MIAMI — Before the revelry, before the madness, before the three-hour, ear-splitting baseball rager that was the Dominican Republic vs. Venezuela, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Juan Soto met up in the outfield to say hi.
At that point, just a few minutes before first pitch, the stands were almost entirely filled. Many of the 36,230 rum-soaked patrons had already commenced their thunderdome of noise. Flags billowed throughout the crowd like a grove of Caribbean palm trees. Beneath this concert of anticipation, the two best players in the building convened for a round of pleasantries.
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Soto and Acuña have been linked for a while now.
The two superstars debuted in 2018, finishing first (Acuña) and second (Soto) in Rookie of the Year voting. Until Soto was dealt to San Diego at the 2022 trade deadline, they played in the same division. That’s true again with Soto stationed in Queens. They are friends, compatriots, counterparts.
As the pair chatted, both removed their caps and handed them to the other for a deeper investigation. After a beat, the two exchanged the lids back once Acuña lunged forward to jokingly place his Venezuela cap on Soto’s head. For a moment, it balanced atop Soto’s black durag, Acuña’s blue hat matching perfectly with Soto’s similarly tinted Republica Dominicana jersey. The Mets outfielder recoiled playfully, tossing the cap back to his buddy. The two laughed, dapped each other up and continued stretching.
That moment was a microcosm of the evening, which was a joyful Latin American baseball celebration of the highest order.
For the past few decades, these two countries have ranked second and third behind the United States in MLB players produced. They are the game’s dominant forces, culturally and in terms of player development, in Latin America. For both, baseball is the national sport and much more. It is a way of life and a way of living, and the mega-stars produced by each nation are an omnipresent source of communal pride.
That pride was on full display Wednesday as the Dominican topped Venezuela by a score of 7-5, securing a first-place finish in Pool D. An early long-ball barrage from the star-studded Dominican lineup set the tone. The entire top four in the batting order went deep across the first four innings, with each blast propelling a wave of giddy countrymen out of the dugout and onto the diamond with childlike glee.
Fernando Tatis Jr.’s three-run blast in the fourth gave Team D.R. a cushion to coast through the relatively mundane middle innings. Venezuela made it close with a goosebump ninth inning that included three straight walks and a throwing error from reliever Elvis Alvarado, but couldn’t get the clutch swing it needed.
And while the play on the field from both sides was impressive, the celebrations were on another level entirely.
Soto nearly flipped his bat off the loanDepot Park roof after his first-inning jack. Junior Caminero and Julio Rodriguez do-si-do’ed near the on-deck circle as Ketel Marte rounded the bases in the third. Tatis carried Geraldo Perdomo back to the dugout on his shoulders following Vlad Guerrero Jr.’s blast two batters later.
Every single player in the Dominican dugout flooded onto the field to celebrate every single big fly. And, of course, all four homers were met with the team’s flag-themed leather jacket, an oversized D.R. logo chain and a mimed group selfie on home plate.
It was baseball unencumbered.
Both clubs entered the showdown with undefeated records and a spot in the knockout round clinched, meaning the stakes were decidedly lower than they could’ve been. But that didn’t sap any energy out of the crowd. In fact, it seemed to relax it, as both fan bases knew their team’s tournament run would continue beyond the evening. There was tension, but it wasn’t the type you get from an elimination game or even a typical pool play game.
As Venezuelan fans trudged home, their team defeated, it was hard to believe that any of them had a crummy time. That’s because the atmosphere itself — an intoxicating and intoxicated red-and-blue tornado of horned instruments, gyrating hips and Latin spirit — was the main attraction. It was about community and two separate communities acting as one community.
Kumbaya sentiments acknowledged, Venezuela’s loss will not go unpunished. By finishing second in the group, the Venezuelans were handed a quarterfinal matchup with the defending champions, Samurai Japan, on Saturday. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, one of the best hurlers on the planet, is set to start that game for Japan. And while Venezuela certainly has the offensive firepower to coax an upset, the task ahead of them is daunting.
“We were able to compete today,” Venezuela manager Omar López said postgame. “We tried to minimize the harm from the very beginning, and we fought throughout the game, and the same is going to happen against Japan. We cannot think that we are going to be defeated.
“No, we are going to win that game.”
The Dominican Republic, meanwhile, looks like an unstoppable freight train. Before the game Wednesday, D.R. skipper Albert Pujols was asked if he had any concerns about his lineup, considering it had faced just one MLB-level pitcher thus far in the tournament.
Pujols, offering a wry smile, replied: “I think our offense can hit against anybody.”
That proved extraordinarily true against Venezuela.
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