The 2023 World Baseball Classic has entered the single-elimination stage and Team USA meets Venezuela in the quarterfinals on Saturday. The winner meets Cuba in the semifinals, the loser goes home. Here’s how you can watch USA vs Venezuela.
Team USA will start Chicago White Sox right-hander Lance Lynn against Venezuela, the team announced Friday. Lynn was America’s top pitcher in the first round, giving up just one solo home run in five innings against Canada before hitting the WBC pitching limit (65 pitches during pool play).
“I know the offense erupted – I loved it, I loved everyone who contributed to it – but to me, the storyline was what Lance could do with the Mercy Rule win over Canada.
DeRosa and USA are not staying in the rotation. St. Louis Cardinals righty Adam Wainwright started the USA’s first WBC game last week with Lynn winning Game 2. Wainwright only allowed one run in four innings against Great Britain, despite working the entire time, and he didn’t have a great spring practice with St. Louis before the WB. His speed this spring was mostly in the mid-80s.
It’s unclear how Wainwright will be used for the rest of the WBC. USA piggybacked starters in their first three WBC games, but with the pitch limit raised to 80 in the second round, it allows for a more traditional “starters and relievers” approach. Also, the stakes are now much higher in the single-elimination format. In the first lap there was more room for error.
Lynn was USA’s best starter in the first round and he has the best starting pitcher in the entire squad period, so he’ll get the ball against a strong Venezuelan team that won 4-0 in the first round. Venezuela was just three innings behind in four games and never more than a run. The lineup consists of Ronald Acuña Jr., Jose Altuve, Salvador Perez and other All-Stars.
With the White Sox, Lynn, 36 in May, pitched 121 2/3 innings last season with a 3.99 ERA around a knee injury. Other US pitcher candidates include Wainwright, Kyle Freeland (Colorado Rockies), Merrill Kelly (Arizona Diamondbacks), Nick Martinez (San Diego Padres) and Brady Singer (Kansas City Royals).
The winners of Saturday’s USA-Venezuela match meet Cuba in Sunday’s semi-finals. The winner of that game advances to the WBC championship game where they will play either Japan or the winner of Friday’s game Mexico versus Puerto Rico.