Sports fans have slammed the World Baseball Classic organizers for handing Team USA a major advantage ahead of Wednesday’s final against Venezuela in Miami, Florida
Team USA will have an additional day of rest over Venezuela ahead of the WBC final(Image: Getty)
World Baseball Classic organizers have been slammed for handing Team USA a massive advantage after scheduling the final just a day after Venezuela’s historic win over Italy.
Team USA beat the Dominican Republic in a controversial fashion on Sunday following a blown ball-strike call. Venezuela then booked their place in a first-ever WBC final, scoring a 4-2 comeback victory over Italy on Monday, leaving the South American team less than 24 hours to prepare to face America’s big hitters, spearheaded by New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge.
Baseball fans are now raising concerns about the World Baseball Classic schedule, accusing tournament organizers of giving Team USA a massive advantage.
“USA vs Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic Final should be electric,” one fan said. “I’m VERY confused why the Final isn’t on Wednesday, or they didn’t have both semis on the same day. Now Team USA has an advantage because Venezuela won’t want to use pitchers back-to-back days tomorrow.”
“I feel like this WBC scheduling is a little crazy by making one of the semi winners have to play back to back games which automatically puts their bullpen at a disadvantage lol,” another tweeted.
“They should have tomorrow off and play Wednesday. It is annoying because the bullpen is such a big deal in this tournament, so they should’ve taken the day off tomorrow. It makes for a better game,” a third reacted.
“Is scripted for the USA to win, first they pull USA from the Japan bracket, then out of the 5 missed calls the home plate ump had all night 4 affected against Dominican Republic and now they get to go against a depleted Venezuela bullpen. I never wanted a team to lose so bad,” a fourth fumed.
Team USA is aiming to win the World Baseball Classic(Image: Getty)
However, in one positive sign for Venezuela, historically, teams that have had more rest heading into the WBC final have gone on to lose. “The team with more rest going in to wbc final is 0-4,” one responded.
“You can also swap pitchers going into last 2 games. So each country could have added fresh arms going into semis.”
“If both semifinal games were on the same day you’d be complaining that one of them is at 3pm,” another said in defense of the WBC scheduling. “They’re trying to fit a tournament into a short amount of it’s not going to be perfect.”
Nonetheless, Venezuela is excited to take on Team USA in a blockbuster matchup. Ronald Acuna Jr., Maikel Garcia, and Luis Arraez hit run-scoring, two-out singles in a rapid seventh-inning rally that sparked a 4-2 comeback.
“A lot of dancing,” Garcia said. “We’ve never been in the championship of the WBC before. We got there, and we’re happy, we’re excited to play tomorrow against the United States.
“We have to come tomorrow and play the same way we played against Japan and Italy. We have to show the world who Venezuela is.”
“That’s us. That’s our country. That’s winter ball. That’s how we enjoy our baseball,” manager Omar Lopez added.
