Well, Aaron Judge and company won’t be returning to the Yankees just yet. After shocking Team USA on Tuesday, Italy did the Americans a solid by thumping Mexico at the World Baseball Classic, avoiding any of the weird tiebreaker scenarios that were floated over the past 36 hours or so. They’ll face Canada on Friday night. Congrats to Mark DeRosa, I guess.
So now that we have an actual bracket, we can have some March Madness-esque fun! Considering that we won’t know the actual college basketball March Madness brackets until March is just about halfway done, maybe this is the real March Madness. Anyway, here’s what the WBC version looks like:
So who ya got? Here’s mine:
Quarterfinals
Dominican Republic over Korea
USA over Canada
Puerto Rico over Italy
Japan over Venezuela
Semifinals
Dominican Republic over USA
Japan over Puerto Rico
Finals
Dominican Republic over Japan (MVP: Fernando Tatis Jr.)
Today on the site, Sam will recap the end of WBC pool play as we await the knockout round beginning tomorrow. Peter will preview Ryan Yarbrough’s 2026 season, Jeff will celebrate Darryl Strawberry’s 64th (yowza) birthday, and Josh will look at what’s ahead for the nemesis Astros, who could be in their twilight after missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
Today’s Matchup
New York Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers
Time: 1:05 p.m. EST
Video: N/A (audio available via MLB.tv on Tigers radio, WXYTAM)
Venue: Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium, Lakeland, FL
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