Aaron Judge and co. walked in Tuesday night, high in confidence. Manager DeRosa made some notable changes, stating they had their quarterfinal “ticket punched” already. But the first few innings made us feel like he spoke too soon. After the loss to Italy, Team USA got uncomfortable questions coming from all directions. 

Winning 3 games out of 4 might not look that bad. But Team USA was the clear favorite. And now their advancement to the knockout stage is up in the air. Ken Rosenthal just can’t accept this from “a U.S. team in a tournament set up in their favor.”

We are not sure what’s worse. Mark DeRosa’s overconfident comments about being already through. Or the glaring changes he made to the winning combination. He wanted to test a few players before the knockouts. 

But DeRosa benched five regular starters. All of whom were key to the USA’s success before Italy. Bryce Harper wasn’t particularly hot, but led off the decisive bottom of the 3rd against Mexico. His single had directly set up Aaron Judge’s two-run homer. And they never trailed from there. 

Alex Bregman led one of the three straight walks, loading the bases against Brazil in the fifth inning. He basically set the stage for Byron Buxton’s hit-by-pitch. And then Brice Turang’s base-clearing double was the biggest early hit. That sequence turned the game from a close contest to a blowout. 

Cal Raleigh kept his patience at the plate against Brazil, and his multiple walks contributed to America’s huge win. His framing stability helped the team keep Great Britain to a total of one run. Buxton’s stolen base and catch in the center field against Mexico was instrumental to their win against Mexico. 

The spotlight might’ve been a little too bright for the replacements. The homer in the sixth inning by Gunnar Henderson, Bregman’s replacement, provided some home. However, his trikeout in the 9th made the HR look like too little too late. Paul Goldschmidt, Harper’s replacement, wasn’t productive enough and added just one run in the 7th inning.

Ernie Clement and Will Smith failed to replicate Turang’s and Raleigh’s production. They both failed to perform when needed the most, and this left Team USA looking like a shell of the team that began the WBC on a high note. 

Pete Crow-Armstrong was the only standout. Buxton’s replacement hit 2 homers and managed to drag the team to 6 runs in total. The defense and rotation weren’t very impressive either. 

RHP Nolan McLean seemed like a smart bet in the first innings. But he gave away three runs in the second. His replacement, Ryan Yarbrough, allowed a two-run homer from Jac Caglianone, pushing the deficit to 5-0. 

Brad Keller’s wild pitch added one more run in the sixth. Dante Nori and Sam Antonacci soon made it 8-0 for Italy. Despite Crow-Armstrong’s late heroics, Team USA ultimately fell short, losing 8-6 at the end. 

The regular starters might not have been exceptionally good at every game. But they delivered in high-pressure spots. The whole change in the lineup backfired because DeRosa miscalculated the entire scenario with the run quotient. His comments in the morning of the game rightfully earned enough flak. So much so that he had to backtrack after the defeat.

Mark DeRosa admits that he ‘misspoke’ about the USA’s quarterfinal spot

Mark DeRosa appeared on the MLB Network’s ‘Hot Stove’ show on Tuesday morning. It was a casual chat with his ‘buddies’ as he said, “It’s weird, we want to win this game even though our ticket’s punched to the quarterfinals.” 

Many felt that he wasn’t serious enough about what was at stake. The fact that a team like the USA might crash out from the pool stage for the first time in WBC history didn’t sit well with the fans. And DeRosa had to take his words back. 

“Yeah, I misspoke. I was on Hot Stove with a couple of buddies today and completely misread the calculations,” DeRosa said.

After the defeat, the interview clip was taken off MLB Network’s site and YouTube channel. While the official reasoning was ‘inaccuracy on advancement’, many saw it as an attempt to hide the comments. The clip was eventually reinstated on Wednesday morning.

Mark DeRosa’s miscalculations have certainly put Team USA in an uncomfortable position. The fate now depends on the Italy-Mexico result. Honestly, there’s nothing worse for the players. Giving their all and then waiting for some other team to lose for a knockout spot.

But that’s what it is now. We wait for Wednesday’s Pool B results to see whether the tournament favorites crash out early.