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<\/p>\nMIAMI \u2014 Daniel Palencia\u2019s 100 mph fastball blew past Roman Anthony. Then came euphoria.<\/p>\n
Palencia spun on the mound, chucked his glove into the sky and collapsed under a sea of teammates in bright blue jerseys who had come pouring onto the field. Andr\u00e9s Gim\u00e9nez crumpled to the ground near second base and began to sob. Over at third base, Maikel Garcia did the same. Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. sank to the ground in right field with his arms outstretched before scrambling to his feet and racing to the infield. Eugenio Su\u00e1rez took a few slow steps out of the dugout with the Venezuelan flag. He raised it above his head, fell to his knees, his colors waving boldly behind him.<\/p>\n
Baseball is the heartbeat of Venezuela.<\/p>\n
Since baseball exploded onto the scene in the early 1940s, including the founding of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League in 1945, the sport has been one of the country\u2019s defining characteristics. It isn\u2019t just the most prominent sport in the country. It\u2019s a rite of passage and a point of pride.<\/p>\n
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BEAT OUR EXPERTS<\/p>\n
Predict how you think the tournament will
play out. Can you beat one of our experts?<\/p>\n
Never has Venezuelan baseball had a night like this.<\/p>\n
Underdogs throughout the tournament, Team Venezuela upended the most powerful roster Team USA had ever assembled. A 3-2 victory over the United States<\/a> on Tuesday secured the country\u2019s first World Baseball Classic gold medal. One look at the outpouring of emotion from the players, coaches, and thousands of fans in attendance at loanDepot Park showed it meant so much more.<\/p>\n \u201cThirty million people around the world were watching this game today,\u201d team captain Salvador Perez said. \u201cThe World Series, as you all know, is one of the most important championships in the Major Leagues, but when you fight for your country, that goes beyond. That feeling, the country where you were born and raised, the sacrifices made by our parents, those people that helped us. That\u2019s why this means a lot to me and to Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the first few editions of the WBC, skeptics dismissed it as nothing but an exhibition tournament. There were concerns about the injury risk, the timing and whether people would care about a two-week international competition that wasn\u2019t the Olympics.<\/p>\n But based on the scenes from Tuesday\u2019s finale, that argument is over. A sellout crowd of 36,190 at loanDepot Park shook the ballpark as Venezuela erupted with joy. Manager Omar L\u00f3pez had tears running down his face as he celebrated with his coaching staff. Brothers William Contreras and Willson Contreras \u2014 playing on the same team for the first time in their lives \u2014 held each other in embrace, both crying.<\/p>\n Eduardo Rodriguez, the starting pitcher who shut down the USA\u2019s offense with 4 1\/3 scoreless innings, wiped away tears during his postgame interview. Suarez, the hero of the night after his go-ahead double in the ninth inning, delivered an emphatic, passionate answer of his own, speaking at length about Team Venezuela\u2019s camaraderie and the privilege of representing your country.<\/p>\n \u201cThe unity. We are together the whole time. We\u2019re not just teammates, we are family,\u201d Suarez said to Ken Rosenthal during the Fox Sports broadcast. \u201cThis team is awesome. We are family here. That\u2019s why we play with passion, with love, because we feel the jersey. We feel our country in front of us.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody believed in Venezuela, but we won the championship today.\u201d<\/p>\n The WBC reached new heights this year, as television ratings surged. The semifinal game between the United States and the Dominican Republic was the most-watched WBC game in tournament history, with 7.369 million viewers, outdrawing the 2025 MLB All-Star Game. Tuesday\u2019s championship game should shatter viewership records when that data is released.<\/p>\n The WBC set an attendance record with a total of 1.6 million fans, topping the previous mark of 1.3 million in 2023. Several sellouts were recorded in each of the four host sites: Miami, Houston, Puerto Rico and Tokyo. The event has grown so popular in Miami that the city is pushing to be the WBC\u2019s permanent home<\/a>.<\/p>\n Scenes like Tuesday night show why.<\/p>\n \u201c(People) underestimated Venezuela because we had never won anything, but we are powerful,\u201d said Garcia, who was named the WBC\u2019s Most Valuable Player.<\/p>\n This was the reaction from Venezuela\u2019s Alfredo Sadel Square as the country\u2019s baseball team upset the U.S. to win the World Baseball Classic championship \ud83c\uddfb\ud83c\uddea
pic.twitter.com\/uyR3q9qVlf<\/a><\/p>\n