United States of America dominates Puerto Rico in WBC, but Puerto Ricans still inspired

Stroman baffled Puerto Rico through six hitless innings and the US opened the offensive flood gates with an overpowering 8-0 victory to capture its first championship in the global event. Maybe even embarrassments, if you consider the country was the one to create the game in the first place.

The WBC, as an idea, is a cool one. “I got a chance to manage for my country, coaches got a chance to coach for our country, the players got a chance to play for our country, but you know what, this is for the people that serve our country”.

Right-hander Stroman was named Most Valuable Player and, like his teammates, he played Wednesday as if he had a chip on his shoulder.

Despite that, this year’s WBC was pure, unfiltered, insane fun. He told MLB Network the pregame chatter surrounding Puerto Rico’s championship berth “didn’t sit well with us”, and inspired the Americans to put together such a dominant performance.

Stroman also told Rosenthal that his mother supported his decision “100 percent” to pitch for the U.S. He went on to demand that Jones apologize not just to the team, but to the entirety of Puerto Rico. Stroman finally got an out when Rosario hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0. Even before the enthusiastic worldwide reception and the USA team’s winning surge at home, the WBC was expected to top $100 million in revenue this year for the first time, according to organizers. Although it was merely a walk, it kept the inning going and allowed Brandon Crawford to knock in two more runs on his only hit of the night. Giancarlo Stanton followed that up with another single.

Pat Neshek allowed a leadoff single to Yadier Molina to begin the eighth, but induced a double-play, then worked around a two-out walk by striking out Kenny Vargas to end the frame. Still, they deserve credit for playing as well as a team can play without winning the title.

Puerto Rico’s players heard those comments, and they were not happy. The United States run machine kept chugging along, crossing the plate eight times. He held Team Puerto Rico to no hits into the seventh inning.

Entering the World Baseball Classic, the Dominican Republic were the heavy favorites to win the tournament. Instead, in December of previous year, he had a change of heart and decided he would ultimately represent his native country in the 2017 tournament. That is what this tournament is about, and that’s why everyone loves it, ’cause you get to see people play [in front of] people from their own country and the different styles of baseball. But take a look at all of the names listed above.

Some of the American players tweeted their excitement about being part of a moment 11 years in the making.