After several weeks of intense and exciting international competition, the 2026 World Baseball Classic has sadly drawn to a close. The sadness stems from the fact that the next tournament will not come until either 2029 or 2030—and may come with changes to the scheduling and format. However, for victorious Venezuela there is no sadness to be had.
The Venezuelans openly wept tears of exuberant joy on the field following their upset win over the United States. At the beginning of the tournament, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the finals would be a rematch of USA and Japan—the two finalists from the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Instead, the 2026 Classic held multiple surprises and upsets with an environment some said was better than the World Series.
The Colorado Rockies had their own part to play in this year’s World Baseball Classic. Not only did Venezuela have multiple Rockies on their championship roster, but the Rockies were well represented throughout the entire tournament. Their 12 players (and one coach) were one of the largest delegations of any Major League team. Each participating Rockie would have their role to play while wearing their nation emblazoned on their chest.
Team Israel (2-2, eliminated in group stage)
In all honesty, Team Israel didn’t stand much of a chance in a Pool D that also included semifinalist Dominican Republic and eventual champion Venezuela. However, they finished 2-2 with wins over Nicaragua and the Netherlands to avoid relegation and having to requalify for the next Classic.
Rockies prospect Cole Carrigg (no. 4 PuRP) had a somewhat difficult showing for Israel. Playing regularly at shortstop for the first time in a few seasons, Carrigg appeared in all four group stage games. He went 2-for-15 at the plate with an RBI and two strikeouts. His best game came in Israel’s 5-0 shutout of Nicaragua in which he went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two stolen bases.
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Team Colombia (1-3, eliminated in group stage)
Colombia avoided relegation and having to requalify for the next tournament, but they were one of seven teams with one or fewer wins during group play. A win over Panama—who will have to requalify for 2029 or 2030—was their lone victory.
Playing in his second World Baseball Classic, left-handed veteran Jose Quintana also wore the Captain’s “C” for Colombia.
“Getting the jersey from my country and getting Colombia on my chest was a huge honor,” Quintana said. “And I think as a big league player, that’s the only thing you can share with your country and say ‘thank you’ for all the things the country did for you.”
Quintana made his lone appearance of the tournament against Cuba and pitched quite well. He threw three shutout innings without giving up a hit while notching one walk and one strikeout. Unfortunately, Quintana’s relief from the bullpen yielded five runs—three—earned while Colombia was shut out.
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Team Mexico (2-2, eliminated in group stage)
Manager Benji Gil and bench coach Vinny Castilla’s Mexican team was looking to repeat their exciting 2023 push to the semifinals, only to come up short in a three-way fight with Italy and the United States. Needing a win to advance and knock either competitor out of the tournament, Mexico instead was on the receiving end of Italy’s merciless offense.
The Rockies sent two relief pitchers to play for Mexico. The right-handed Victor Vodnik—whom we learned was of Mexican and Slovenian descent this spring—was invited to Team Mexico by Rockies legend Vinny Castilla.
“Vinny asked me, ‘Hey Vic, are you Mexican?’ and I told him everything. He was like, ‘Okay, do you want to go? You down to play for Team Mexico?’ That’s how everything came about. They invited me and I was like, ‘Heck yeah, I’ll do it!’”
Vodnik struggled somewhat with his command during his two appearances in the tournament, but gave up just one unearned run and one hit. In his first outing against Great Britain he walked two batters but got out of the inning unscathed. In the elimination match against Italy, Vodnik hit a batter who then scored on a fielding error after the next man up singled.
Newcomer Brennan Bernardino, received via trade this off-season from the Boston Red Sox, also joined the Rockies’ Mexican delegation with Vodnik.
“It’s good to finally meet [Vodnik],” Bernardino told Purple Row before the tournament. “Watching him pitch has been awesome. We share cultural similarities, right? Both Mexican-Americans that grew up in the Los Angeles area. Great guy.”
Bernardino was also excited to work with Vinny Castilla.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “I always heard good things about [Castilla] growing up and watching him play. Then I heard good things once I started playing in Mexico, and then meeting him in person is even cooler than what I heard.”
Bernardino pitched a scoreless frame with two strikeouts against Great Britain but found himself in a less than favorable situation against Italy. With runners on the corners in the fifth inning, Bernardino was called in to relieve starting pitcher Javier Assad. A sacrifice bunt, a walk, and a single helped Italy pad their lead.
