MIAMI — Two hours after a blown ball-strike call ended the Dominican Republic’s World Baseball Classic, players emerged from the team’s clubhouse with smiles, music and a message.
The smiles covered the pain of the 2-1 loss Sunday night that sent Team USA to the WBC final, the music followed them as they walked down the hall at LoanDepot Park and to the team bus, and the message came from star Juan Soto, who preferred to look at the whole of the tournament rather than its final game.
“We showed the world who’s the best team in baseball,” Soto told ESPN. “That’s all I got to say.”
Soto’s frustration, as well as his teammates’, was palpable after home-plate umpire Cory Blaser called a full-count slider from U.S. closer Mason Miller for a strike against D.R. shortstop Geraldo Perdomo despite the pitch being clearly below the zone. The call came one inning after Soto was caught looking on a slider that was also below the zone, though not to the extent of Perdomo, who had worked a brilliant seven-pitch at-bat before the eighth ended the Dominicans’ dreams of bringing home a WBC championship.
“I knew 100% it was a ball,” Perdomo told ESPN. “I knew it.”
While the Americans celebrated what otherwise was a taut, tense and elite display of baseball between the two most talented countries in the world, the ending left a sour taste for Dominicans to whom the WBC is of Olympic-level importance. Even more frustrating was that the automated ball-strike challenge system — which will debut in Major League Baseball this season to address such blown calls — is not being used in the WBC.
In 2023, the year the pitch clock was introduced in MLB, the WBC did not implement it, either. For ABS to work accurately in MLB this season, the league took measurements of each player’s height to assign a proper strike zone. Doing so for the WBC would have necessitated measurements for players from all 20 countries in the tournament as well as the implementation of the system used to call it in Japan and Puerto Rico.
“It’s part of the game,” Dominican Republic general manager Nelson Cruz told ESPN. “You lost by inches. We’ll have ABS in a few years, so hopefully next time we can challenge plays like that.
“This event is really good for baseball. You have regular fans that love the game — and you have people who don’t pay attention and you’re attracting them.”
The attention has been significant, particularly on a Dominican team teeming with stars and even more with energy and excitement. The D.R. broke the WBC record for home runs in one tournament when Junior Caminero took U.S. ace Paul Skenes deep for a 1-0 lead. The U.S. clawed back with home runs from Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony. And the game turned over to the bullpens, with Team USA’s power relief pitching shutting down a Dominican team that had dominated through pool play and a quarterfinal win.
The crowd of 36,337, strongly pro-Dominican, booed the blown third-strike call on Soto and caterwauled at the one against Perdomo, with him telling Blaser — who otherwise called a consistent and strong game behind home plate — that the umpire knew it was a ball.
“It was a lot,” said Perdomo, who had taken a slider similar to the blown call for a ball earlier in the count and also fouled off consecutive 101 mph two-strike pitches to stay alive. “It was the whole tournament, but we didn’t lose the game right there. That’s a part of the game, and I hope we do better next time.”
Next time could come in the Olympics, if Major League Baseball and the players can strike a deal to allow big leaguers to play in the Los Angeles Games in 2028. The next WBC has not been scheduled, but the success has delighted players and MLB officials.
Team USA will face the winner of Monday’s semifinal between Italy and Venezuela in Tuesday’s WBC final.