filled with American-born players of Italian heritage, finished group play at 4-0. The U.S. closed at 3-1.<\/p>\n<p>Mexico, which fell to the Americans earlier in the week, finished 2-2 and was eliminated from both the WBC and qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.<\/p>\n<p>Quarterfinal Matchups Set<\/p>\n<p>The Americans will stay in Houston for a Friday night showdown with Canada. It marks the first time Canada has advanced out of the opening round. Italy will face Puerto Rico on Saturday at Daikin Park.<\/p>\n<p>Team USA also posted wins over Britain and Brazil during group play. The roster is loaded with All-Star talent, but the loss to Italy created a tense 24 hours.<\/p>\n<p>DeRosa Clarifies His Comments<\/p>\n<p>After that defeat, U.S. manager Mark DeRosa faced questions about whether he believed his team had already clinched a quarterfinal berth. His comments on a morning television appearance suggested the Americans were already through.<\/p>\n<p>DeRosa later said he misspoke. He emphasized that he did not think the team had secured advancement at that time.<\/p>\n<p>Focus Turns to Miami<\/p>\n<p>With their spot now confirmed, the Americans know the path forward is simple. Win the quarterfinal and move on to Miami. Lose, and the tournament ends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WBC A day later than expected, the United States secured its place in the quarterfinals of the World&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2377],"tags":[5,80033,57493,4816,80034,80035,24759,80036,4,297,2550,68,2551,2549,4819,2126,80037,4820],"class_list":["post-620231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa-bay-rays","tag-baseball","tag-baseball-international","tag-canada-baseball","tag-daikin-park","tag-houston-wbc","tag-italy-wbc","tag-mark-derosa","tag-mexico-wbc","tag-mlb","tag-rays","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-tampabay","tag-tampabayrays","tag-team-usa","tag-vinnie-pasquantino","tag-wbc-quarterfinals","tag-world-baseball-classic"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116216783338273005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}