Team Puerto Rico (3-1, eliminated in quarterfinals)
Part of Pool A, Puerto Rico played their group stage games at their home stadium: Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They lost just one game to Canada, who also advanced to the quarterfinals, and had plenty of exciting moments. Perhaps one of my favorite and most electric was their win via walk-off home run against Panama with former Purple Row contributor Tyler Maun on the call.
Playing a vital role in that victory was new Rockies second baseman and utility-man Willi Castro, who drew a patient and crucial bases-loaded walk to send the game into extra innings. He also played solid defense, including a slick play while out of position at first base to keep Panama within striking distance.
Castro went 4-for-15 at the plate with four walks to four strikeouts and drove in three runs with a stolen base. His other big moment of the tournament was a lead-off home run against Italy on the fourth pitch of the game. Puerto Rico ended up being eliminated by Italy in the quarterfinals.
Even though Puerto Rico was eliminated in the knockout stage, playing in the Classic is an experience that has resonated with Castro.
“It’s a great experience. It was my first WBC, but man, over there I really enjoyed their energy,” Castro told Purple Row. “Everybody is together over there. It’s something that you’re gonna keep for the rest of your life and it was amazing representing Puerto Rico.”
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Team Canada (3-2, eliminated in quarterfinals)
With their lone loss coming against Panama and a win against Puerto Rico, Canada emerged as the surprise top seed of Pool A and advanced to the knockout round for the first time in World Baseball Classic history. Unfortunately, they met a team in the quarterfinals they had never beaten in Team USA and were eliminated in a 5-3 loss.
The Rockies sent two French Canadians to the tournament. 2025 seventh round draft pick Antoine Jean made his professional debut wearing the Canadian national uniform.
“Just walking into our locker room for the first time and seeing your name on that Canada jersey [was the highlight of the tournament],” Jean said.
Jean pitched 1 1/3 innings against Panama in the group stage. Coming in with inherited runners in the fourth inning , Jean gave up two singles and a run that wasn’t credited to him. When he came back out in the fifth he was much sharper, setting the side down in order.
Second baseman Edouard Julien struggled with a cold bat for much of the tournament. He drew two walks in the first contest against Colombia, but didn’t get his first base hit until the third game of group play an struck out a total of eight times. Over the last two games Canada played before being eliminated by the United States, Julien managed another two walks and two more hits, including a double.
Julien had previously participated in the 2023 tournament, but he recognized how important this year’s performance was for the True North Strong and Free.
“To go out there against Puerto Rico and all these great countries – Cuba, Colombia, and Panama… it was the first time that we ever came out of a pool, so that was a great experience. And just to be around these guys now that we have pretty much a full lineup of big league players, which has never happened for Canada. The sport is growing, and hopefully the kids back home can keep dreaming and believing in themselves. Maybe this can mean they’ll go to play for Canada one day.”
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Team Japan (4-1, eliminated in quarterfinals)
Perhaps one of the biggest surprises of this year’s tournament was the fate of Shohei Ohtani and Samurai Japan. Expected to be a likely shoo-in for the finals and a rematch against Team USA, the 2023 World Baseball Classic champions were instead eliminated in their first game of the knockout stage against Venezuela.
Tomoyuki Sugano made just one start during the Classic, although he might have gotten the nod should Japan have advanced to the semifinals.
As part of Pool C, Sugano was able to return to the Tokyo Dome where he was an eight-time NPB All-Star, three-time Central League MVP, and won the Eiji Sawamura award—the Japanese equivalent of the Cy Young Award—twice with the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants. There, the highly decorated Japanese pitcher had a distinguished visitor in attendance.
“I haven’t pitched in the Tokyo Dome in a while, so that was one of the highlights,” Sugano said. “And the Emperor of Japan was there to visit and watch the game, and that hasn’t happened in a very long time. It hasn’t happened in like 70 years, so it was a special moment for me.”
Sugano took the mound against an Australian team that had been hitting the ball hard to start the tournament and held them scoreless in four innings of work on four hits. He commanded the strike zone well, striking out two batters without issuing a walk.
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Team Dominican Republic (5-1, eliminated in semifinals)
After their first five games, it looked like the Dominican Republic was the true powerhouse of this year’s tournament. With strong pitching and a surging offense—they had the most runs scored, home runs, and walked more than they struck out—they went 4-0 in the group stage and crushed Korea via mercy rule in the quarterfinals. However, their bats fell silent against the pitching of Team USA and were eliminated in the semifinals.
Young Rockies reliever Juan Mejia was originally named to the reserve pitcher’s list for the Dominican Republic, but found himself not only on the active roster but one of his country’s most utilized relievers. Mejia was one of six Dominican pitchers with three or more appearances in the tournament. In those three appearances and three innings, the breakout pitcher didn’t allow any runs—earned or otherwise—while only giving up two hours and tallying one strikeout without any walks.
“I’m obviously thankful to have gone over there. I’m thankful for the opportunity, and to all those coaches for giving me the opportunity,” Mejia said of his experience. “I think I’m going to try to bring as much as I can from there – the energy, the atmosphere, the feel of the Classic. I think I learned a lot while I was over there. So I’ll just bring everything I can from that experience, all that atmosphere.”
Team Italy (5-1, eliminated in semifinals)
If you had said before the tournament that Italy would not only make the final four for the first time in World Baseball Classic history, but also be the surprise top seed and the final undefeated team standing before falling to Venezuela in the semifinals, you would have been called crazy. However, that’s exactly what happened this year as Italy combined a potent offense, solid pitching, a designer jacket, an in-dugout espresso machine, and il bacio from team captain Vinnie Pasquantino to defeat strong teams like Mexico and the United States in convincing fashion.
Michael Lorenzen, the latest member of the “Mile High Baseball Nerd Club,” made the start when Italy played Team USA during pool play. Lorenzen used everything in his arsenal and pushed his pitch count to the very limit for 4 2/3 scoreless frames against a potent (on paper) American offense. He walked one batter, gave up two hits, and struck out two batters.
Lorenzen described it as the highlight of the tournament for him.
“Definitely when we beat Team USA and we kind of established that we were there for real,” he said. “So that — even for us to learn that about ourselves — was kind of fun.”
Lorenzen was called in from the bullpen in the semifinals against Venezuela. He gave up a lead-off walk but then set down his next six batters in order for two clean innings. The seventh inning is when things fell apart. After walking the lead-off hitter he struck out two batters. It looked like he would escape unscathed until four consecutive singles gave Venezuela the lead and ended Lorenzen’s night—and Italy’s hopes of advancing.
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Team Venezuela (6-1, World Baseball Classic Champions)
Sometimes it is best to let the footage speak for itself.
Venezuela, take a bow. You are the 2026 World Baseball Classic champions!
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At the cost of losing the chance in the Rockies starting rotation to start the season, right-handed pitcher Antonio Senzatela instead decided to join his native Venezuela’s bullpen for the WBC. Senzatela had previously pitched three scoreless innings with four strikeouts for Venezuela in a pre-tournament exhibition match against the Washington Nationals.
Senzatela’s lone outing during the Classic came against an incredibly potent Dominican lineup. He quickly earned two outs—including a strikeout against Seattle Mariners star Julio Rodríguez—to start his inning of work, but then found himself in trouble with a walk and a single. He then threw a slider high that didn’t break, and was punished for it via the bat of Fernando Tatis Jr for a three run home run.
The longtime Rockies pitcher wouldn’t get another chance to pitch during the tournament, but that didn’t matter. He was there for the final out when Venezuela clinched their title.
“When we won it all, it was the best moment I’ve ever had in my life,” Senzatela told Purple Row. “It was super special to represent my country and be there for my country. It was really special for me.”
After coming in as a late-game defensive substitution in their tournament opener against the Netherlands, young shortstop Ezequiel Tovar became a mainstay of the Venezuelan lineup with a consistent bat and his regularly gilded glovework up the middle.
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Tovar went 8-for-17 at the plate with three doubles and two stolen bases. Perhaps his best performance came during pool play against Israel in which he went a perfect 3-for-3 with a walk in four plate appearances. Tovar also played a critical role in Venezuela’s upset of Samurai Japan in the quarterfinals. Against a strong Japanese pitching staff led by Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tovar went 3-for-4 with two doubles, scored three times, stole a base, and recorded the final out of the game off the bat of Shohei Ohtani to eliminate Japan from the tournament.
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The Rockies’ shortstop again came to play in the final match against the United States where he went 2-for-4 as Venezuela completed their championship run. Following their victory ceremony, Tovar was named shortstop for the the All-World Baseball Classic team.
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Final Thoughts
The Colorado Rockies are rebuilding, and 2026 is likely to be another difficult year for the organization as they build a foundation for the future. However, for a few weeks in early spring 12 Rockies players got to taste something special: meaningful, competitive, high-stakes baseball.
Victor Vodnik described it as a “crazy experience” where “everybody was engaged with every pitch.”
Michael Lorenzen called it “playoff baseball in March.”
Each player had an unforgettable experience but came away with one general consensus for any Rockies of the future given the opportunity to participate in the next World Baseball Classic.
“Do it.”
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